Has anyone any tricks or special Bidons they use on their down tubes during Triathlons that make it easier to refill the BTA bottle? When refiling the Profile Design BTA i often take a few attempts as the valve closes when pressed against the BTA refill port. I would rather remove this uncertainty to save time and be more focused on the road.
I may be mistaken but i think some of the camelback water bottles have a twist lock valve on them?
I’m a fan of the specialized valves as they seal even when open, but I run normal bottles horizontal BTA and not any of the refillable ones. I think they are kind of hard to close? I don’t use them for normal training so haven’t used one in a while.
I tried a few times to use the refillable ones and gave up and just went with normal bottle BTA 10 or so years ago. Not saying you have to but something to consider.
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Yeah, this is correct. I don’t use a refillable BTA bottle so I haven’t tried it, but Camelbak Podium bottles should work since they won’t close when pressed against the port. I also have no problem twisting the valve open with one hand.
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Yeah I like the Camelbak bottles for this use case. I always have the valve “open” on the bike and don’t have to worry about them leaking.
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I second the Camelbaks. My only reservation is they’re expensive if you’re chucking them away at an aid station in an IM. Perhaps your tri is shorter? For IM I take the opportunity to dispose of my cupboard’s two mingingest bottles at the 40k feed 
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Perfect thanks. I’m not doing the full IM only the half so the BTA and one refill would be perfect for my needs. I have the bottle cage placed below my chest behind the stem so have it secured well to try close the gap. ilIt did work pretty well at Waco 70.3 at the weekend just the hassle of refilling was a little annoying and I was sure someone would have a good solution. Won’t save a huge amount of time but it will be less stressful and safer thanks for the quick responses