mev

I agree there are limited uses on water filters - but think the description is a bit too limiting. Here are some examples from my trips:

1. Some places in the developing world, the drinking water may not always be safe. When I traveled across South America, I would use my filter occasionally when staying in hotels. In this case, I had a source of water, but didn't 100% trust it and a filter while not perfect helped a bit.
2. Some areas such as places I've toured in Alaska and Yukon Territory have reasonable distances between points of civilization - but also will be wet enough to have some running and standing water. The first 250 miles south from Prudhoe Bay is an example of this, but even further south from Fairbanks.
3. When I cycled around Australia, it was generally pretty dry. However, I was using an internet source of "water stops" that people had collected. The furthest distance I had to carry water was ~280 kilometers. At my rough guideline of 1 liter per 20 km and 2 liters for an overnight, I ended up with 16 liters of water to be carried. In those cases, even in a dry area knowing of defined water stops a filter was useful. In similar example in western areas of Argentina, it was dry but also some known points of surface water to refill. Matching more my description of #2 would be the Carretera Austral on the Chile side of the Andes. This is the west side of the Andes so more surface water but also some larger gaps between places.

Overall, I find the filter most useful in areas where either (a) local later is suspicious particularly in more populated areas or (b) areas with more surface water/streams but also remote enough with some gaps that carrying water for longer distances starts to get pretty heavy.

Tourist in MSN

Yup. I usually carry three liters on the frame when I anticipate being tens of miles between water sources. Someone on this forum several years ago pointed out that Smartwater brand one liter size bottles fit nicely in cages. I instead use flip top caps I got off of other bottles.

Life WTR (or in Canada Life Water) brand one liter size bottles also fit nicely in cages.
https://www.target.com/p/lifewtr-pre...e/-/A-51955216

Bottle under downtube best used with a strap to make sure it stays there. Fortunately, this frame has enough room for a full liter under the downtube, most touring bikes can't fit that large a bottle down under. And some bike frames have the seattube cage mounted too high for a large bottle, especially on smaller frames.



In the photo above, I took those bottles empty to a foreign country on the plane to use because of their capacity. Bottles get a bit beat up after a month of daily use, but never developed a leak. Shoved the empty bottles into the S&S case loose to carry on the plane.

I have never camped where i felt I would need more storage capacity but I have some bladders I could bring along if I went somewhere where I anticipated scarce water. I friend of mine camps in desert situations, he pulls a trailer to expand his water capacity. I am sure the Australians could educate many of us on water management when bike touring.

Someone above mentioned carrying a container to catch water to pump water from to avoid pumping sediment. Some trips I have carried the bottom half of a gallon jug that started out as a vinegar jug or something like that. About 80 grams with a small piece of cord for a handle. But I do not carry large cooking pots, so a bucket like that can come in handy. It is a bit small to conveniently do laundry, but it can be done.

JaccoW

Agreed. Most of my water needs have been while hiking the backcountry like Norway (safe to drink from streams in most areas), France (filter required but public taps available) and the US (Appalachian Trail - filter and Big Bend NP - carry all). For cycling I usually carry 0.6-3L of water (0.15-0.8 gal) but I always carry a couple of 1L or 2L Platypus bottles on me to fill up if I expect to need them. There is a lot you can put in a Carradice saddle bag.

The Netherlands is easy. Tap water is cheap, plentiful and high-quality to the point that there is even a map of free water points. The joke is that it even confuses some tourists from time to time because since we don't chlorinate the water but extensively filter and UV the water it tastes similar to bottled water. They don't know if it is safe to drink because of that.

When I hiked Big Bend a few years ago I carried 3 gallons of water (drinking + food) for the first 2 days just for myself and I know that would be hard to do on a bike but not impossible. The tiny stream we ran into however was not very useful for filtration and it would have been better to keep on walking instead of making tea for the fun of it.

