SurlyLaika

So backpack or panniers?

cyccommute 

+1 And, if you pack the Camelbak with as much ice as you can, it becomes your own personal cooling unit.

Mondo734

I love my camelbak the only time I dont use it is if I am riding short distances. I have a hard time keeping my speed and cadence consistant if im trying to fiddle with a bottle. I usually do keep a bottle but its filled with gatorade or something other than water. As for my back getting sweaty well thats gonna happen no matter what if Im out for anything more than a short ride. Plus it its frozen or full of ice it actually feels pretty good.

aramis

I know I saw these fools with really expensive bikes and 2 water bottles riding the other day.





I didn't realize if you had an expensive/light bike you needed to ride without water and have to have a support car for you if you get a flat.

I hate things strapped to my back, so I don't use a camelback, never seems that hard to grab a water bottle and drink to me.

himespau 

That difference does it make if it's on your bike or your back? The weight is the same.

Garfield Cat

Maybe if the camelback position could be changed to wrap around the lumbar instead of the middle of the back, then the heat build up would be minimized. It would be horizontal instead of vertical.

Stealthammer

I would rather carry the weight on my back than to put it on the bike whenever possible, so when I need a backpack I use my North Face Bandwidth backpack that has an internal pocket that works great with a 70oz Camelbak bladder, otherwise I use my Camelbak Lobo or Classic. It just depends on how much I need to carry.

BTW: I never use panniers unless I am touring because they make the bike handle like a truck.



Hey smart***, go back and read my post where I clearly stated: "I can also get a quick drink easily on a technical downhill or in tight wooded areas or when singletracking, where reaching for a frame mounted water bottle would be impossible without slowing down or stopping, and I would personally rather keep the weight off the bike for handling purposes alone."

Obviously I was talking about when riding one of my mountain bikes and not when I am riding one of my road bikes. But I guess that went right over your head....



When road biking it really doesn't matter too much where the weight is, but when mountain biking having the extra weight on the bike affects the handling and I would rather keep my bike as light as possible so that I can flicking it around more easily.

roobydoo

I simply don't like adding weight to my bike. I only run a camelback.
I never even added a bottle holder to either of my new bikes.
Over the bumps all that water goes up and down with the bike.
Even if its only slight. My brain still knows its extra bike weight. The only reason I would add bottles is for intentionally loading up the bike for training.

mechBgon

Another good point there. Stick bite valve in mouth, put hands back on bar and drink while riding in full control. Let go of bite valve, task complete. When I race XC, I do use just a single bottle for ~1hr races, but I have to pick my moment and drink just once or twice where I can spare the full control of the bike.

When the Camelbak first came out, I echoed the sentiments I see around here: "what, go around with 5-6 pounds of WATER on my back? Dumbest. idea. EVAR." But then I tried one, and used it for years until it disintegrated, and then bought another one

cyccommute 

Sprung vs unsprung weight

panzercom2002

I have an Osprey pack that I like. For me the answer is simple, I would rather have it on my back than my bike. I was in the infantry for a few years. A small backpack is almost unnoticeable weight wise.

StephenH

Riding in the heat of summer, a Camelbak plus two water bottles, all iced down, is good for 30 miles or so. When I first started doing longer rides in the heat, I would carry two quart Nalgene bottles in my trunk bag, but would get dropped off a group when I needed to swap out bottles, and the Camelbak took care of that issue. A lot of the riders I ride with use them, some just in the heat, some year round.

a1penguin

Also consider that the water bottles and camelback affect your center of gravity differently. I am fit enough to be able to do a 35 mile ride with 2 20oz water bottles in the Norcal summer. And my rides go past places where I can fill up bottles. I'm hoping for longer rides and will probably use the camelbak for some of the longer rides. I think the camelbak with ice stays colder longer than Polar cold bottles.

Sirrus Rider

I use a Camabak Classic all the time. Most of my bikes are 47cm and only have one usable water bottle mount to begin with. (Well the '07 Sirrus DBC has one on the underside of the down tube but I'm not about to reach under the bike while riding in traffic.) I also like being able to drink while riding with both hands on the bars.

Yo Spiff

Sounds about right for this area. I've emptied my 70oz reservoir and both bottles a couple of times last summer. Using a 100 oz model now.

Digital_Cowboy

If one is using Gatoraide, or CamelBak Elixir or some other sports drink in their CamelBak one can use the re-freezable ice packs to chill their CamelBak (or whatever) without diluting the contents.

Leebo

So on mt bike rides, water in the camelback, gatorade in the bottle holder. For my commuter with 2 bottle cages, one with water, one with gatorade. I find my camelback great to hold extra clothing, med kit, tools, trail work tools, food and important stuff like chocolate, beer, bananas, cameras, and bacon sandwiches. Some of my rides last 4-6 hours.

Keith99

I once did far too good a job of that. ended up with nothing but ice in the middle of nowhere. Which would n't have been too bad except for the circling vultures. Never been quite so happy to come across some roadkill.

Mithrandir

I go through water like a fiend in summertime. This is especially annoying because I can only easily reach the downtube bottle, the seatpost bottle is tough to reach for my stature, so I have to get off the bike every 10 miles or so to switch bottles. Annoying as heck.

However, I sweat like a fiend too, and camelbak's are uncomfortable due to a complete lack of back ventilation. To that end, I experimented around with a new concept; I bought a frame bag and an MSR water bladder and drinking hose:





This works remarkably well in practice so far. There is one caveat that I recently discovered however; last week we had 85 degree weather for the first time since implementing this system, and I found that the water in the drinking tube would warm up exceedingly fast. Not a deal breaker, but I found that this effect caused me to drink more than I intended, because I would drink everything in the tube first to get to the cool refreshing water still in the bladder, leading me to run out of water much sooner than usual (I had only put 48oz in the bladder to keep weight down).

But since the bag holds 5.5x24oz bottles worth, I don't consider this a huge problem; I will simply load it up with more water on warmer days. I will continue to experiment as the summer comes closer.

Leebo

Mirthrandir, put ice in the camelback, use an insulated tube and blow the water back in from the tube when done. Problem solved.

Keith99

I totally agree for almost all road rides. When I was inexperienced I like a camelback a lot more. It is nice to top a climb and just have to get teh nipple in yuo mough to drink all the way down while still going balls out downhill.

Gold way way back when drinking on a climb was a challenge. Now I drink enough while climbing and can get a lot cresting the top. I can think of one or 2 rides with limited water sources where that all changes. Then a camelback and over 2 bottles might be the way to go.

Offroad is different. I've gone down some pounding dirt roads where drinking was impossible and where I ended up piccking up 3 bottles in less than a mile (lost by other riders, and thsi was not a well traveled road). And I can think of one very exposed ridge where having a couple of one liter water cubes was a rather good investment.

So for me camelbacks are the right thing for some rides and are junk for others. Same with different bikes for different jobs.

Yo Spiff

Easy fix. After taking a drink, I puff into the valve to push all the water from the hose back into the reservoir. Now it stays cool and the amount of air in the tube only delays the next drink by a short moment. This works with the Camelbak valves, though may not work with some other designs.

caloso

Am I the only one who puts a third (or occasionally, a fourth) bottle in my jersey pockets?