Originally Posted by
SapInMyBlood
They work great; the only downside is added weight and (arguably) less cooling
Try ice. It really makes a difference.
The added weight means more pressure on your hands, more strain on your lower back and more weight on your sit bones / saddle. But if it works for you it works!
I’ve never found wearing a hydration pack do any of those things. The load of the pack is carried on the bicycle’s best suspension system…you! If it puts more weight on your sitbones/saddle, you aren’t riding the bike correctly to begin with. It’s called a “saddle” for a reason. You shouldn’t be sitting on it with all your weight. Same with hands. You should have a light touch on the bars with your core muscles providing most of your support.
I've found lots of other ways to carry water that I prefer
Bladder in the frame bag, bottle cage adapter to put two bottles outside the frame bag, bottle holders outside the seat pack, feed bags on the stem, over the aerobars, etc...
I see several problems with this approach. First water is heavy. Putting it on the frame makes it a huge mass of unsprung weight. That’s not a good thing. Second, when using bikepacking bags, space is limited and using it up for carrying water means that I have to put items elsewhere or I have carry more bags to provide space for the equipment displaced by the water.
Putting water bottles all over the bike means that you have more bottles to keep track of. I carry a 100 oz Camelbak and three bottles. Two of those bottles are dedicated to sports drink and one is an emergency backup for the Camelbak. I seldom use the water in the backup bottle even when riding in dry Colorado.