Hydration pack

[Irulan]

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.

[VeloVT]

I have several camelbaks and I use them often for long runs, hikes, etc., but I don't find them comfortable for riding (and I tried using a camelbak a few times before I was comfortable reaching for my bottles). I never adopted it because it was hot and, while I didn't feel like it threw my center of gravity off, for some reason on my road bike it caused me to tense up my shoulders/neck more than I ordinarily would, leading to discomfort. I fully own that this was my individual problem and may not apply to another soul in the world -- but I put it out there to defend the viewpoint that there are legitimate reasons NOT to use a camelbak for some people. Guess what -- through a summer of hot rides, I learned to use my bottles while riding at speed. What do they say... necessity is the mother of invention ...

[ny biker]

I have several camelbaks and I use them often for long runs, hikes, etc., but I don't find them comfortable for riding (and I tried using a camelbak a few times before I was comfortable reaching for my bottles). I never adopted it because it was hot and, while I didn't feel like it threw my center of gravity off, for some reason on my road bike it caused me to tense up my shoulders/neck more than I ordinarily would, leading to discomfort. I fully own that this was my individual problem and may not apply to another soul in the world -- but I put it out there to defend the viewpoint that there are legitimate reasons NOT to use a camelbak for some people. Guess what -- through a summer of hot rides, I learned to use my bottles while riding at speed. What do they say... necessity is the mother of invention ...

I also had neck/shoulder problems with the camelback when riding my road bike.

Never had a problem on the mountain bike, due to the more upright riding position.

[OakLeaf]

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.

That's why I really really like the large zip opening of the Platypus bladders. It's just not an issue with them (unless I accidentally forget to remove the bladder from the pack and leave it for weeks ).

And it's my one ding on my Nathan running vest - I can see that the lightweight, very flexible bladder is part of the functionality, but it's REALLY hard to dry, especially with the small opening. A SMALL head silicone scraper will go into the opening to brace the sides apart, and I can thread a string or whatever through the holes at the top to hang it (it won't dry well in a horizontal position). That's the only way I've found to dry it in less than four days, and I still have to keep checking on it because the slightest breeze or nudge will cause the scraper to turn from the perpendicular. Jamming a flour sack dish towel into it and shaking it around to get the excess water out, before I hang it to dry, helps a lot.

Drink tubes still need to be cleaned, which is a PITA, but much easier with the long flexible brush Camelbak sells, and I don't do it every time (maybe I should ).