Hydration Systems

Drapper

Can anyone recoment a good hydaration system (like camelpak) and where is the best place to get them? are they a useful adidiotn to long cycles or is your bottle enough? Interested to here peoples thoughts! Ithink they would be useful for MTB biking and cross country.

Trojan

I have a Camelbak, used it touring in France. It's really great to have the extra capacity (along with 2x water bottles) when spending a long day on the road in the heat, especially with the random French opening hours.

Drapper

any particular model? the basic model has enought room for 2litres! but has it room for a mobile and a few small items?

Drapper

thansk for that mate!

the old bottle gets dirty when out MTBing! thought it might be an alternative

Alkers

Another option is to just buy a platypus and use it with an existing rucksack, most bags nowadays have the pocket for them and the hole for the tube. The platypus costs around €15

Enduro

Camelback Bladders (As opposed to the full rucksacks) can also be bought on their own, and are far better than a platypus. An easier system to use, and far less likely to develop a leak. (I have a collection of leaky platypuses, but my first camelback is still leak free)

I use a 3 litre Camelback bladder in the bladder pocket of my normal 35 litre rucksack. I use this year-round. More water less gear in summer, more gear less water in winter. Any adventure racing rucksack will have a bladder pocket, and provide maximum flexibility in terms of packing and load carrying. I've used a few differernt models, and they're all pretty good.

Most people in my MTB club use Camelback systems.

Bladder systems like these are the business for long distance cyles (or hikes or paddles or anything really). Strongly recommended.

Also, from a bike handling perspective (speaking as a MTBer), its better to have weight in your rucksack than on the bike. I definitely notice the difference.

cushtac

There's also The Source: www.source-vagabond.com

I've used both Source and Camelbak systems while hiking, both are excellent.

blorg

From a touring perspective I have 3 bottle cages that carry ~2 litres total; if I needed more (as I am designated water carrier for my companion) I tend to just stick a 2-litre water bottle on the back rack, across the panniers. I _really_ don't like anything on my back.

In my experience you are only going to need this sort of water capacity in hot countries; here a single water bottle is good to over 50km.

For MTB Camelbak might indeed be a better bet.

kona

i have a camelback, cloudwalker i think??its small,silver just takes liquid,i know they start at e30 and go to e75, got mine in halfords,halfords also do them and they are the same design as camelback. and you defo need one when out,mine aint big enough tbh!!!