Speedfill Hydration System
Is anybody using this for long course and what is your take on it ?
I currently use 2 behind the seat and 2 on down/seat tubes.
Bill
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Is anybody using this for long course and what is your take on it ?
I currently use 2 behind the seat and 2 on down/seat tubes.
Bill
Comments
For water I just used an aero bottle and refilled it at aid stations.
@Matt,
Have you used an Aerodrink in the past? Do you really think there is a tangible benefit of a frame mounted system like this, either in terms of aero or functional convience, over that of a forward aero-bottle system like Aerodrink?
The aerodynamics certainly aren't there quite yet, but I'm curious when when/if we'll see something converging the type of aero nosecones used on the Shiv and the new Trinity Advanced with functional hydration systems.
I love it. Here's a discussion about Speedfill in 3.0.
For IMWis I had the speedfill for my water only and a profile bottle between my aerobars with my Carbopro in it. I had 1200 cals there and slipped a baggie over the top (popping the straw through the baggie) to hold the yellow mesh and carbopro in the bottle with zero mess during the ride. Then I only added enough water to my speedfil during the race as I saw need for. Therefore I didn't carry any extra weight on the bike in the way of fluids.
Vince
At most the speedfil adds 24oz of liquid and a few grams for the bottle of weight. Hardly anything if you ask me. Plus the fact that I never stopped once during the entire ride easily makes up for that, compared to folks that stop at special needs to get another bottle. Also, I had zero risk of dropping or missing a bottle with my nutrition, it was filled and ready to go before the race started.
I used the speedfil in addition to an aero drink last year and the combo worked great. My bike had a round headtube and I felt the aerodrink at lest didn't make things anyworse and it is easy to fill and use.
That said, I don't plan to use an aerodrink this year for two reasons: my ne bike has a aero headtube already so blocking it doesn't make sense and more importantly the aerodrink hits the top of my front wheel. I'm planning to use a horizontal bottle between the aerobars instead, which is what I trained with all of last year.
As far as aero benifits goe, without a wind tunnel we will never know, so all I can do is use common sense. Therefore I get as much out of the wind as possible, i.e. no straws sticking up, no extra bottles, nothing on the back of my seat post, etc. All these little details are probably only worth seconds over the entire day, but to me seconds mean something.
@David - i don't know of any deals, I got mine from either trisports.com or all3sports.com last year when they had a 15% off coupon.
The Speedfill may be a moot point for me anyway come to think of it, I ride a Felt B12, as with the rest of the Felt B-series I only have a bottle mount point on my seat tube rather than on my down tube. I'm not sure if you could place a speedfill on your seat tube, but every picture I see is down tube mounted.
I currently ride with an X-lab carbon wing behind my seat where I can carry two bottles and my aerodrink up front. IMWI will be my first Iron distance race, but I have had no problems in HIM with carrying a single fuel bottle (last year it was Perpetuem/HEED mix, this year thinking about going with EFS) and then water in my aerodrink. I would top off my Aerodrink with fresh water at aid stations and immediatley dump the empty. If I really wanted I could always pick up up to two extra bottles from the aid station to store in the empty spots behind my seat or on the downtube.
All that being said, the aerodrink splashing all over me bugs the crap out of me. I only made the mistake of putting anything other than water in there once, giant sticky mess.
splashing is a huge annoyance with the aerobar systems. I've gone to the bontrager one for that reason. Need to put some sort of bite valve on the straw, but spash from the fill hole is a non-issue with it.
At each aid station I take a gulp or two of water first, then put the rest in the bottle and take a gulp from it. This way it isn't completely full and I don't get splashed.
OK, from a newbie perspective, what does concern me is nutters grabbing bottles at the feed stations, think I'd rather stay as clear as posible unless I have to. i.e. reason why I'm not keen on the horizontal bottle idea, simple as it is. Again, newbie perspective so may be a load of rubbish! :-)
@ Trevor - I have only mounts on the seat tube also - not sure if the speedfill would work; perhaps but may act as a windbreak!
I've never liked the aerobottles between my bars - seems to give me stomach problems.
I usuall use 2 bottles of water behind my seat and one bottle of concentrated Infinit on my downtube. This year I'm going to try the speedfil for water, and a bottle horizontal between my aerobars. I know most people do it the other way around, but I figured with a clear bottle for the infinit I can monitor how much I'm getting. Plus I don't have to get the infinit out of the speedfil. Just a thought.
@ Trevor...I ride a p2k, so same brazeons...contacted the Speedfill people and they have an adaptor for bikes that only have brazeons on the seat tube. I am going to give it a try... Dave
Here we go, the speedfill seat-tube adapter kit.
http://store.invisciddesign.com/speedfil-hydration-system-seat-tube-mounted.html
Thinking also that if I'm going to be lugging liquid around I'd much rather it was low & central on the bike - may sound silly but perhaps not when you seat is 82cm from BB high! Good to keep that centre of gravity low especially for my UK 70.3 'twisty-road fest' in June!
How aero is it, any pics of your bike with the unit attached?
Thanks Matt!
Dave
I only use the speedfil for IM and the 2 IM Race Simulations. I agree, for me it was a little overkill for a HIM.... I just use an aero shapped bottle on my downtube for HIM.
Here are a few pictures from IMWI last year:
Ingenious use of the seat post Matt, good tip - also, do you get a good FM signal on that FD cable? :-)
I'm not quite sure how I'm going to use this - if I'm going to put Infinit in the Speedfil or carry a concentrated feed bottle. I have three months to experiment!
Matt- Tell me about everything around your seatpost!
There isn't much there. One tube of the fix-a-flat stuff in the front and then my race number to hold it to the seat post. IT creates a decently aero shape though with a round leading edge, the round smoothing out the transition, and then the back edge of the seatpost being a good trailing edge.
The idea came from StinkyHelmet.
@David...funny, but I actually left the FD cable long on purepose because then I can bend it back and out of the way and not get hit in the leg with it. Plus I mess with my cabling and position way too much and a little extra cable is always good to have. I could have went a little shorter and will next time around.
What is that below your seat in front of the seatpost?
V
The Fix- a-flat stuff ....
I used three different setups last year:
This year I'm almost positive I will only use the horizontal bottle in both training and racing. I'm also going to try and put the computer on the stem and bottle on the bars as I am now much better at feeling how many watts I am pushing. last year I didn't trust myself and wanted the numbers right in my face.
Here are some pictures I was able to dig up...
I like the bent straw in PD. Very clever!
I run a Cervelo, so I also have a supposedly nice front end of the bike and I wonder about the PD Bottle. That said, the whole convenience of just leaning down and drinking seems to be great. I'd be willing to experiment with a horizontal-mounted bottle like you have, but do you run into a lot more awkwardness in taking the bottle off, drinking from it, and putting it back than it's worth? Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like it would be a lot easier to remain in position drinking out of the PD than any time you have to hold a bottle in your hand. How have you found it? I know you won't have data, but you must have impressions.
My setup has been calories in a traditional bottle on the down tube and water in the PD. Water picked up on course and squeezed into the PD. You must do the reverse, refilling the Speedfill.
Matt- do you recall where you got your bento box? The one I have won't fit on the Felt with the aero fork and the inner-frame routed cabling. Looks like you might have the same issue with a standard bento box- so where did you find one that fit?
@Nemo - it's the fuelbult aero bento box. You can get it right from their website and I think P even posted a discount in the wiki. the reason i like it is that the zipper is on top were as most bento boxes had velcro on the sides that cut my knees up.