Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this product somewhat on a lark after riding a century with horrific headwinds. With two bottles on the frame and my pump sticking out to the side of the downtube cage I felt like I was pulling a parachute. In combination with a Fi:zik seat with integrated rear light, a hard-shell(flaccid shell ?) Topeak seat bag, a Topeak pump and a custom mounting system (described in my review of the Topeak medium seat bag) I can carry up to 96 oz of Polar-protected fluids, my pump, light and seat bag with nothing on my back, shoulders, or wrists. Since all of this is in the wind-shadow of my body, it is very aerodynamic. It is somewhat redundant because the bottles are behind your torso and legs, but the bottles are also laid back in an aero position.
A very cool benefit of having the weight of your water on the seat post is it damps vibration noticeably. This seems to be true even if the mount is butted right against the seat post tightening collar. A couple of other benefits not immediately obvious are moving the center of gravity backward on your bike - very nice when braking hard going downhill - and the cages that come with the system have a hi & low mount so you can stagger the bottles if you wish. My left cage bottom is within 1/4" of my brake cable, but I could move the right one down if I wanted to. It might help in some circumstances to accommodate a large seat bag. Oh, and the cages hold the bottles with a death-grip. No way those bottles are coming out. I have ridden stuff as bad as cobblestone and they didn't budge. Finally, when the cages are populated, if you lean your bike against a wall, the bottles will touch before your seat does, so no more scuffed up seats.USES:
If I know I am going to be facing a stiff headwind, and have adequate hydration support, I will put one small bottle on the downtube and two small or large bottles on the AquaRack. If you pick the bottle cage on the seat tube to be aerodynamic when empty (not by weight), this will get you a nice aero profile with lots of water ready at hand. You CAN reach back on the go and get bottles out and into the AquaRack, but I still prefer a bottle within easy reach on the downtube.
The AquaRack opens up a whole new world of hydration management. For example, I recently did some serious mountain climbing with poor hydration support, and also wanted to bring lots of Gatorade but didn't want to fool with the powder as it can make a total mess of your bike - sticky and dirty too. I filled one of 3 bottles with a 4x concentrate of Gatorade and water which will make a gallon of Gatorade at normal strength. Using the other two bottles I mixed up 1x Gatorade at each hydration stop and sometimes left one bottle straight water. Gatorade, juice, water, concentrate. Water, Gatorade, CytoMax, concentrate. Use your imagination, but you can't do this with a CamelPac.
CAVEATS:
1.) This could be made lighter IMHO. It is over-speced in the metal work near the bottles I think, but I do find myself slid back against the bottles on high-speed descents on occasion, so maybe the strength is needed. I do know there are MUCH lighter systems available for Cervelo's seat tube mount system so I think a CF version would save some serious weight. In any case, it is still a fraction of the weight of a CamelBac.
2.) You have to pull the seat post up out of the seat tube to R&R this. A system that hinged on the front side of the seat post would eliminate this. Just look at how your front dérailleur attaches around your seat tube. The same design would work here. The problem with the current system is the seat post clamps on CF frames don't like to be worked a lot, and this works them a lot if you take it off and put it on all the time. If it weighed less this would be a non-issue, but as it is, it kind of is an issue.
3.) It would be so easy to integrate a real pump holder into this design. Please, please, please.
4.) At very high speeds (50mph for me) I noticed that changes in leg position can lead to some side to side movement. If you anticipate it, its not bad, but there isn't much margin for error when descending at these speeds so keep it in mind.
5.) When climbing out of the saddle the weight of the system, especially when full of water, will tend to rock the bike side to side a bit more.
(see attached pics above)
Topeak Aero Wedge Pack DX Bicycle Seat Pack with Fixer (Medium)
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Profile Design Aqua Rack 2-bottle Aero Bottle Holder
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