Issue 161: Post-Backpack Hydration

If there’s one thing we can genuinely thank the discipline/lifestyle/hype of Enduro for, it’s the death of rucksacks. Well, not entirely (rucksacks still rule on big mountain days) but the move to bagless, or maybe hip-packs, has made life a whole lot nicer for most MTBing. But without a bladder on your back, you need a different way to carry your water. Here’s our guide to the gear you need to stay hydrated.

Words Benji | Photography Heather

SQUISHY BOTTLE

Nukeproof Horizon Enduro Flexi Flask

• Price: £11.99
• From: Nukeproof (RIP) but similar soft bottles are available

Essentially a small bladder without a hose, soft bottles like these are great if your bike doesn’t have room for a water bottle. This one has been in use for five years or so and still holds 500ml of liquid without leaks just fine. The experience of using this is greatly preferable to carrying a hard bottle in a hip-pack; you can just stash it in a rear jersey pocket and it conforms to your body. And it gets smaller as it empties.

THE FIDLOCK FAMILY

Twist Bottle & Bike Base

• Price: from £44.99
• From: Ison Distribution

Attaching Fidlock bottles to a frame is simply just way better than the trad cage design. Freaking magnets dude! Quicker, easier, more secure. And that’s before we get into certain full-sus and/or eMTB frames that can’t nicely deal with a trad cage and bottle. Fidlock can be a real saviour. Different capacity bottles are now available from 450ml to 800ml. The only downside (aside from the price) is that the bottles are usually rather dull grey or clear (this pink one is a Muc-Off colab). Hopefully, Fidlock breaks out the crayons soon!

FILTER BOTTLE

Water-To-Go Eco 75cl Active Bottle

• Price: £37.99 (750ml)
• From: Water-To-Go

One for the bikepackers out there. Way out there. Where there’s no mains water supply, just streams, rivers, ponds or lakes. Filtration bottles are not new but it’s tricky to find one that fits a trad bottle cage. So too is finding one that doesn’t have too much of its inside space taken up by the filter system, leaving you with not enough actual water to actually drink. At 250mm in length, this isn’t exactly compact but it does still give out 750ml of filtered water.

BOTTLE CAGE

Zefal Pulse S2

• Price: £18.99
• From: Chicken CycleKit

For those who don’t want to go the way of Fidlock (if it’s their boring designs, we hear you), then a good sideloading bottle cage is a must. Modern mountain bike front triangles are cramped, often to the point of preventing trad top-entry cages from being viable. Going in and out from the side is the solution. And the best sideload cage we’ve encountered thus far is the new Pulse S2 from Zefal. Nothing else has quite the same level of ease of use combined with security.

TRADITIONAL BOTTLE

Elite Fly Tex MTB

• Price: £6.49 (550ml), £7.49 (750ml)
• From: Madison

Cyclists are funny folk. Plenty of us preach about how our particular choice of bottle brand is The Best. One of the more popularly preached bottles is Elite’s Fly Tex series. Why? For us, it’s the combination of textured finish (which makes it easy to handle) and the high flow valve and general suppleness that just makes hoofing big amounts of water down your gullet as easy as possible. Especially when you’re racing or just generally knackered. The flip top lid is removable if you want to trade off cleanliness for speed.

FUEL YOURSELF

Science In Sport GO Hydro

• Price: £8.00 (20 tablets)
• From: Madison

Without wishing to get into Science Wars about which hydration brand does it best, we’ll just point out that pretty much anything from a reputable brand is better than tap water. Proper hydration will improve your rides and riding a million per cent more than any new suspension fork or megabucks tyre ever will. You just need to find a format – and a flavour – that you get along with. We’re big fans of pink grapefruit plink plonk fizz tablets from SIS. They’re easy to clean-break into halves too for short rides.

KEEP IT CLEAN

Milton Sterilising Tablets

• Price: £3.00 (40 tablets)
• From: The baby aisle

Black wispy stuff inside bottles and bladders is not a great thing. Try to treat your bikey drinking vessels like your regular domestic drinkware, i.e. wash them after use! But we know, occasionally life gets in the way so you’ll encounter a water bottle that’s a bit iffy smelling. Beware: don’t use these tablets by plopping them inside your bottle. Too strong. Instead, use a sinkful of water with a tablet dissolved in it and submerse your bottle(s) in it for 15 minutes or so.