rekmeyata

If it's not insulated I'm not interested! My favorite bottles are the 24oz Polar bottles, that's all I use; but there are other manufactures like the Camelbak and one other I can't think of the name are now insulated, but supposedly due to tests I seen the Polar still insulates the best.

dgasmd

Box of each!

WhyFi

^^^ how are they (taste/texture)?

captainkanji

Just installed on my new Long Haul Trucker

dgasmd

It is one of the few things I can tolerate when riding. I think foods and drinks are one of those things you just have to try yourself. Having said that, the texture is soft, but not goo like. Very good taste too with very fresh and natural flavors.

ErichM

Great, more Specialized shwag I'll need to buy.

WhyFi

Thanks - sounds like they're worth a try (and it looks like a nearby shop carries them).

rekmeyata

You don't need expensive bike boutique foods, that's just a huge ripoff unless your a pro getting the stuff for free. A lot of protein bars can be found at Walmart like Met-Rx Big 100 Colossal Bars; they, Walmart, even have a protein shot in a tube you can gulp fast on a ride or after a ride. Do some research and you can find stuff on the market place way cheaper then at an LBS. Drink wise Poweraide works as good as any LBS drink, in fact I buy Gatorade in a can and it works great, it's cheap, but I dilute it 50% for drinking while riding; why pay $1.50 or more for one bottle of drink on the bike when you can get the same effect for 10 cents a bottle?

Those Bonk bars only have 8 grms of protein, the Met RX has 21! Walmart has other bars too that have more protein the 8 gms. You can also put protein shake into a water bottle, I know some that do that, or you can simply use Nesquik, it has 8 grms of protein and it's cheaper then even the Walmart protein shakes.

WhyFi

I know - for me, they're more of a last-minute convenience thing, than anything. If I have time to prepare, I'll slap something together for the ride. These days, though, I'm lucky if I find *any* time, so getting out the door quickly is worth paying a little extra, sometimes. If I don't have to choke on a chalky bar, more the better. (Oh, and I don't drink anything but water on my rides - I can't stomach sports drinks, even watered down. Also, warm water is okay. Warm just-about-anything-else usually takes like crap.)

thehammerdog

for me it was a small but very important investment. Prep-H. I hve suffered all summer now I feel better

Crash716

gimmick…test have been done, it's like 3 degrees cooler after the first hour…and after about 2 hours it's the same.

Soloist Assassin

I have two polar bottles, and they just sit in the shelf. They are heavy, and they hold less water than of one of equal size that is non-insulated. I never thought they were all that great. Not sure why I ever bought them.

rekmeyata

The one's I buy hold 24 oz's of fluid, that's not small. And heavy? Once any bottle is full it's heavy, what a thing to whine about. On hot days you need to bring down you core body temperature, and a non insulated bottle heats up too fast even if you freeze the bottle overnight it's unthawed and hot in an hour. With insulated bottles I can freeze one overnight and it will be ice cold with ice after 2 hours in 90 degree weather.

But regular bottles are great for someone who doesn't ride for more then hour.

Crash716

funny..i consistently do 3+ hour rides with regular bottles…how do i make it?

Soloist Assassin

I don't even use cold water anymore. I just put room temperature water in there, because usually by the time I need a drink it's hot anyway. Plus cold bottles drip condensation all over my frame, and then dirt sticks to it. I used to always be all about cold water, but it's just hard to have such a thing when in the heat of the summer. When I race however I try to always put ice in the bottle, it still heats up in about an hour or so. I've thought about using the polar bottles for racing, but the weight and size is a turn off, a 20oz is the size of a regular 24oz. I've spent a lot of money making my race bike sub 14lbs. It seems counter productive to put 130g bottles on it.

rekmeyata

Actually your wrong...very wrong. See this: https://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/in...insulated-bpa/

And: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fDjmaV3IIQ

And those tests confirm my personal use as well as others I've known.

Soloist Assassin

x2

MikeyBoyAz

I'm with you. Here it is hot! but I don't like how the insulated bottles feel squishy. What good is the bottle after 2 hrs? here... none.

rekmeyata

Your racing a sub 14 pound bike? Must not be racing in any UCI sanctioned races.

rekmeyata

I use to live in the deserts of California from Palm Springs to Palmdale/Lancaster to Bakersfield and I can tell you insulated bottles worked in 100+ degree heat! If I froze a Polar bottle solid it was still icy cold with ice in it 2 hours later. What I use to do on long rides was take 3 bottles, the night before freeze one solid, then fill one of the bottles chuck full of ice and pour chilled drink into it, then take the last one and fill it about 1/2 full of ice and pour chilled drink into it. As I rode I drank from the 1/2 ice one first, then moved to the full ice one, then the frozen one. The frozen one by the time I got to it 2 to 2 1/2 hours later was still icy cold with ice small chunks in it.

The Polar bottles are not squishy, in fact some riders on other forums thought they were too stiff, I never thought they were too stiff. The Camebak insulated bottles are squishy. Of the two I don't know which is better, I only use Polar, I heard Polar stayed cooler longer from bias Polar bottle studies, but I cannot confirm that. I'm sure if I searched I could find a independent test but I don't care enough because it would probably be such a small difference it wouldn't matter.

But people that truly race know that a lowering their core body temperature is crucial for increasing performance, there have many tests that concluded this, here's one such test and report: https://surj.stanford.edu/2003/pdfs/Cooling.pdf

Blackdays

Are you?

javal

Shimano 105 (FD 5700). Silver.

Curlin

Park Tool DS-2 Scale

Soloist Assassin

Didn't you know we have Phillipe Gilbert posting on bf nowadays.....

aham23

all outstanding, but my favorite is the Espresso Chip. so good. later.