For hiking in France this year we were hauling up and down mountains and camping in remote places several nights so we had to carry a lot. This was my water system:

You're right, those are all valid places where a water filter would be not only nice to have but even a requirement. I was thinking more from my own hiking experience and 280km hiking without water is just impossible. Thank you for reminding me.
I luckily have a large sized frame so I can fit larger bottles in there. The Velo Orange Mojave cage can fit 1L (32oz) Nalgene bottles and with an extra strap could probably fit their larger 1.5L (48oz) wide mouth bottle.
My current setup is a Klean Kanteen insulated 0.6L (20oz) and a Klean Kanteen TKwide 1L (32oz) insulated bottle + whatever else I might need in extra Platypus bladder bottles. I might even be able to fit the even larger 1.9L (64oz) insulated version but honestly I haven't really needed that much cold water yet.



If you ever want an even lighter option for catching water take a look at the Sea-To-Summit ultralight folding bucket. At 23 grams it's one of the lightest ways to carry 10L but it's not freestanding.

cyccommute 

You have too many buckets there. Camel Bak sells the Unbottle which is just a Camel Bak without the straps. It has a quick connect on the bladder that can be attached to a filter so the water can be pumped directly into the bladder. It can also be slipped into a pack and a longer hose allows for a hiker to drink on the go. My pack has a line that is always connected so that I just have to drop the Unbottle into the pack. Most of my backpacking also involve fishing and I have a bladder in my fishing pack. I just connect it to the line that is on my pack and I’m off to find fishies.

By the way, having a water bladder in my fishing pack is extremely convenient. I get thirsty while fishing but I’m not going to drink stream water. As W.C. Fields said “Don’t drink the water, son. Fish fornicate in it.”

I just don’t get the hard side water bottle on a bicycle. I carry a Camel Bak on tour as well as carrying 3 bottles on my road touring bike. I carry only one extra bottle on my bikepacking bike because of the triangle bag. On road tours, 2 of the bottles are filled with sport drink and one is an auxiliary water bottle. But I want to be able to drink from them while riding and without stopping to do so. I don’t see how you can drink from a hard bottle while riding.

I did the only having a water bottle thing for many year and switched to Camel Bak about the time they came out. I don’t usually go for a ride without one. On tours...and often at home...I’ll pack it with ice and I have cold, refreshing water for hours. And that is at my shoulder so all I have to do is reach up and suck it from a tube.

Tourist in MSN

Touring, I use the lightweight disposable 1 liter Smartwater or Life WTR bottles like I mentioned above.

But for around home on hot days, some iced coffee is nice to have. Chilly days, some warm coffee mixed with some coco is nice. Insulated bottles are best for that, as shown in photo.

JaccoW

It's because of the bag I used for hiking there.
I use an older Arc'Teryx Bora 80 that has two hip pockets for nalgene style flasks but it has the camelbak sleeve in a really stupid place. I plan on getting a more modern pack in the near future but for now this pack is virtually indestructible.

As for hard sided bottles, modern sport caps from Klean Kanteen have a pretty high flow rate due to an extra valve and I can easily reach it while riding and drink from it. The bigger bottle is mostly for storing extra cold/hot water for either refills or for making tea.
Hydro Flask has a sports cap with better insulation but I don't like the way the valve works.

I'm not from the USA so ice machines are really uncommon in most of Europe. Sure I'll have a small amount of ice made at home but most of the time I just put a small amount of cubes in there and top it off with cold water.

I never really saw the appeal of plastic bottles. Sure you can squeeze them for quicker drinking but I associate then with cheap smelly plastic and getting really dirty very quickly. Then again I come from the hiking world. I don't know any better than Nalgene style bottles, stainless steel flasks, Platypus soft bottles and Camelbak hydration systems. They all have their place but I prefer the neutral taste of bottles over things with a tube.

cyccommute 

I don’t have an ice maker. I buy a bag of ice at a convenience store.