Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
They're heavy and hot and make your center of gravity higher. The straps can chafe. I have three, I use them all the time for outdoor events and running, but I use one cycling ONLY when it's extremely hot or when I know I'm going to be riding more than two hours somewhere that I won't be able to refill my bottles.

No one will make fun of you. Lots of people use hydration packs, you're just in the minority is all.

Re: expense and waste, when people talk about water bottles we're talking about reusable bottles. Any bike shop or sporting goods store has polyethylene bottles that fit in bottle cages. Some people prefer other materials like stainless steel, aluminum or other plastics, but those can be harder to find, and also harder to hold and drink out of since they're not flexible.

As far as cleanliness goes though, I'm not sure a hydration pack is any more sanitary than a bottle unless you use a bite valve cover, and those can be pretty unwieldy on the bike. My experience is that the bite valve is always dragging in something, which is why I use a cover.
There sure are some interesting things in this thread.
I've been mountain biking with camel baks for 10+ years and the issue of center of gravity has never come up. The above comment is the first time I've ever heard that someone might even have an issue.

I bet the sanitation thing is a "wash". Bladders can get pretty nasty if you never clean them; leave water in them long term, or keep other than water (sports drinks etc) in them.

Water bottles? John Tomac got giardia from mud on a water bottle. Plus, they fall off bikes, mountain biking. Typically mountain bikers only carry them if it's a "need every bit of water you can carry" kind of hot day, or, to take a sports drink along in addition to water. Also, on many full suspension mountain bikes, you can hardly fit a water bottle in the holder.

There are some pretty cool womens' packs now that have nicely placed straps for smaller and or busty women.

I know in some road riding circles, wearing hydration packs is very uncool. Whatever.