The Most Interesting Bottle In The World? (Publ 05/02:UPD 27/05)

(Request For Submissions)

Sometimes I think about how many bike companies that I know have compromised on their best suspension designs to accommodate in-triangle hydration hauling. Priorities. It makes me wonder what most full-suspension mountain bikes would look like if everyone had stuck with happily nursing on hydration packs.

There are, of course, a few sweet-looking rigs that don’t pay any heed to capturing a cage – GeoMetron G1, Foes Mixer, etc. – but for the most part, any mountain bike that’s getting pedaled uphill has a provision to conveniently port a standard sized water bottle and the majority of riders I see are taking advantage of it.

And the thing about water bottles is they’re a relatively large surface for potential differentiation. An inexpensive way to add a splash of colour, an interesting graphic, a political statement, maybe some pizzaz! It’s a product that requires replacement once in a while – no matter how much you wash them – and for brands like Fox Racing Shox, whose bottles I see everywhere, it’s a great piece of marketing that folks are willing to pay to display.

I wheelie like this Old Style bottle from The Inside Line (cheers to our friends at the shop).

I love creative water bottles and there are quite a few options out there. The folks at The Radavist have long been leaders in the interesting bottle game. Spurcycle has some fun options (Catch-Up). Or, a favourite past example of mine is the NSMBA’s Digger Kneeds Knees fundraiser. At this point, my Digger graphic is so worn it’s just a head and two sets of horns. I enjoy Chromag‘s black bear vs. grizzly bear. Fun and educational.

But it seems to me that most companies fail to inspire with their water bottle designs. I mean, the bottles still work as bottles clearly, but spice it up a bit! Not to single anyone out, but what could be more boring than writing T R E K in big letters across a bottle and calling it a day? Every major brand in cycling employs some very creative graphics people so ditch the pedestrian efforts and let them loose!

Claire’s SQ24” just squeezing in her fresh ‘floral’ bottle.

The Clairebarian and I were due for some fresh bottles, and the ones we’re now sporting are designed by our friends Cam & Co. at The Inside Line in Calgary. Claire feels quite strongly that her one is superior so now we are having a sporting debate on who has the better bottle. I think she should be disqualified for stealing the red lid off of mine to upgrade the appearance of her bottle; she respectfully disagrees. And she suggested we should involve a third party (of her choosing) to settle the dispute. Yeah, no.

But the exchange brings up a point. Certainly, we haven’t seen every bottle design from every bike shop and brand out there. Just because most of them are a bit dull doesn’t mean there aren’t some awesome and interesting options we haven’t come across.

So, I figured it would be fun to take some real-life reader submissions. If you own an interesting-looking water bottle, e-mail me a photo of it in your cage or on the trail and I’ll add it below. If anyone participates then at the end of the year we’ll have the Tunnel Talk Team vote and choose a winner (bragging rights only, sorry).

18) Jake’s Vermont Maple Syrup x Kona Honzo ST Single-Speed combo.