Thermal Water Bottle

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
nez
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Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 12:11am

Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by nez »

Can anyone recommend a Thermos or similar flask which will fit in an ordinary alu or nylon bidon holder? We're going to continue with group rides until those people in Downing street tell us not to but of course places to stop for coffee etc are closing so, it seems, we have to fetch our coffee and cake with us. I do have an ordinary thermos but just putting it in the saddle bag is asking for trouble.
Oldjohnw
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Location: South Warwickshire

Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by Oldjohnw »

I have a 500ml Life Adventure from Go Outdoors. Take it in bottle cage all the time.
John
nez
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by nez »

Oldjohnw wrote:I have a 500ml Life Adventure from Go Outdoors. Take it in bottle cage all the time.

Thanks John. That was quick. My Thermos is just too big and those in the supermarkets I've seen are much too big (wide)
roberts8
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Location: Surrey

Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by roberts8 »

I use a Life Adventure thermos as well but it did rattle a bit so I fitted into a sock which gave a tighter fit and a quiet ride.
nez
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by nez »

Thanks. I'm never short of odd socks.
PH
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by PH »

I think I have the same one as John, came from TK Max a few years ago, though now I usually take a stove and brew fresh.
Even though it fits nicely in a bottle cage, that isn't the best place for it. However good the flask, having cooler air constantly flowing over it is a hindrance to keeping the contents hot. After a couple of drinks of tepid tea, I found it was better to stick it in the saddlebag, a SS flask is both robust and watertight, for there to be a problem you'd need to be really careless or for it to be a rubbish flask.
Brucey
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by Brucey »

thermos do 0.35l and 0.5l flasks which are both 6.5cm dia at the base, and have a slight reverse taper on them, so presumably would need some kind of packing/padding when in a bottle cage.

https://www.flasksonline.co.uk/store/Thermos-Light-and-Compact-Flask-0-5L/sp_301

They claim to keep the contents hot for 18 hours, which I know from personal experience many cheaper flasks completely fail to do.

In tesco you can get a small stainless flask for about £5; do check this but I think that is about the right size for a bottle cage too. However I doubt it will work as well as a 'proper' thermos; IIRC they are tested to some standard that assures their performance (EN12546-1:2000).

If a flask is slightly undersized you can use old MTB inner tubes to make packing that goes on the outside of the flask; this also stops rattles & scrapes, and presumably can only improve the heat retention. A piece of bubble wrap around the outside of a poor quality flask might make the difference between tepid and hot coffee by the time you stop too.

For 'serious' thermos transport, you could use one of those bottle cages that is meant for carrying fuel bottles; they can cope with a full-size thermos.
e.g. bike buddy;
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cheers
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geocycle
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by geocycle »

I use a standard 500ml stainless steel Thermos. Cost around a tenner. It slips incident a neoprene stubby cooler and doesn’t rattle in the metal cage.
gloomyandy
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by gloomyandy »

One of these fits a standard bottle cage pretty well and seems to work very well too....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JOV3Z6W
Richard D
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Joined: 27 Sep 2011, 6:16pm

Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by Richard D »

I use a 592ml Kleen Kanteen insulated bottle. And the non-insulated version when I don’t need to keep something hot/cold.
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andrew_s
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by andrew_s »

Another option is the Elite Deboyo, designed as a cycling bottle, so should fit most cages well (also 500ml).

https://www.tweekscycles.com/uk/elite-d ... adbt160100

In general, bigger flasks keep your drink hot (or cold in season) longer than smaller ones, and 500 ml is about as big as a bottle cage will hold, so the bike buddy and a larger flask would give hot drinks for longest.
tim-b
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by tim-b »

Hi
A Thermos ThermoCafe with a toestrap under the bottle cage and around the flask (if needed)
EDIT: I've just realised that there are several ThermoCafe flasks; it's this one(link) and is available for less than £10 online. At 73mm it's a snugger fit than some models /EDIT
I've started to use Zefal Spring cages, cheap, lightweight and they don't look too bad IMHO, they also have a decent space to pass the toestrap through
Regards
tim-b
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RickH
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by RickH »

Not a cheap option but Elite do the Deboyo Umbra (link).
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It comes with an insulated cap as well that keeps things hot or cold for longer.

I managed to pick one up, reletively cheaply, a couple of years ago & found it works well and is designed to fit a bottle cage.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
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Patrickpioneer
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by Patrickpioneer »

My answer to carrying a flask was to cut up an old drinks bottle and tape the flask into it,
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nez
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Re: Thermos for bidon holder?

Post by nez »

Patrickpioneer wrote:My answer to carrying a flask was to cut up an old drinks bottle and tape the flask into it,


Satisfyingly resistant to super smooth modern design. I've remembered I have some thin neoprene so after I've raided Go Outdoors I will be able to make a little boot if I want.
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