Triathlon - Hydration options
Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.
PDXaero
12-15-08, 06:12 PM
You can only ride so long without water.
what are other people running and what do you like/dislike about your setup.
I am thinking of doing a double bottle behind the seat setup but would like some constructive feedback before i spend $50 on a bracket.
Thanks in advance for your input.
caelric
12-15-08, 06:57 PM
Well, it all depends. What type of bike are you using for tri's? If you have a nice aero tri bike, with disc wheels and other super aero stuff, you don't want to ruin it with a poorly placed water bottle. On the other hand, if your bike is not so geared towards aero-ness, why not just use the down tube or seat tube mounts? And if you still would like to keep it a bit aero, go with one of these (http://www.all3sports.com/product_info.php?pName=profile-design-razor-bottlecage&jsenabled=1&osCsid=70eb27caa31bb191838f8814602fadb4) Or, you can get one of the systems that feeds a drinking straw up between yur aero bars.
In other words, it is somewhat bike dependent.
PDXaero
12-15-08, 07:16 PM
My tri-bike is 30 years old so its not quite the epitome of aerodynamics. Also it has no mounts on the tubes so i figured a saddle rail mount would be a good no-addition option.
My cyclocomputer is between my bars so i cant keep a bottle up there.
The lightest option would definitely be cages on my downtube or seattube but weight isn't paramount with said bike. I would rather have things out of my way when i dont need them.
Lucky for me I accomplish most of my hydration during the swim.
caelric
12-15-08, 08:55 PM
Lucky for me I accomplish most of my hydration during the swim.
Might not work so well if the swim is an ocean swim... ;)
For the OP, you could probably get mount holes drilled and tapped on the downtube and seattube. I would think your LBS could do this. If you don't want to do that, then the easiest option would be the behind the seat mount, as you mentioned. Only thing I would worry about, given my general lack of coordination, is being able to fit the water bottle back in the cage behind me without fumbling it. But that's rather specific to me. :)
cjbruin
12-16-08, 08:41 PM
I recommend the "behind-the-seat" option. I have the X-Lab with Steel King Cages (highly recommended to avoid "Bottle Launch") and I like it for a few reasons. For starters, once the air gets to that point, it is already "dirty" so the aero hit isn't significant. Also, they are very easy to access...I actually prefer to grab a bottle from there than from my seat tube. Last, you can hang your bike by the bracket on the transition racks...which makes for a fast getaway!