Commuting - Water bottle leave it or pick it up

Hello,

I was wondering what you guys do when a water bottle gets ejected from your cage. I was cycling in mild traffic I didn't have a mirror to check traffic so I kept on rolling didn't want to endanger my life over a stupid .99 waterbottle what do you guys do?

Depending on the traffic and the situation I would leave it or pick it up. For example if I was on a small street with houses and probably 1-2 cars pass by there in 5 mins I would turn 180 and go back for it. Water is important to have. Especially on a hot day. Yah it sucks if you drop your h2o and you're out of change to buy more bottles then I would probably go back pending the traffic. Once again remember it's not worth your life over a 99cent bottle going into heavy traffic to retrieve it. Guage the situation and act accordingly.

If the bottle ejects often ( I like to hop on my bike so I get the occasional eject) I would use both hands and push that water bottle cage in to get a tighter grip. If the bottle cage is made with thin guage wire then it may be worth it to just spend the extra (I'm Canadian so funds in CDN) $4.99 on a new bottle cage that has thicker wiring.

Check the thread with the "Topeak mirror" as I listed a cheap $4.99 mirror that works well. The Zefal is $15 CDN or about $13 USD.


Zero_Enigma

I just reuse bottled water bottles, but even though I have a few spare, I'd pick it up if it was reasonably safe to do so because I don't like littering.

It isn't the Tour de France with people to clean up after you :p

Yeah, I know I was thinking that some one would stumble on it, and be like jerk were I was riding there were allot of train tracks so I was un-guard allday! I am thinking about getting something actually made for the cages instead of the vending machine bottles

See, this is why I like my 100oz camelback so much....

+1 for the camel back. I just never felt safe trying to grab the bottle, drink and replace it while pedaling.

I lost one but was able to get it back by virtue of being on a relatively empty residential street at the time.
You could always slow down/stop and see where it rolls. I had assumed mine was going to roll right into traffic and get crushed, but somehow it came to a stop a few meters past where I stopped on my side of the street.

I've never had one fall out... if I did and it were unsafe to stop immediately, I'd stop as soon as it was and go back and get it.

$.99? psht, I've got $2.99 invested in each one there's no way in hell I'm throwing that away!

See, this is why I like my 100oz camelback so much....

Would you stop and go back for your camelback if it fell off? ;)

Yeah I have been eyeing this one

http://www.performancebike.com/product_images/400/20-4493-HVS-YEL.jpg

Image via

performancebike.com

I like the safety bling on it

The only time that I can remember dropping one, it was an easy decision to pick it up.

See, since my wife was riding on my wheel, and when she saw me getting a drink thought it was a good idea. So she had one hand on the bars and another hand reaching down for her bottle when mine traveled out of my fingers, down to the ground and right under her front wheel. I saw my bottle disappear under my bike, and then heard that particular metallic crashing sound behind me and thought "uh oh...I'm in trouble now".:eek:

So, it was an easy decision to pick up the bottle, since it was laying right beside my wife at the time.:o

Luckily, other than leaving some bark, she was OK.

The only time I've had bottles eject are when I'm on busy streets. Murphy's Law.

Murphy must be a God because his stupid laws follow me all over the place

:lol: Glad to hear I'm not the only one.

I would go back only when, and if, it was safe to do so. Even if it took a while.

Um........if you polish your bike with wax of any kind.

Don't wax and polish the bottles, even thought they look great.

OOPS. :o

I lost a bottle once this summer. I stopped to pick it up because it was safe to do so, because I didn't want to litter, and because it was near the beginning of my commute home and I didn't want to be without water (it was really hot/humid that day). If I'd lost it in the middle of an intersection I wouldn't have stopped.

I lost a sandal in the middle of an intersection this summer too, and I stopped for that because I didn't want to loose my shoe and have to ride with one bare foot. Luckily there wasn't any traffic (at a normally very busy downtown intersection). I got better shoes that can't fall off after that incident.

If the bottle was only .99 I would probably forget it, but I use only $10 Polar Bottles so if I ejected one of those I would probably figure out a way to get safely...at least till it got ran over by a car! Recently I was going across a wooden bridge near where I live and the jarring of the wood ejected one of my bottles into the river; I let that bottle go because in order to fitch it I would had to clamber through thick brush and trees, and decided snagging my bike clothes on something would be more expensive then the getting the bottle!

I go back and get them.

I need my water and it's $2.49 for new bottles, not to mention the hassle of getting new bottles.

If the bottle was only .99 I would probably forget it, but I use only $10 Polar Bottles so if I ejected one of those I would probably figure out a way to get safely...at least till it got ran over by a car! Recently I was going across a wooden bridge near where I live and the jarring of the wood ejected one of my bottles into the river; I let that bottle go because in order to fitch it I would had to clamber through thick brush and trees, and decided snagging my bike clothes on something would be more expensive then the getting the bottle!


Not to mention getting your bike stolen while you are going for a swim!

Kind of a weird situation because your bottle shouldnt be falling out of its cage by itself (only when you try to pick it up to drink) and you shouldnt be trying to drink where it was dangerous to stop your bike if it were to fall.

Last weekend on the St. Paul Classic I lost a screw top water bottle off the tandem and just as I got stopped to see where the bottle had gone, one rider rolled up and handed me the bottle and another the cap! Great, friendly folks on that ride.

Don't litter!! Now in truth, I understand if you are riding in heavy traffic, and don't want to get killed.

Beware though, the litter karma will catch up to you!! :)

Where do you get a biking water bottle for $0.99?

Would you stop and go back for your camelback if it fell off? ;)

.....after the surgeons stitched my arms back on, sure.:p

Where do you get a biking water bottle for $0.99?

the vending machine I think that is why it ejected

Ohhhhh so not a water bottle made for cycling, I get it. Pick it up anyway, litterbug! ;)

I would stop and pick it up.
But then, when I'm on a bike, I stop and pick up all kinds of neat stuff off the side of the road. Everything from hats, to life preservers, to lumber.:D

The only time I had a bottle ejected was when I stupidly put a vending-machine skinny bottle into the cage. It was run over by cars within a couple of seconds of the ejection, so there wasn't much I could do about it. So I just rode on, but felt a little bad about it: as far as I recall, it's the only piece of litter I dropped in a public area in the last fifteen or so years.

The bottle I regularly use fits very tightly into the cage and is extremely unlikely to fall out.

Hello,

I was wondering what you guys do when a water bottle gets ejected from your cage. I was cycling in mild traffic I didn't have a mirror to check traffic so I kept on rolling didn't want to endanger my life over a stupid .99 waterbottle what do you guys do?

Well the .99 waterbottle rolling in the street could cause a fender bender with cars trying to avoid something rolling around. So I have one cage for the bigger bottles and one for the smaller ones. I had to bend both to fit my particular bottle. Hope this helps.

Edited: yes I go back to pick it up...if it does fall out.

I bought a cheapo water bottle today for about $4, and was thinking I was getting ripped off for a second with all the .99 talk. If it were a Dasani (blech) type bottle I would probably pull over and pick it up. However, as soon as a car ran over it, I would consider it a gift to the road. I mean it will biodegrade eventually...over the next several thousand years. In all honestly if it were safe to, I would pick up anything I dropped regardless of value.

Yeah, I was going through that neighborhood again no such luck finding the thing maybe it got ran over by a car then got the seal of death this morning by the train