Top

Many Things Cage from King Cage

 

It turns out that my old set of 5-year-old Salsa Anything Cages that have been rattling around the shop have a couple of cracks in them. Those cages were on a fat bike up in Tosa, when our tester Jamie discovered the cracks. He’s going to try to repair that set of cages, but in the meantime, I went cargo cage shopping and snagged a couple of these Many Things Cages over at KingCage.com. Two straps come with each cage and each unit runs $55 usd.

When comparing the two Salsa Anything Cages or the Blackburn to the King, I’ve always thought that the Many Things Cage (MTC) had the right idea with their simple low-profile L bracket design. The MTC are made from strong, light and durable Titanium. All of King Cages products are made in Durango Colorado. Made in the USA or not, the cages that we received had some rough welds that could have benefitted from a little more attention with the finishing grinder. I doubt that’ll have any impact on how they perform, but if you’re the nitpicking stickler type of shopper and you want everything to look perfect…you should get the new molded plastic ones from Salsa.

Fork mounted cargo cages take a ton of abuse out on the trail. They get bashed into things, they get leaned on and overloaded so they need to be built to be strong enough to withstand a lot of abuse. King Cage has a great reputation for making cages that will make it through the long haul and the compact nature of the MTC makes it easier to build in that sturdiness, The low profile of the MTC means that they should conceivably take fewer hits from nature out there on the trail, but that means that whatever you have strapped to the MTC will take some of those slaps.

That’s where a good set of heavy duty straps can assist in keeping the load in place. The Voile straps that come with the MTC are top notch and very easy to cinch down or release. The heavy duty strap is long enough to go around the cage and the fork leg to help stabilize the cargo.

We’ll test these cages this summer and let you know how things go. For me, the most meaningful test of these cages will be how they hold up after a couple of years of riding and bushwhacking. Will they develop cracks? Will they keep my Salsa Anything Bags attached to my fork and the contents safe? Those questions (and others) will get answered somewhere down the trail. ~ Adios Amigos!

7 Responses to Many Things Cage from King Cage

  1. Erv Spanks April 2, 2018 at 7:21 pm #

    Hey Gomez! Something occurred to me while reading this informative article, and please knock me down a peg or two if I appear to be off base.

    With the possible abuse that cage could be subjected to, could it be a benefit to run a plastic type cage, such as the Salsa, on a carbon fork?

    I would think that a plastic cage may break before doing damage to a carbon fork, where as a titanium cage may transfer impact force to said fork and do unto it harm.

    I am truly wondering if anyone has found this to be an issue, and am not being my usual smart/dumbass self.

    Cheers!

    • Gomez April 3, 2018 at 12:11 pm #

      Maybe – right now our plastic salsa cages are bolted to a steel Surly fork on a Krampus and the King Cages are on this Fatback carbon fork. Questions like this are one of the reasons why we test things with real loads under real conditions. I hope that you’re underestimating the strength and durability of the Carbon Fork legs but time will tell. Are you thinking about after a crash or just normal off-road milage – aka just riding along? I think this might be more of an insight into your deep-seated distrust for the strength of carbon fiber bicycles. #bikepsychiatrist

      • Erv Spanks April 5, 2018 at 8:28 am #

        Dear Dr. Gomez,

        A. Your couch would be more comfortable if it wasn’t upholstered in vinyl, but that’s what I get for picking a shrink who’s “office” is a 1974 Dodge Sportsman. In all honesty, for a ’74, this thing is cherry!

        B. I maybe underestimating the engineered awesomeness that is carbon fiber, but I’ve seen pictures, that stuff snaps where as steel bends.

        D. I don’t believe I have a distrust in the strength of carbon fiber bicycles, or their parts, also made of the same stuff, as I’ve never been able to afford said black gold, which in turn has not afforded me the opportunity to have such parts fail at an inopportune time for such mistrust to take root. But, if I do have a deep seeded mistrust of any kind in any thing, it’s probably my mothers fault.

        C. My original cogitation was based upon the possibility of a crash, or even a case of tightish single-track riding, whence the probability of a gnome grab could cause an issue.

        C.2. I have to assume, with the load limit of either cage being 6 to 7 pounds, JRA would not pose a durability issue to whichever type of fork a cage would be mounted to.

        F. I look forward to your long term review of the MTC. I really like it’s clean, straightforward design. Form and function in harmony.

        Z. My mother is an awesome lady and I would never blame her for any of my short-comings, those would probably be my fathers fault, but I’ve already run over my time so we’ll pick it up from there at my next appointment.

        Cheers!

        • Gomez April 5, 2018 at 9:06 am #

          Feel Better? If not….listen to this Friday’s Dose of Fat. It might be the best drunken podcast evah!

          • Erv Spanks April 5, 2018 at 11:47 am #

            CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!

  2. Chad January 12, 2022 at 9:52 am #

    Any long term opinions?

    • Gomez January 12, 2022 at 9:58 am #

      They’re still 100% functional and still in service.

Leave a Reply