User requirements for a cycling water bottle

simon.dahl.thaulow

Hi !
It would be of great help if you would be so kind to answer the questionnaire on the link below.
The research is part of my master thesis as an engineer, about the production of sports water bottles. It takes 5-8 min.

​https://forms.gle/SHDuhdXWWZhLxx2X8

Please do share the link if you know others who have experience with or could have interesting demands for at sports water bottle !

Thanks a lot and merry Christmas !

The Rookie

A few comments.
1. I carry 1.5 litre so why restrict me to just 1L
2. I guess English is your second language, if not some of the questions are pretty poorly written.
3. I use a bladder so some of the questions are meaningless, eventually gave up on that basis.

robertpb

I gave up at this, 'How important is it to you that the water bottle does not contain any harmful substances ?'

It's a water bottle it would be an offence to use harmful substances, shows this wasn't clearly thought out.

mattyfez

Probably means BPO? Free..

jonathanuk

Some comments from me too, having completed the quiz...

I found myself answering the middle option 'doesn't really matter either way', adding this option to any question nullifies the question, it would probably be better to only have positive or negative options (two or three of each), no middle option which results in a meaningless result.

I have different bikes with different water bottle carrying capacities (there is not always room for a 1ltr bottle where the cage is, so I can only carry a 0.75ltr bottle on that bike, but on other bikes there is room for a 1ltr and even two bottles). My choice of bottle size is therefore dictated by which bike I ride, and also what season it is (summer = more water required).

The idea of a non-slip coating initially sounds good, but I know it would likely be the first thing to get damaged or rub off, especially on a mountain bike, so I had to answer no to that idea on that basis. Also if the surface is too grippy it might make handling the bottle difficult when slipping in and out of a holder.

I found the later questions rather bizarre, not things I would consider even thinking about when choosing a water bottle (smell, taste, contents transfer etc - these should all be defacto requirements for any food or drink container, nobody would *want* these things and the item would not pass quality standards). The only different thing I do like is the cover over the mouthpiece that one of my bottles has, ideal for wet muddy winter riding when there is guaranteed splashing all over the bike and me.

You did not mention thermal insulation to keep drinks warm / cool. This is already a thing though, as are almost everything you asked about.

You also did not mention how well the bottle sits in a standard bottle cage, this is very important for mountain bike water bottles! A similarly important factor is the material the bottle is made out of - I have had one bottle that was made of a thin plastic, it cracked when I dropped it once (before I even put it on the bike), a bottle needs to be able to survive a rough fall from a height of at least 4' when full of water, it should also be reasonably resistant to warm liquids (not boiling, but above 20C), and it has to be BPA-free and not leech any harmful chemicals under any circumstances.

steve_sordy

Ref the cover for the mouthpiece. After getting some sort of animal sh1t on the mouthpiece and then in my mouth, my next bike related purchase was a Camelbak MULE with a 3-litre bladder.

PS: The animal sh1t could have been deer, squirrel, rabbit, hare, badger, fox, even human! But I reckon it was dog, because I can't imagine anything tasting worse than what I had in my mouth that day!

jonathanuk

steve_sordy said:

Ref the cover for the mouthpiece. After getting some sort of animal censored on the mouthpiece and then in my mouth, my next bike related purchase was a Camelbak MULE with a 3-litre bladder.

But there is still a chance of getting muck splatter on the mouthpiece of a bladder, especially if there's nothing to stop it flicking up from the front tyre towards your face (a tale I've heard a few times from people who suddenly saw the benefits of a front mudguard). A small cover over the mouthpiece of any drinking system solves this problem 100%.

steve_sordy

I agree that can happen, but it almost never has because the mouthpiece is several feet higher up than the water bottle. In addition, the mouthpiece can be tucked into the front of my jacket or tee shirt.

PS: I have a Mucky Nutz permanently fitted to my fork brace.