Where to Carry Water on a Bike

Water is essential, but it's also terribly heavy. Finding the ideal place for it on your bike, especially when you have a small or full-suspension frame, can be tricky. I've ridden many kilometres with both systems – classic bottles and hydration bladders. Today we'll look at how to get the maximum from both and how to eliminate their disadvantages.

🍼 Bottles Are the Foundation

You get a bike, mount a cage, put in a bottle and ride. It's the simplest and lightest solution. Often also the best – water is heavy and it's best to carry heavy things in the frame triangle. This way it doesn't affect the bike's handling characteristics.

Problems arise with full-suspension bikes or small frames where those desired 2 litres of water (which I consider a bikepacking minimum) simply won't fit. For example, in my Supercaliber I can fit a one-litre and a half-litre bottle, but I'm still missing that half litre.

Where to Put Them When There's No Room in the Frame?

When frame space runs out, the search for alternatives begins.

• Under the down tube: Strap systems exist if you don't have bolt holes. I don't really recommend this for rougher terrain though, the bottle may not hold securely. Plus, when you ride through mud, you'll be drinking "mud", which isn't healthy.
• On the handlebars: Not really for mountain biking. It affects shifting and handling.
• On the fork: With rigid forks (gravel) it's fine, though it slightly affects aerodynamics. With suspension forks it increases unsprung weight and reduces suspension sensitivity.
• Rear jersey pocket: My favourite "emergency solution". You can easily carry a half-litre bottle or can of cola there. I carried water like this in Hellenic Mountain Race.

Advantages of Bottles

• Overview of consumption: This is key for me. With transparent bottles (I use Elite Fly, which are the lightest) I can see exactly how much I have left. I can plan my hydration and carbohydrate intake.
• Easy filling: At a spring or from someone's garden tap, a bottle fills much better than a bladder.
• Variability: Clean water in one bottle, cola in the other. With a bladder you're out of luck – you can't choose.
• Weight: The system itself is unbeatable in lightness. Two cages and two bottles weigh around 176 grams.

🎒 Hydration Bladder: When You Need More

I turn to a hydration bladder when I need to carry more water, or when my frame is full of other gear.

Where to Put the Bladder?

1. In a frame bag: Ideally have a bag with a hose outlet. When you have to thread it through a zipper, it breaks and isn't ideal.
2. On your back (vest/backpack): The most common solution. I use running vests, but for example Apidura also makes specific ones for cycling. A vest is great because besides water you can also carry other small items.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Bladders

A big disadvantage is that you don't know how much you've drunk. You have to estimate it by weight or "sloshing". Maintenance is also more demanding – cleaning the tube from sugary drinks is a pain, so I put only clean water in the bladder.

On the other hand, the bladder has trump cards that bottles can't beat:

• Accessibility while riding: On a tough descent where you need both hands on the handlebars, you can easily drink from the hose. Fumbling for a bottle would be risky.
• Nozzle hygiene: In dusty or muddy conditions (for example on Silk Road Mountain Race, protecting the nozzle is essential. With a bladder the nozzle is high by your shoulder and doesn't get as dirty as a bottle in the frame. I mostly use Force Hydrapak Shape Shift, which can be inverted and cleaned better.
• Winter: In winter, water in a bottle freezes. On your back you warm it with body heat. (Tip: After drinking, blow the water from the tube back into the bladder, otherwise the tube will freeze).
• Lightening the bike: If you face a lot of bike carrying, it's better to have 2 kilos of water on your back than on the frame. A lighter bike is easier to handle.

⚖️ Verdict: What to Choose?

It's not black and white. Bottles are lighter, cheaper and more practical for filling. I would definitely maximize their use on road bikes, where you have much more room in the frame and nozzles don't get as dirty.

A hydration bladder is king in rough terrain, in winter and where you need to carry 3 or more litres of water.

I often combine both. Even when I take a bladder, I take at least a small 0.5l bottle with it. Why?

• I have control – when I finish the bladder, I know I have a reserve in the bottle and need to look for water.
• I can mix flavours – clean water in the bladder, sugary drink in the bottle.