Cranktank 3 vs cages on fork + smartwater bottles

[bonzo_bcn]

We recently did our maiden bikepacking trip on this route https://bikepacking.com/routes/downs-overnighter/ which provided good lessons.

One of them is that we need to carry more water, currently we just have a 500ml bottle each mounted to the frame.

I saw this option https://adventurehydration.com/product/cranktank-3/, pretty pricey at £75 each, but seems a perfect way to carry 3L and avoid having to drink from a dirt bottle as we experienced in the South Downs. Also the weight is centered and low, and nothing sticking out of the bike like fork cages.

The other option I've considered is getting some fork mounts like https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005006215691303.html plus smartwater bottles. This turns would be way cheaper at £10 each.

Before making any decision I wanted to check with more experienced bikepackers what the thought were for both systems and if there are any other I should consider.
Thanks!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Keep with your single bottle and buy a filter. Also, consider carrying a bladder which can be filled up just prior to stopping for the night.

Water's heavy, think of ways to carry as little as you can.

[RIP]

Firstly, hope you enjoyed your trip

I've never carried more than 500ml and a filter. 3 litres of water would far and away be the single heaviest thing you carried.

Every time you filter and fill your 500ml bottle, drink it straightaway then filter another 500ml to take with you. My 500ml bottle is carried in a homemade cabletie-and-gaffer-tape harness on my bars, well away from any crap kicked up from the ground.

But also remember that fresh water taps - in the UK - are far more common than you might think....... in cafes & pubs & shops, but also outside - village halls, graveyards, churches, farms, industrial estates.... and knock on a door if all else fails .

Been riding for decades and bikepacking for many years. Not died of thirst yet .

[Lazarus]

Two 500 ml.bottles.one normal.ome.a.filter bottle. Geneslly inly use the later late at night.

3 litres.of water is 3 kg and the.uk is pretty wet so off road there are always rivers and on the road there are always churches / graveyards and also peoples houses.

Only.a desert would make me.consider.3 litres of water.

The crank tank looks good and way more than i would pay for a shaped piece of plastic.

[bonzo_bcn]

Keep with your single bottle and buy a filter. Also, consider carrying a bladder which can be filled up just prior to stopping for the night.

Water's heavy, think of ways to carry as little as you can.

We did carry a bladder half full but ran out of water as I didn't find the taps that were supposed to be along the route, but might be a solution.
We have a Sawyer but SD have so much cattle that we didn't want to use it there (didn't find any streams either!).

[bonzo_bcn]

Firstly, hope you enjoyed your trip

I've never carried more than 500ml and a filter. 3 litres of water would far and away be the single heaviest thing you carried.

Every time you filter and fill your 500ml bottle, drink it straightaway then filter another 500ml to take with you. My 500ml bottle is carried in a homemade cabletie-and-gaffer-tape harness on my bars, well away from any crap kicked up from the ground.

But also remember that fresh water taps - in the UK - are far more common than you might think....... in cafes & pubs & shops, but also outside - village halls, graveyards, churches, farms, industrial estates.... and knock on a door if all else fails .

Been riding for decades and bikepacking for many years. Not died of thirst yet .

Yes, it was a rookie mistake not to refill before entering the SD.

We did enjoy the experience, but would have enjoyed more if we hadn't suffered from saddle pain, we spent 8h riding on day one and 6 on day two, as my son wasn't as fit as he thought

Next trip will be 3 days, then 4-6, and then hopefully, Iceland Divide.

Thanks for the advice, I'll get a handlebar harness to avoid it getting muddy, as was the case in this trip!

[bonzo_bcn]

Two 500 ml.bottles.one normal.ome.a.filter bottle. Geneslly inly use the later late at night.

3 litres.of water is 3 kg and the.uk is pretty wet so off road there are always rivers and on the road there are always churches / graveyards and also peoples houses.

Only.a desert would make me.consider.3 litres of water.

The crank tank looks good and way more than i would pay for a shaped piece of plastic.

So is it common for churches and graveyards to have taps to refill? good to know

[fatbikephil]

What they said, although I take a bigger bottle or a water bladder in my frame bag, but with never more than 1l in it (I often forget to fill up so like to carry a bit more)

A couple of bottles on the forks work OK but can pick up mud. A bottle on the down tube and a crud catcher is better in my view.

Filter-wise, An MSR trail shot has a lot of fans on here - a bit spendy but a good investment as it means you can lift water from pretty much any water body or course (including puddles).

[RIP]

So is it common for churches and graveyards to have taps to refill? good to know

Very common. Village halls another good one in my experience. Maybe turned off in winter though.

There was a suggestion on Here a while ago that we all chipped in to create a map of them. I prefer the fun of finding them .

[RIP]

Next trip will be 3 days, then 4-6, and then hopefully, Iceland Divide.

Oh, as Alpinum will no doubt be along to elaborate, Iceland would be a different kettle of (fermented) fish. You'd think with all that melted glacier water you'd have no problem, but the times I went (decades ago now) I was advised it can be dangerous because of the suspended fine particulates. Then again I never took a filter so must have got water from somewhere!

[Lazarus]

So is it common for churches and graveyards to have taps to refill? good to know

Church ones are outside usually round the back. Any with tended graves/gardens will have a tap. Some really old churches with really old graves dont have them.

[thenorthwind]

Agree with most of the above really. Personally I use a 1.5 or 2l bladder, and that's just about enough for cooking an evening meal, morning coffee, breakfast, minimal washing up and general hydration for that time.

