Aero Bottle on regular road bike - Opinions, Reviews

[robeambro]

Right, so. This thread is very much "first world problems", but hey, bear with me

In around a month I will have my new bike (an SL6), and my intention has been to make it "aero with judgement". What I mean is, whenever aero gains could be made relatively easily and without compromising too much else, I would go for them.

In this light, I have equipped it with wheels/handlebar/tires that would give me any practically minuscule yet theoretically gratifying gains, without compromising other variables too much.

Now, I find myself thinking of bottles. It seems to me that there's only two options here: either I get 2 standard/ww bottle cages, or I go for the Elite Crono CX bottles. There may be other options, but either they're not very popular, or I just didn't find them.

I've never used the latter, and I don't know whether they are very practical to use, nor whether I'd look like a douche, or even whether the bike (which is surely not a TT bike) will look awful with them on. And finally, I don't even know whether they'd allow any aero benefit. Evidence seems to be very inconclusive and will of course change from bike to bike. Some articles seem to say just 1-2 watts, others 6-7, others no benefit at all, etc.

Please feel free to help me decide, chip in with your experience, knowledge, opinions, or even post the pic of your road bike (possibly not a full aero steed!) with the Elite bottles if you have them.

[AndreLM]

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[robeambro]

viewtopic.php?p=1474790#p1474790

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Haha yes, I had just commented there. That's where I got the idea in the first place!

[danridesbikes]

one thing though, i did a 200 mile sportive on it last year, and i lost a bottle over a cattle grid on a descent, it skittled down the road and split, having a propriety bottle/cage in that scenario was a mistake, i had to do 130 odd miles with just a 500ml bottle, of course i stopped to refill, it was a warm day though and it disadvantaged me, i just use them for flat local rides now, id refit regular cages/bottles for anything long

[dim]

one thing though, i did a 200 mile sportive on it last year, and i lost a bottle over a cattle grid on a descent, it skittled down the road and split, having a propriety bottle/cage in that scenario was a mistake, i had to do 130 odd miles with just a 500ml bottle, of course i stopped to refill, it was a warm day though and it disadvantaged me, i just use them for flat local rides now, id refit regular cages/bottles for anything long

very nice bike! ....

[kgt]

A normal, round bottle is way more practical to hold, grip, squeeze, take out of its cage and put it back. I would not bother, too much hassle for questionable gains.

[dricked]

If I could find an aero bottle that held +700ml I’d buy them. A lot of the routes I ride don’t have anywhere for me to refill.

[sychen]

I'm not sure if it's worthy of the effort and potential/real issues once you have it.

As a sl6 owner.. I think it's aero enought for gumbys like me.

Get some regular cages on.. And if you really want get some aero cages for specific events...

For me.. Any cage that isn't able to take regular store bought water is a no go.. You know in case you run out the door and 20kms into a 100km ride you reach down for an air swing because you left your full bottles in the kitchen ?



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[robeambro]

Thanks guys. I see not many people opted to use them, at least from the initial replies.. Hmm.

[Karvalo]

Thanks guys. I see not many people opted to use them, at least from the initial replies.. Hmm.

Yup, leave them for TTing. In any other situation they're difficult to use, difficult to replace, impractical, bad for road racing and pointless if you don't.

[1415chris]

Regrading Elite Crono CX bottles, apart their aero properties and good look, they have their limitations. I can live with its smaller capacity, with the more effort required to squeeze the liquid out, but for me the biggest issue with this bottle is that it leaks like a sieve. Mounted on the downtube, fully filled up, on the rougher tarmac it leaks. The membrane is weak, it doesn't hold and lets the watter go out. I will check if pouring only up to 3/4 its capacity will improve anything.

[marek]

I also confirm that ELITE aero bottle is leaking massively. I returned it.

Have You seen this one ?
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/int/airw ... --cage-kit

Never used it but it is an option.

[CrankAddictsRich]

I have an aero bottle that I use 1-3 times a year for 40K+ TT's. I would never ever choose to use them as my normal bottles. They suck in terms of acting like a bottle. Because of the shape, the lid screws on, but its really only a 1/2 to 3/4 turn to lock in place, so that the aero lid fits the bottle shape every time. The mouth piece is pretty simple, basically just a valve that opens when you squeeze the bottle, but I find it to be leaky.

[robeambro]

I also confirm that ELITE aero bottle is leaking massively. I returned it.

Have You seen this one ?
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/int/airw ... --cage-kit

Never used it but it is an option.

Thanks!

Well, it could be an option. However, I find it remarkably ugly, and it's also way too expensive for my liking, at 60 EUR for the cage + bottle.

EDIT: also, I think that the overwhelming feedback about the Elite bottle not being very practical, makes me rethink my option. I suppose there's not much else to try though..

[Jugi]

I have an Elite Chrono CX bottle. Although it has dropped a couple of times at speed, it doesn't leak at all. I would be happy to throw it in a training bag if I could be certain it wouldn't get squeezed in there.

I think the bottle cage retention issue the Chrono CX sometimes suffers is at the other end of the sealing spectrum. If the bottle is so water tight that it doesn't leak, sometimes it takes a moment to retract to original width from being squeezed. As the proprietary bottle cage is designed to have a pinching grip on the bottle, thinner than typical bottle width becomes an issue.

In my opinion it's a great bottle for a TT bike (just one of many compromises on comfort) but not very usable compared to a standard bottle on a typical road bike.