Hydration on the bike

On my road bikes (and mtb) i go for 2 bottles on the frame

On my TT bike i have a double profile bottle in the bars and a bottle on the frame

On long training and off road I quite often go for a hydration pack 

not realy a consistant aproach ... i know 

I have a problem with drinking on the bike. I'm not the most confident cyclist anyway and start to wobble when trying to taking a bottle out of and putting it back into a bottle cage.
I picked up a bottle cage from Halford and some cable ties this week and fastened it to the top of the handlebars last night, I hope that was what was meant by the earlier comment about fastening a bottle cage to the stem.
Went out this morning and it was easy to get the bottle in and out of the cage, for the first time I managed to drink almost the entire bottle without having to stop to do so. OK I was still wobbling a bit while drinking but I'm sure that I'll get over that with time and practice.

IronCat5 in the Hat wrote (see)

Well done. That's exactly what I meant. Cheaper than the manufactured version too.

Just out of curiosity, doesn't almost a kilogram weight of cage, bottle and water mounted on top of the stem rather spoil the bike's handling?

Pethead wrote (see)

Just out of curiosity, doesn't almost a kilogram weight of cage, bottle and water mounted on top of the stem rather spoil the bike's handling?

I didn't notice any difference to be honest but then I'm not a great cyclist and wasn't going that fast, averaged 14mph over the whole ride. 

Pethead wrote (see)

Just out of curiosity, doesn't almost a kilogram weight of cage, bottle and water mounted on top of the stem rather spoil the bike's handling?

Yes and no. When you consider the change in overall CoG of the bike and hydration, it's a big relocation of weight. It's also locating the fluid (and its associated inertia) to a location with a greater degree of freedom. This is partly the reason why you don't see many handlebar mounted drink systems in the Pro Tour.

The question then becomes whether you'll notice it. I'd suggest that if you're weaving when using a regular bottle cage, then you may well not.

In an IM bike leg, however, there are a lot of differences we must consider - the goal is to time-trial as efficiently as possible, which means: 

• Aero is king
• Wild movements and throwing the bike around aren't common 

Both points have double significance: Firstly, a between the arms (BTA) bottle has been shown to be more aerodynamic than no bottle at all. (http://cervelo.com/en_us/news-blog/article/ask-the-engineers-hydration-and-aerodynamics/2930/) In addition to this, the penalty for coming out of the aero position to drink is reduced as one can drink more quickly.

As the most efficient way to ride is to keep as still as possible, the penalty of raised weight is negligible. This is even more so when we consider that BECAUSE we won't be throwing the bike around, we can consider the body on top to be part of the overall static weight - meaning that as a percentage, the delta for CoG is small.

So I'd stick with a BTA bottle for IM, but wouldn't use one for training or for bicycle races. The caveat here is the reason it was brought up in the first place - some people just find it easier!

Just the thread I was looking for.

I have a tiny road bike in that I can only get 1 bottle on the frame (750ml) I can't actually have 2 on the frame as there is no room!

I'm doing outlaw so need to solve the hydration issue. I'm happy to use a camelbak as I've used them for many hours of run/walk and can cope with the hot back thing.

I'm still a novice as such in that I too wobble when using a bottle

I've just fitted tri bars (turbo use only so far) and don't have much cash to splash.

Any updates on what people use?

*wanders off to look at speedfill*

EP, have a look on the bottle cage that attaches behind your seat, holds two bottles i think...pros's used to use on the TT bike till they got banned, but sure there still ok for us mere amateurs

Coug, my mate only has lugs for one bottle as her frame is tiny, is that side bottle still an option then?

And Brit...i have no idea why.

I would like a look ata  picture of the side one............where can you  put it so that it doesn't get hit by the legs..........and how do you attach it without any lugs

Seren, you legs dont hit ... its the opening that is to the side

You can attach without lugs with cabelties and a plastic lug type thingy  

EP if you look on my gallery in my profile - then go to the album titled "q" you will see my home made speed fill type thingy works a treat

"BTW - why were seat mounted cages banned? Seems like a great place for a bottle or two???"

they're only banned by the UCI for pro riders - the ban doesn't apply to tri.  I don't now what specific reason the UCI have used but as they have also banned frame integrated drinks bottles as well (like Cervelo and Trek have used), I suspect it's just to ensure a level playing field for all pro riders by only having caged bottles - sort of one size fits all.  and probably to get better sponsorship opportunities on all the ones that get thrown away....

can't see the advantage of the side opening one.........as there just doesn't seem to be the room to fit another cage.........and not sure that my ability with cable clips would keep one on.........i will stick to the tri bars one