Water Bottles

Which size bottle fits your frame?

Bottles come in three broad sizes: around 500ml to 550ml, 750ml as the standard, and 950ml to 1 litre for hot days and long rides. Size is limited by your frame, not your thirst. A small road frame, and most full-suspension mountain bikes, will only clear a 500ml bottle in the front triangle, and some need a side-entry cage to get it in and out at all. Measure from the top of the cage to the frame tube above before buying a tall bottle.

Insulated or standard?

Insulated bottles have a double wall with a gap between, and hold a cold drink for a few hours rather than the twenty minutes a thin-wall bottle manages in summer. The cost is capacity and squeeze: an insulated bottle of the same external size holds noticeably less, weighs more empty and is stiffer to squirt from. Thin-wall bottles such as the ultralight ones from Elite weigh very little and collapse as you drink. Insulated names include the Camelbak Podium Chill and Zefal Arctica.

What kind of cap should you look for?

Push-pull caps are simple, cheap and the easiest to strip down and clean. Self-sealing valves, the type you bite or squeeze open, do not leak when the bottle bounces out of the cage or lies in a car boot, but they restrict flow and hold moisture in the valve. Off-road, a hinged dust cap over the mouthpiece is the feature that stops you drinking the mud that sprays off the front tyre.

Bottles or a hydration pack?

Bottles are lighter, cost a fraction as much, are far easier to clean and can be refilled from a tap in seconds. A bladder in a pack carries two or three litres and lets you drink without taking a hand off the bars, which is why it suits technical descending and long days away from taps. Most riders end up with both: bottles for road and gravel where you can reach down safely, a pack for backcountry rides. Bottles are also the thing to empty and remove before a bike goes into a transport case or bag.

How do you stop a bottle tasting of last summer?

Sports drink residue feeds mould, and it collects in the valve and under the cap thread where rinsing does not reach. Pull the cap apart, wash the valve separately and stand the bottle open to dry. Polypropylene bottles hold flavour less than softer plastics, but any bottle that has held an electrolyte mix for a week will keep the taste. Check whether the maker allows a dishwasher: heat can distort a thin-wall bottle and dull the printing.

What should you spend?

Bottles are among the cheapest things on a bike, and a plain 750ml one does the same job as an expensive one. Money buys insulation, a better valve and printing that survives washing. Anything cracked at the base, cloudy inside or with a perished valve is past saving. Cages, which set what actually fits, sit with the rest of the bike accessories.