Gatorade bottle definitely too wide for my cages too. I’ll post the bottle review vid asap. Youtube is hard.
Some people think I sweat a salty sweat… Not sure if I do, or whether it’s because I have 1000mg of salt per hour.
Either way, I’m a litre an hour; not matter what the conditions.
Is the Elite Jet a thicker plastic than the Fly? Just got a 950ml Fly for the MTB and its definitely too heavy when all the way filled for any sort of downhill riding.
No weight(bottle size)limit for those bottle cage bolts and thread inserts in modern aluminum or carbon bikes these days? Personally going just with small 500-600ml bottles…
I lost three large bottles at Vermont Overland last weekend (none were 1L, but two were the largest Specialized Purists, 700mL). The Lezyne side loading cage didn’t surprise me, but after I stopped using it I still lost two more out of a Specialized Zee Cage II. Not good considering that was nearly all of my fuel for the race.
Will try the Rib Cage II as recommended by @rkoswald since I have two of them. I need to get this figured out! Luckily I have a nasty rocky descent I can bomb relatively close to my house. But nothing can mimic stupid race lines trying blindly to follow wheels.
Or I might go with the alternative of having super concentrated mix in smaller bottles and using a hydration pack for water. I do feel that the smaller bottles are much less likely to pop out. Pretty sure that most of the people saying they haven’t had issues with X cage haven’t hit Vermont pavé descents at all out race speeds.
You 100% will not lose a bottle with ARUNDEL cages. I have on both my MTB and gravel and they’ve been flawless, both straight and side loading.
I don’t know about the other recommended cages, but Lezyne Flow cages are unreasonably tight. Actually difficult to use. I will only use them on my rear mount where i don’t need to grab and replace all the time. I cant imagine what you would have to hit to lose a bottle from one of these cages
Salsa steel cages. Never have lost a bottle, even when i had them mounted to my fork on a gravel bike.
I have Arundel side loader cages and I have never lost a bottle with them. I have to imagine their normal cages are just as good. I like them because I can fit a taller bottle on my downtube.
I got 3 Elite Fly 950 ml bottles. They are a bit too soft for my liking, also they seem to be really finicky when screwing on the cap if it isn’t perfectly alligned which happens often to me they just don’t seal correctly… Would not recommend those…
It appears that manufacturing tolerances / QC are a little lax. The clear/white elite bottle I have is much stiffer plastic but has a lid that’s annoyingly easy to close on accident. By comparison, my all black elite bottle has a snappy / crisp lid and ultra-pliable squeezability.
They’re different enough that it’s either QC or tolerances, or… they are known differences between materials and would be worth them marketing the two bottles differently, according to squeeze feel.
I haven’t experienced the seal issues. That leads me to believe they’ve just really variable production. That’s unfortunate.
Anyone have the Soma 38oz bottle? I’m really tempted to get a couple but can’t find any reviews
Yes. They come labeled as 36oz. I’ve not measured. They’re bigger than all others I have.
They do not close. It’s just a pressure-mediated valve direct to open air with no option to lock closed like other similar bottles. You can’t shake them or they will squirt, especially if full.
They’re great for drinking at my desk. They’re okay for drinking fresh water on the bike. I would never again put any carbs/sodium in them.
Thank you! good to know
any chance the lids can be swapped?
With other bottles? I doubt it. They appear to be quite unique to Soma.
I got a transparent 1 l Elite Fly bottle a few weeks ago, and it already has crease marks. The bottles weren’t expensive, but still, I would have expected a bit more. The markings on the other 1 l Elite bottle (forgot the model name) are also scraped off even though I haven’t used it all that much. Bummer. I guess the search for the perfect bottle continues …
Yes, I still am struggling a bit with that. I have the impression the snappiness of the Elite when releasing the pressure actually makes this worse, it is as if the air rushing back into the bottle sucks the nozzle closed. Indoors it is fine, but outdoors I prefer to refill my Camelbak Podium Chill bottle instead.
For the love of god how hard is it to make a solid 1 litre bottle? Seems like for now the Zefal is about as good as it gets?
Yeah, ish. Unless you luck out and get a sweet Elite 950 that functions like a dream. One of two of mine does. I love it. haha
And this is why I want a 1L purist bottle. I even asked specialized’s bottle website if they would do it but they ignored me