Where do you all carry your water?

[piston9]

Me again

Context: looking at building up a V20. I currently ride an Ice VTX (gasp!) - seriously, it's absolutely amazing, so darn comfortable (never riding a df again), but what if I could go even faster...... (I'm sure my wife just sighed somewhere, and doesn't know why...). I had a sofrider many years ago, willing to try the V20....

Where do you store your water? I regularly ride 2-3 hours, and need to carry at least 2 bottles. On the VTX I have two bottle mounts under the seat, which are perfectly placed (you can see in the pic). I see you can buy a rear headrest type carry, but haven't seen them in action - been browsing the facebook group photos, and can't really tell..... Any help here appreciated! Just trying to work out what is possible, and what I should be looking for\getting either stock or after market. I'm not against making\modifying as needed!

Thanks again - i'm sure there will be another 12 questions at least before I buy (unless a used one comes up that I can snap up and then work on). Appreciate the community!

Drewe

 

[M.J]

I keep water in a Camelbak bladder in my rear trunk. The hose runs down along the seat and is secured with Velcro. I can carry a couple bottles worth easily.
You can also mount bottle cages under the sides of a stock seat, which is what I did when I had a stock seat.

 

[Mathew Fy]

What, you don't just rest a bottle on your chest? I think there's some aero benefit.

 

[Mathew Fy]

MJ and many others use a bladder/hose combo. Most commonly I see:

The behind-the-head options: Race Case and Headrest Cage Mount. I've tried both, but have launched way too many bottles out after a bump.


The under-seat option: easy to access, but reduces your aerodynamics a bit. The Bottle Cage Spacer may be helpful.


The under-slider option (or over-slider if you wish): easy access & fairly aero. May rub your thighs. I use something like this https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-aero-tt-bottle-and-cage-kit

 

[Tuloose]

One under the boom (it has to be moved down far enough so it won't hit you in the chest when you sit up) and extras under the seat pan.

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

Where do you store your water? I regularly ride 2-3 hours, and need to carry at least 2 bottles.

I ride 5 to 6 hours per ride and carry one or two bottles. (Hydration is highly overrated.) I have two cages behind my shoulders. To keep from launching the bottles on bumps, I attached some Velcro tape to each cage. This tightens the cage as much as needed to prevent launching.

 

[chicorider]

I can carry up to four bottles--two behind my shoulders and two under the seat.

I started with the Cruzbike bottle cage bracket, but I kept breaking the bolt that holds the clamp to the headrest, dropping the whole bottle assembly to the street (including at mile 80 of a double century, on a hot day). So I made my own cage bracket, which has held up great.

For the seatpan cages, I moved the mounting holes up a little higher, where I can mount the cages without spacers, and I figure it puts the bottles a slight bit more out of the wind...maybe.

Not all bottle cages hold bottles the same. I've ejected my share of bottles with weak cages I no longer use. My current cages hold onto bottles really well.

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[chicorider]

Oops! I also meant to include these two pics...

 

[LarryOz]

What, you don't just rest a bottle on your chest? I think there's some aero benefit.

Love the pic Mathew! - That was my custom build case before Cruzbike starting offering their race case.
I like the race case (for 2 bottles) and - 1 holder under the boom for a 3rd.
I can stick 2x 1 liter bottles in the race case and with the 3rd have enough for 100 miles.

 

[Frito Bandito]

2 bottles behind the head in the CB mount seem to be the most aero outside of the Race Case. But as you can see some are either building their own case behind their heads, including me, or using the Thor seat and Radical Design bag combo to put their bladders with bite-down tube in.

Bottles under the seat are another option, but you have to consider how accessible they are while riding, as well as how much you think it disrupts airflow under the seat. With any bottle system though, you gotta make sure that the cages you use hold the bottles snugly. There seems to be a bit of an ejection issue on bumps when putting the bottles behind your head. I lost 2 brand new bottles that I thought would stay put but them sitting that far off the back and hitting a decent sized bump impressively launches them like a catapult. I couldn't help but laugh at the physics demonstration.

Another option that I am kind of surprised that not many people use is my favorite, especially in Summer. I put a 2.5L bladder with a bitedown tube in a 5L Deuter Road One backpack and wear it on my chest. I will eventually get a 3L bladder for it, but I use 2 packs (2L) of powdered Pocari Sweat (Japan's version of Gatorade). Fill the bladder with 1kg of ice, top it off with water and add the 2 packs of powder. It is a bit strong in the beginning, but the ice cools me off while riding, and as it melts it dilutes the solution. While riding, the backpack is hardly noticeable, but might touch your bars when you lean up. With the zippers, I can perfectly locate the bitedown tube to where I can either turn my head to the side and grab it with my mouth, or quickly put it in my mouth with my hand without having to hold a bottle.

I have no science to support this, but I think filling up the space between my chest the bars and my legs with that backpack is probably more aero than nothing in that space. It could be less aero than bottles behind the head, but if I had an aero tailbox AND that bag then it could be more aero than just bottles behind the head. Not only that, the pockets in the backpack hold my phone, earbuds case and energy bars, and is easily accessible with 1 hand without changing my riding position, and I never have to reach behind my head or under the seat for anything at all.

 

[vosadrian]

I run a custom rear box with camelbak bladder. I currently run 1.5L bladder, but my box would support much larger if I needed i. The tube you can barely see in this photo, but it runs out the bottom corner of the box down the left side of the seat and and I have a magnet attaching it at the bottom of the seat. Can easily grab it to put in my mouth (tube running under my armpit) :

 

[Don1]

Custom mount for 2litre bottle with drinking tube. Weighs half of what a two biddon cage and bottle system

 

[ChaleJake]

Oops! I also meant to include these two pics...

That is a nice looking adapter. Are you planning on selling the adapter? It is a nicer look than the Cruzbike piece around the headrest tubes.

 

[HeyHealy]

MJ and many others use a bladder/hose combo. Most commonly I see:

The behind-the-head options: Race Case and Headrest Cage Mount. I've tried both, but have launched way too many bottles out after a bump.
View attachment 13730

I launched multiple bottles with the Race Case and the bottle cages mounted as shown in this picture. I flipped the two cages around and presto -- no more lost bottles. The open side of the cage should face the back of the headrest.

 

[chicorider]

@ChaleJake Thanks! No plans to sell my adapter, but it's easy enough to make, if you want to talk it over. I'm adding two more pics of the same bracket that I just made for my S30. It does cannibalize a couple parts from the CB bracket, but it gets rid of the clamp bolt that kept breaking on me, which was my main concern.

I love how @piston9 asked a pretty simple question that quickly revealed 101 ways to carry water. CB riders are resourceful, for sure.

 

[chicorider]

@HeyHealy Same here. Not only does the clamping strength of the bottle cage matter, but it seems that the way they are oriented plays into it as well. When I arranged mine as you describe, with "the open side facing the back of the headrest," my bottles started sticking around.

 

[DocS]

I changed my seat to a Thor Carbon Fiber...
I fabricated some brackets and used some threaded rivets in the seat to create a mount. Then I used some Dryer Hose Clamps from Lowes to hold each 40oz bottle in place... i prefer cold water, so these Bubba Vacuum bottles work well...
The Bitetube is a Camelback one meant for bottle straws.

This system works great! I usually have to stop to pee before I need to stop for water..

Blessings, Rudy