word of warning because while i do think v3 of the in-frame storage is an improvement and there is definitely a chance of user error, but i did have my v3 door come off on a recent ride.
factors:
- my local roads are crappy with lots of ruts, uneven pavement transitions, etc.
- 1st time using an elite stainless steel double walled water bottle. it works well keeping water cold, but it's larger size and weight filled with water and ice undoubtedly put more torque on the cage and storage door, than a smaller plastic water bottle i usually use
- i may have unlatched the door lever from closed to open while cleaning the bike after a previous ride (maybe the microfiber caught the door lever and pulled it away from the down position?). or perhaps the additional vibration induced by the heavier bottle was enough to jostle the lever to the open position. i say this because there were warnings earlier in the ride of rattling noise coming from the area when going over bumps. i hadn't had rattling after the "fixes" of applying extra speaker wire tape to the edges of the door for a tighter seal. so i should've stopped to check for loosening of the door when i heard it. i just assumed it was rattling of the stainless steel bottle against the bottle cage, not a open/loose storage door.
luckily main damage was just a scratched up stainless steel bottle (looks like shit now tbh). the storage door itself had some barely noticeable scratches on the edges i touched up with a sharpie.
if i had to do it over, would i still want the downtube storage? kind of am leaning towards "no" in it's current implementation.
i'm hesitant to use a heavy bottle in the downtube cage with the storage door now. the seat tube cage is, of course, solid. LC just needs a more fool-proof, vibration-proof solution than their current method, that clearly other brands have figured out. now, every ride, i will be yanking and double checking there's no looseness with the door in every direction.
