dman-ebike

Here's a cheap alternative to buying the $60 aero bottle system. I went to the grocery store and came up with a few options. All are bought except for the narrow one which was made thinner by taking a heat gun to the bottle next to it (left)and shrinking it. Doesn't look that good but it is more aero then the others. These are much lighter then any standard water bottle. Anyone else try this? Here they are:

awesomejack

they all look like normal plastic bottles to me.... except the heat treated one obviously.

How are these more aero than a normal bottle?

dman-ebike

Sorry, less frontal area is what I mean.

Daytrip

I usually use 32 oz vitamin water bottles. I don't really care about aero. Two of those and I'm good to go for most rides.

Bikelyst

roflcopters

mrvile

Roflcopters. I'm not sure if I'd drink out of a plastic disposable water bottle that has been heat gunned.

lambo_vt

how many mph did those bottles gain you**********?

rangerdavid

DAMN.


and I thought it was my being overweight by about 25 lbs. and all this time it was my freaking water bottle.

dman-ebike

Pretty sure thats how they make em:

Blow molding a two-liter soda bottle requires a preformed piece called a parison. This parison is usually extruded from a plastic injection mold placed very close to the blow molding machinery. The warm parison looks like a upside-down plastic test tube, with a preformed collar and threads for the cap at the bottom. The parison is mechanically loaded onto a stand and two sides of a bottle-shaped metal mold come together around it.
Before the parison cools down, a hollow ramrod is injected into its center and pushed to the top of the mold, stretching out the warm plastic preform as it goes. Compressed air is then forced out in controlled low-pressure stages through the hollow ramrod. The plastic form is forced out to the sides of the mold. Because the stretching is performed evenly, the plastic remains uniformly thin and strong. The soda bottle assumes the shape of the mold and is dropped out of the blow molding machine as the two mold halves separate. A new parison is extruded and the entire blow molding process begins again. The actual manufacture of a soda bottle takes only a few seconds.

GP 

I'm stunned.

dorkypants

Aren't those bottled-water bottles made from polypropylene (polyethlylene?), which becomes brittle and starts cracking in short order, at least relative to regular bike water bottles, which may have their own problems (BPAs?).

roshea

. .

tFUnK

hahaha good one

AngryScientist 

hopefully you're either joking, trolling or just being a jackass, otherwise you're just an idiot. you think a crumpled heat gunned bottle is going to gain you an aero advantage? my bet is first bump in the road you hit you'll eject it from your cage.

regardless of blow molding plastic disposable water bottles, i think its fairly well documented that once they are initially made they will leach all sorts of toxic goodies into the water if re-heated. this may not be a big deal on a one bottle basis, but there's no way you should make a habit out of it.

i cant believe i'm even replying to this thread. goodnight.

dman-ebike

I got a big pile of them on the side waiting to be recycled. They never crack or anything sitting out in the sun in a recycle bin. "Pete 1" is the recycle plastic#. On my regular "official" bike water bottle is a LDPE 4. IT smells so bad inside, you can't leave water in it for long or it will smell just like the plastic. I've heard people say to throw the "pete 1" type bottles away after your done but I believe that's just a business CYA policy and they will sell more of them if you do that. Rinse it out, fill it back up. Don't back wash it, put a squirter top on it. Must be good plastic with all the companies filling it with all their water and soda drinks. One plastic trash can full of it gets you like $7 down at the recycle yard. Good stuff.

dman-ebike

Here's whats left of a 2L bottle of rootbeer after the heatgun treatment. Still smells like rootbeer inside:

I like the bullet shaped bottle though:

Jinker

Removing those suicide brake levers, or even switching to aero style brake levers will have more of an effect than 'souping up' your water bottle.

dman-ebike

What type of areo type brakes do you recommend for old 1" type handlebars or does one size fit all?

mrvile

Really? One size fits all. Tektro R100, dirt cheap.

dman-ebike

Thanks. Isn't it the other way around though? The additional levers are for safety, not suicide. Aero brake levers= suicide.

oilman_15106

And this modified bottle actually stays in a bottle cage on the bike? I was involved in a TdF style crash when 2 Gatpraid bottles flew out of some gals bike as she crossed a set of rr tracks.

RacerOne

I do this by leaving them on the back of the van and then accidentally backing over them.

RacerOne

Until you REALLY have to stop and can't because they've bottomed out on the handle bar. Very bad design for something marketed as an extra 'safety' device.

zzzwillzzz

and your hands are in a position that's too narrow to give you good leverage/control as your weight shifts forward when you brake

dman-ebike

Ok. Good to know. The design on mine can't hit the handlebar and would go past it.