PDW Animal Bottle Cages

Jim’s Tech Talk

By Jim Langley

My daughter Jamie is an assistant director/instructor for an outdoor science school for grade school students from all over California. Jamie and the rest of the staff teach lots of kids who’ve never been outside of cities, all about the flora and fauna of the Golden’s State’s wonderful redwood forests. 

One of the fun things the instructors do at the school is use animal names. So one goes by “bear,” and another “banana slug,” etc. Jamie chose “owl.” They wear their names and call each other by their animal names so the kids quickly follow along.

Naturally then, when Jamie expressed interest in a gravel bike for Christmas (an Ibis Hakka MX), as I built it, I wanted to personalize it and surprise her with some owl motifs. It was relatively easy to find an artist on Etsy.com who could make a headset top cap with an owl on it and her name around the perimeter. It looks lovely sitting on top of the bike.

I liked it so much that I started looking for more owl design bicycle accessories, which was when I discovered Pacific Design Works up in Portland, Oregon. They have a wide assortment of animal theme bottle cages and one has a great owl on it! I couldn’t believe my luck and ordered one for Jamie’s bike. It complements the top cap perfectly and Jamie was delighted when we presented her the bike.

All of PDW’s bottle cages are as functional as they are fun and artistic. Some models come with either left or right bottle entry/exit for easy access on tight clearance frames. They vary in price and colors/finishes. Here are some photos from their catalog. Here’s where you can see all the cages and learn more about them. 

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Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.