Cervelo aerobottle 500- any experience?

[Colinbrodsky]

Looking for a downtube aero bottle for TT use on 2013 madone (wide downtube that is well-suited to aero bottle) to replace standard round bottle.

The Elite Crono seems to be the consensus best option of a lot of not great bottles, with the biggest issue being random splashing out of it when full, and some complaints about it ejecting if not squeezed to backfill air after drinking.

Seems cervelo has a bottle they now sell as universal mount that looks promising and I would hope maybe reflects some learning from problems with others, but I can’t find any reviews of it, esp vs the elite. Anyone used this? Sounds like it’s standard equipment on many of their recent bikes.

https://www.excelsports.com/main.asp?page=8&description=Aerobottle+500+with+Cage&vendorCode=CERVELO&major=3&minor=12

[jantrenson]

I have seen one in the flesh on a Cervélo P5 this week and it looks very neat. Tomorrow I am ordering my S5 and I will include this mount with two bottles. So no experience, but it looks great. I wonder if it has a rectangular shape mount or if it widens towards the bottom to fit the P5/S5 downtube

[Scapewalker]

I am also curious for some real world reviews.

Been looking around for an aero bottle i can use daily on my road bike.

It’s beyond me how none of the big manufacturers have released propritary aero bottles yet when they are arguably quite significant when it comes to aero drag and could genuinly be benificial when designed with a sepcific frame in mind.

I mean they whole industry seems to be all about propriatory parts these days and with bottles it would actually make sense but they fail to do so.

Don’t mind my small rant

[Colinbrodsky]

@Scapewalker

Been looking around for an aero bottle i can use daily on my road bike.

It’s beyond me how none of the big manufacturers have released propritary aero bottles

The reviews of all existing aero bottles are so mixed that I think step one is can anyone simply make a decent issue-free aero bottle Maybe Cervelo learned from all the complaints on the others - but at $50, I’d have to see some real world reviews first! It seems like it’s a part of the market that is still wide open for innovation.

The more I’ve read, I may just do a BTA bottle on my quick release bars for now.

[Colinbrodsky]

Now that I have a P3 and really don’t want to put a full width bottle on it, I’m bumping this back to life to see if anyone has tried these, now that they’ve been out a while.

The Elite CX sounds really finicky so I’m curious how the cervelo bottle compares.

[rkwjunior]

Will this fit a 2019 Cervelo S3?

[Colinbrodsky]

Not sure, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t. I think it’s a standard mounting point, just narrower.

But I also saw Giant also has one that seems pretty well regarded for only $15 with a solid slide rail mounting system instead of relying on grip which is a big problem with many of these, so I ordered it. Didn’t see any bad comments about it.

Will report back how it works out.

[rkwjunior]

You have a link to the Giant?

[Colinbrodsky]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.giantbikespares.com/Giant-Trinity-2017-Aero-Vault-Water-Bottle-with-Cage/product_detail/3-43135&ved=2ahUKEwinldGb5OLsAhXelHIEHSksB_sQFjAKegQIDhAB&usg=AOvVaw3tg4PJ6aiqGtIlBmjQXDhO

[EdLaw]

Hi Jantrenson! How did you go fitting two of these to your S5? I have my S5 (Size 58) Coming soon and want to do the same thing Thank you!

[jantrenson]

Two? No, just the one.

[EdLaw]

Ah, I misunderstood! Thought you were going to try and fit two bottles but I can see that would be impossible! Thanks for your fast reply. I am going to try and fit two crono elites.

[Jimmy1]

Hey,

I currently have an aero bottle 500 on my p series which came as stock, yes it looks nice and obviously benefits in aerodynamics but with the overall functionality of it I would much prefer a normal bottle. Can be a pain sometimes getting it back in and I find its quite low down

[Colinbrodsky]

So I finally got the Giant aerobottle and I’d say it’s a pretty solid option -

Pros:

• Very secure mounting rail - (I almost thought too secure) - yet very straightforward to get it in and out - just slides on and off
• Impossible to distort the bottle to leave it in a state that it will eject (as I have read the Elite Crono is prone to doing) since mount rail is along length of the bottle - not clamping the bottle
• Secure cap - no splashing when closed
• Easier to grip than I thought it would be - was thinking it might need some skateboard tape as it’s very smooth, but it was fine today. (maybe on a hot sweaty day it could be a concern?)
• The price is right - about $15 US

Cons: (all really minor or expected for an aerobottle)

• Base isn’t flat - can’t stand it upright
• Relatively small opening if you use a drink mix
• 13 oz capacity
• No mounting screws so you’ll need to buy tapered head ones as shown in picture to allow the bottle to slide on/off - easy to find in stainless at any big hardware store, but no allen heads
• It might be a bit more aero to close gap between bottom of bottle and frame - as seen in the Cervelo bottle shown earlier in this thread - the bracket won’t allow (it’s not slotted) - but it would also be harder to reach. X-lab makes an adapter that could be used for this purpose, or could also drill two new tapered holes in the bracket and get part of the way there.

Some photos on a P3: