Bottle placement

ive started carrying water bottles now that i am doing longer rides. my bike however doesnt have any mounts for a bottle cage. at the moment i keep them in my saddle bag behind my seat. i got some really nice vintage looking bottles from the outdoor store that are sockingly light.

what do you reckon to bottle placement?

behind the seat double? theyre easy to reach and dont clutter the bike so much. aero cost?

inside frame? the normal position, however, i dont like having to reach for them and its messy looking. most aero?

double on the front of handle bars. this is a real vintage look that ive only seen on internet pictures. i think it looks nice, and easy to use, but its got to be the least aero.

technically its more aero to have 1 bottle upright on the seattube (as opposed to on the downtube). I bet one bottle on the back of the seatpost isnt too bad either, just looks gay.

you used to be able to get bottle cage plastic straps to fit on the frame in Halfords for bottle cages, maybe they still do them?

Tesco big Stores do have clamp on bottle cages for the bars nowadays, although they don't supply a bit of inner tube to keep them rock steady on the bars, I guess for Sunday riders in the Park etc they're fine. Very retro, but you'd need the straws to go with them too.

Bottles behind the saddle are literaly a pain in the rear- you can't get at them on a ride, and if you can you can't put the thing back again.

Yes to aero on downtube and seat tube if you have cages, not sure if you don't though, even wearing a cap over your hair improves the aero mark downwards (down towards zero, but not zero..)

BTW body bulk is an awful lot to do with non-aero and worrying about a bottle cage somewhere is in the grand scale infinitesmal, bend you back and you'll be more aero, you may not be able to breath though.... but you'll be aero.

Tesco's do some of their own versions of Camelback's for all of £10 and they're good too, for a club run or training they're fine, for racing they're naf

behind the seat double is dodgy - any bump in the road and you'll catapult your bottles into space.

im not seriosuly bothered about aero, but it is nice to know. ive tried and failed to get along with camelbacks for cycling. it just doesnt feel right to be carring this thing on your body.

i didnt think bottles behind the saddle would be that much of problem to get to.

Put them in your jersey pocket like Jacques Anquetil for that true vintage look!

(nb: only when going up hills, of course)

i really liked the idea of having the vintage time trail look of bottle on handlebars with straw
but apparently whenever you go over a bump the contents of the bottle goes in your face?
please prove me wrong i would love to get a bottle for there, does anyone know of anywhere that sells them?

Buy one of these?

It'll look vintage soon enough... ;)

Buy one of these?

It'll look vintage soon enough... ;)

yeah and only sets you back around 195 quid :)

i didnt think bottles behind the saddle would be that much of problem to get to.

a/ the bottles face backwards
b/ they're not that easy to grab
c/ they're way behind you so you need to straetch to get so lose concentration on the road ahead
d/ effectively you can only really use them when you stop
e/ I've not seen the brackets for ages as it all went out of fashion quickly

I'm sure there's more....

You might guess I have been there and done that, twin brackets off the saddle rails, and I can assure you honestly it was a waste of time and money, and it was scrapped very quickly.

However, its a free country/free thought/etc, and if it works for you- fine.

BTW the Tesco bar mounting versions do need a rubber strip to secure them, and probably a replacement of the twist grip bolt- its not looking good at the moment- very quickly I end up with a bottle cage with "brewer's droop" as it turns on the bars........

Put them in your jersey pocket like Jacques Anquetil for that true vintage look!

(nb: only when going up hills, of course)

Have you read the Rider by Tim Crabbe?

Just put them anywhere, and use photoshop to convert all photos of yourself to black and white (or sepia!) before your post them on the internet, for that real classic vintage look!

Jersey pockets are fine. Mind you, if you ride with a lumberman's shirt in true hipster style, you will find that the breast pockets are not large enough for a respectable bidon.

I own two identical lumberjack shirts which I bought when they were last fashionable in about 1988. Actually one was for me and one for my then girlfriend though I don't think we ever ventured out matching.

I also have one of those water bottle holders that attaches behind the saddle. It's fugly but better than nothing.

tip learnt on the memorial ride :-)

of course there's the beer drinker's hats with bottles and straws on them too!