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How to carry a water bottle while biking
Ever wondered how to install water bottle cage on bike without holes? Yeah, me too.
We bought a new bike earlier this year for my wife. She was very excited. We made plans to go out for our first bike ride with it. Bike? Check. Snacks? Check. Water bottle? Check. Somewhere to fit the bottle holder? Hmm. No.
Most bikes have got two screw holes halfway along the downtube to fit a bottle cage like this to. Unfortunately, our bike didn’t.
I decided to do some research to see what were the best options for a water bottle holder that strapped onto the bike. Along the way, I also found out the answers to some of the most common questions that people have about drinking and cycling. Rather than let all this juicy information sit on my desk, I thought it might be useful for others, so I decided to get it all written up in an article. Shall we dive in and take a look?
Here’s the quick answer: ieasky Bike No Screws Bottle Holder
This is a very clever piece of kit. The ieasky water bottle holder has a quick-release clamp to secure the cage to your bike frame. It’s really practical as you can fix it onto any bike tube, so it can go in many areas on your bike. Standard placement is on the downtube, but it can also go on the seat downtube, seat post or handlebars. It comes as a pack of two, so this is really great value.
How to carry more water on a bike
One of the easiest ways to carry more water when you’re out cycling is to replace your existing drinks bottle. Let me explain.
Let’s say that you’re taking your standard drinks bottle out with you whenever you hit the road or trails. It’s a 350ml / 12oz bottle like this one. It’s a cool bottle and your friends are all envious of the ‘Monster Truck’ design it has.
Problem is that, not very far into your ride, you find that you’re down to the last few drops in the bottle. Eeek!
Before you start adding extra bottles on to your bike, there might be a really simple answer to this one. Just swap out your ‘Monster Truck’ bottle for a much larger one like this. It’s a whopping 975ml / 33oz, so nearly 3 times as much liquid as in the first bottle. Meaning that you can reach the end of your cycle fully hydrated.
Full suspension mountain bike water bottle
I mention full-sus MTBs because they can be a particular issue for stowing water bottles on.
With a standard bike frame you get quite a large central space between the downtube, seat downtube, and top tube. This is ideal for putting 1 or 2 water bottles. On a full-suspension mountain bike this area is often much smaller as the frame is a very different shape and the rear suspension can take up a large part of this central area.
Many full-sus MTBers either go with a hydration pack, or a bottle on the seat post behind the saddle – I’ll give more details on both these below. However, there’s another option which I think works really well for full-sus bikes.
This is one of those ideas that you think, “Why didn’t I come up with that…?” The bottle cage is great because you can lift the bottle out two ways: up like a standard cage, and out to the side. This is the critical bit for full-sus MTBs as they generally have space to fit the bottle/cage, but not enough headroom to lift the bottle up and out. However, with this sideloader cage, MTBers can just pop the bottle in and take it out from the side. Genius.
Cycling dehydration symptoms
You probably know that it’s important to drink plenty when you’re out on the bike. But did you know how important it was?
Up to 60% of our body is water and the brain has an even higher percentage – around 73% water! Because so much of us is water, getting dehydrated can have a major impact on our physical and mental performance. We’re told to drink 8+ glasses of water every day, but when you’re cycling you need to take in much more fluid than that. The general rule is never to wait till you feel thirsty because then it’s too late. When you start to feel thirsty, your actual body weight will have dropped by around 1% due to dehydration.
Between 1% and 3% dehydration, you may start to experience cramping and a loss of power as your body takes in water from your blood to support the heart, brain, and lungs. Trying to chug lots of water at this point won’t immediately stop the symptoms as it takes a while for that water to move out of the stomach and into the bloodstream, so you are likely to become more dehydrated. Between 3% and 5% dehydration you may start to experience an impact on your mental performance, giving you difficulty in maintaining focus and slower reaction times. Not ideal when you’re out on the bike.
When your body has lost 10% of its water you will probably feel physically and mentally drained, and probably quite ill. Stop and take on plenty of fluid well before you reach this point. If in any doubt, seek medical assistance immediately.
What to drink while cycling
I read some time ago, that until as recently as the 60s, it was common practice for endurance cyclists to drink alcohol when competing. Henri Cornet, the 1904 winner of the Tour de France consumed 11 L of hot chocolate, 4 L of tea, and some champagne (not just on the podium) every day of the race. Wow! There again, Tour riders at that time were in the saddle for up to 18hrs a day, so I guess it can be excused.
These days drinking alcohol whilst riding isn’t recommended and is quite possibly illegal in many countries. We also have much better options available to us (although I am partial to a mug of hot chocolate at the end of a cycle on a cold Winter’s day).
One of my favorite options is to use a hydration sports mix with my bottle of water like this one. Great taste and easy to use, just stir the electrolyte powder into your water bottle before you set off.
Best place to put water bottle on bike
Okay, let’s have a detailed look at all the places to store water on your bike when you don’t have the standard fixings:
One of the best places to fit a water bottle is on the downtube that goes from your handlebars down to your pedals. This is the standard place where screw-on bottle cages fit. It’s the obvious place as it’s easy to reach in and grab your bottle. Also, being tucked behind the downtube, it won’t mess with your bike aerodynamics.
If you don’t have the normal cage fixings, then you can use a cage mount like this. The beauty of this system is that you can fit this in a number of places around your bike, including the seat downtube, seat post, and handlebars so that you can increase the amount of water you take with you. Very useful if you’re going to be out for a longer bike ride.
If you’re looking to fit a bottle holder to your bike handlebars, then this is a great option.
Jiankun have produced an excellent quick-release bottle cage, that can be adjusted to any angle you want, and can be fitted to just about any location on your bike.
Fits all standard bike bottles from 2.5”-3.0” diameter.
This is a fantastic and really versatile bottle holder from Waterfly. It sits behind and underneath the saddle, strapping firmly onto both that and the seat post.
There aren’t many dual water bottle holders available, so this is a great find. Plus it has storage in the zipped pouch for plenty of gear and snacks. Easy to install, sturdy when riding, and very practical.
Sometimes, when you’ve filled up all the most likely places on your bike to store drinks, then you need to take a good hard look at yourself instead.
A great way to carry water when you’re out for long bike rides is with a hydration pack like this one from Vibrelli. Originally designed for hill runners and adventure racing, these are an excellent choice when you’re going long distances on the bike.
This one has room for 2 L of drinks, plus zipped pocket and bungee straps to store plenty including snacks and a waterproof jacket. Having the water hose by your mouth at all times means that you’re more likely to keep drinking whilst you’re cycling. Which is never a bad thing as we’ve seen.
How to carry drinks on a bike
Ever wondered how to install water bottle cage on bike without holes? Yeah, me too. If your bike doesn’t have the standard attachments for a bottle cage, or you need to carry extra liquid, then I hope these options will be useful for you.
The ieasky water bottle holder is a very clever piece of kit and has a quick-release clamp to secure the cage to your bike frame. Really practical because you can fix it on any bike tube on your bike. Standard placement is on the downtube, but it can also go on the seat downtube, seat post or handlebars. It comes as a pack of two, so this is really great value.
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