How to Make Your Own Fork Cages

Wanting to change our setup in Peru but lacking the means to acquire any sort of official gear, we decided to make our own cages for the front fork. We first tried something like this guy did with metal plates, but we couldn`t find the right metal or get them to work how we wanted. We also tried plastic, but it broke almost immediately. Then, we (Tam) got some inspiration from Salsa`s Anything Cage. At 4 soles each (about US$1.33), they were extremely affordable and, at the time of this writing, they`ve held up well to substantial abuse on over 600 miles (1000 km) of some of the roughest dirt roads and trails Peru has to offer.



Here`s how to make your own cages for the front fork:

http://salsacycles.com/components/category/accessories/anything_cage

1) Get some inspiration from Salsa`s design, pictured to the right.
2) Go to a hardware store and purchase a length of strong wire that will hold its shape but is flexible enough to bend with a bit of effort.
3) Bend your wire into the approximate shape of the photo above. You can adapt the shape and size depending on the size of the bags you'll be using.
4) Attach the wire cages to your front fork with hose clamps. We put pieces of old inner tube between the wire and the metal of the fork to reduce slippage. The attachment is strongest if you align the sides of the wire with the sides of the fork instead of just attaching them directly to the outermost point.

Cage completed and partially wrapped in electrical tape

5) Wrap the whole thing with electrical tape to reduce oxidation of the wire and to keep things tightly in place.
6) Place a bag in the cage, feed a strap through the loops of the cage, forming a triangle, and use it to secure the bag. An additional strap can be placed around the whole fork, the bag, and through the loops for extra stability.