Everyone needs to carry a water bottle on their bike at some point. Even on a short ride, riders will enjoy a spritz of water to cool down and refresh. Some of the wider topped bottles can be co-opted into toolkits and turning them into lights is possible as well. Even off the bike, a bike bottle has a few handy uses too. For those not aware of the Black Country vernacular, something that is ‘bostin’ is brilliant, excellent or smashing!
So aside from the standard freebie bottles we’ve got piles of from ordering electrolyte drinks and gels, what else is there to brighten up your bike’s style? Printing techniques have improved over the years so gone are the solid one-colour styles of the old days and almost any design is now possible. Obviously the best thing about having a good-looking bottle is that you’ll never forget to bring it with you on a ride!
Elite Fly
This is a super common bottle these days and one of my favourites. It’s used by quite a few of the pro teams as well. The likes of Movistar, Ineos, Groupama-FDJ, Bahrain, AG2R Citroen, UAE, DSM (formerly Sunweb), Intermarche-Wanty, Cofidis, Israel Start-Up, Arkea-Samsic, Alpecin-Fenix and B&B Hotels all use this bottle.
They’ve got a nice bit of flex to them and a big wide opening for putting in scoops of drink powder. An all-round solid bottle.
Cinelli Barry McGee Faccia
Similar to some of their bar tape options, Cinelli have linked up with some artists to design some interesting looking bottles too. A simple design but definitely one that get the attention of the others on your ride, particularly if you manage to position the face so that it faces out cleanly from your bottle cage!
Ribble Team Bottle
Less attention seeking than others on this list, the smokey appearance gives it something else. The little details are also important, the blue stopper giving a solid nod to the blue of the Ribble team kit.
Lezyne Flow
Generally, you can’t go too wrong with a geometric pattern. This one loves to play tricks on your eyes and deceive you into thinking it’s got a waist! Another bottle, with a simple design, that will get comments from your riding mates.
Nukeproof Water Bottle
At this time of year, Winter, your bottle top always gets covered in…stuff you’d rather not drink. So an underrated addition to a cycling water bottle is a protective top. You can flip the top and drink as normal, safe in the knowledge that you’re not drinking down all sorts of unwanted extras. Plus I quite like the blue/gold design.
Supacaz Purist Bottle
There’s quite a few different options for this bottle. You can go for a solid red, Spanish bull option or the Lion of Flanders in yellow. An Italian version is naturally giro pink and the French one Tour de France yellow. Failing that, you can have a rhino, a cobra or even a pterodactyl. It says something when the standard Supacaz star fade is the last option to be mentioned.
Torq Energy Drinks Bottle
I’m a big fan of the black and orange combination, something I try and aspire it with my bike bling and clothing. So seeing as the bottle is another cycling fashion accessory when it boils down to it, having the right colours is pretty important. The other advantage to this bottle is that it’s a wide-mouth, so it’s easy to get your powder into as well.
Fabric Cageless Water Bottle
I’ve heard the odd mixed review about cageless bottle systems. When it boils down to it, they’re just never as study as a good solid fitting cage. The trouble with the cage is that all that pulling out/pushing in ends up scuffing the bottles pretty quickly. This cageless system removes that problem, plus Fabric stuff is usually well designed too.