I often use a filter, but to be honest, if I come across a tap not long before I'm going to camp, I'll fill up and take the extra weight in favour of the uncertainty of finding a decent wild supply and the hassle of filtering.

I'll sometimes use a (rigid or flexible) bottle for a bit of extra capacity and ease of drinking in camp.

Bladders offer a much better weight/capacity ratio than bottles. My 2l bladder weighs about the same as a standard 500ml bottle, and doesn't take up any more space if it's only got 500ml in it.

I can see the point in the crank tank, but normal bladders will adapt to the shape of a bag pretty well. I usually have mine in a frame bag.

[Richpips]

I used a 3 litre Cranktank last summer on a month long trip in France where the temperature touched 40 C a few times.

It was great to know that I always had some water.

Remember to sterilise every few days with Milton tablets or similar.

[Boab]

If you have a frame bag, then there's cheaperer options like the Apidura frame pack hydration bladder. I wear a CamelBak Chase with 1.5L reservoir, while I'm not mad keen on wearing it on hot days, it's nice to have the equivalent of a couple of big bottles of water on me. I do occasionally run out, and do overly stress about running out, so I'm happy to take the extra weight, rather than stopping every hour to filter water.

[GoneCaving]

I though the Apidura frame bag bladder looked a bit spendy, so I use a regular platypus bladder in my frame bag, and supplement it with a couple of runners’ squishy bottles in a running vest (I find it easier to drink from, and easier to track how much I’m drinking).

[bonzo_bcn]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I've bought a couple of handlebar bottle bags from aliexpress for each bike. I'll remove the cage in the downtube as it get too dirty (or maybe I'll leave it as a backup).

[redefined_cycles]

Hi Bonzo. If using a bottle at the downtube it might be an idea to get the mtb version of the camelbak bottles. They come with a rubber cap to protect the teat/tip. I usually carry a 3L bladder inside my framebag. It's the shapeshifter version and can be reduced to 2.5L with an internal baffle.

IMO it takes very little weight and the more you drink, the more cargo capacity becomes available. It's also a detachable hose to make refilling easier due to the hose being routed through the framebag. Welcome btw...

[bonzo_bcn]

Hi Bonzo. If using a bottle at the downtube it might be an idea to get the mtb version of the camelbak bottles. They come with a rubber cap to protect the teat/tip. I usually carry a 3L bladder inside my framebag. It's the shapeshifter version and can be reduced to 2.5L with an internal baffle.

IMO it takes very little weight and the more you drink, the more cargo capacity becomes available. It's also a detachable hose to make refilling easier due to the hose being routed through the framebag. Welcome btw...

Thanks!
I used one with a cap, but it was still a bit of a mess.
We carried our sleeping pads in the frame bag, but now I've bought a couple of cargo cages to carry them on the downtube, so frame bag is free. I will try the bladder approach too to see what works best, thnks.

[Alpinum]

Iceland

Someone said Iceland? Where, where?  

I remembered Bonzo's Iceland thread and found I had not answered some questions... sorry for that . Will get on it.
Thanks Reg for helping me remember.

different kettle of (fermented) fish. You'd think with all that melted glacier water you'd have no problem, but the times I went (decades ago now) I was advised it can be dangerous because of the suspended fine particulates. Then again I never took a filter so must have got water from somewhere!

yeah, there are some fresh water sources. Quite a few more than indicated on the Iceland Divide's map on Bikepacking.com. It's only when you don't want to sleep next to a water source that you'll have to carry 3 - 4 L/p.

I've met folks during my first traverse (on foot) close to the Vatnajökull, trying all tricks to get the sediments from a glacial river (one that was later covered by the Holuhraun eruption and made for a warm bath) settle down, but failed. I had carried surplus from Öskjuvatn (traverse of the Askja caldera is not recommended) and gave them some of mine. So sometimes it's good to have a little extra. We all survived.
You can spot (see eg. https://satellites.pro/ or other sat image services) a fresh water source by the green edges (moss and other plants). The glacial rivers don't allow for plants to grow since they fluctuate (volume and some even in their course) heavily. If in doubt let me know, I've got some marked (waypoints) somewhere in my files.

[bonzo_bcn]

Iceland

Someone said Iceland? Where, where?  

I remembered Bonzo's Iceland thread and found I had not answered some questions... sorry for that . Will get on it.
Thanks Reg for helping me remember.

different kettle of (fermented) fish. You'd think with all that melted glacier water you'd have no problem, but the times I went (decades ago now) I was advised it can be dangerous because of the suspended fine particulates. Then again I never took a filter so must have got water from somewhere!

yeah, there are some fresh water sources. Quite a few more than indicated on the Iceland Divide's map on Bikepacking.com. It's only when you don't want to sleep next to a water source that you'll have to carry 3 - 4 L/p.

I've met folks during my first traverse (on foot) close to the Vatnajökull, trying all tricks to get the sediments from a glacial river (one that was later covered by the Holuhraun eruption and made for a warm bath) settle down, but failed. I had carried surplus from Öskjuvatn (traverse of the Askja caldera is not recommended) and gave them some of mine. So sometimes it's good to have a little extra. We all survived.
You can spot (see eg. https://satellites.pro/ or other sat image services) a fresh water source by the green edges (moss and other plants). The glacial rivers don't allow for plants to grow since they fluctuate (volume and some even in their course) heavily. If in doubt let me know, I've got some marked (waypoints) somewhere in my files.

Would a sawyer squeeze not filter out sediments? or is it a matter of clogging the filter? wouldn't backflushing help?

[Alpinum]

Would a sawyer squeeze not filter out sediments? or is it a matter of clogging the filter? wouldn't backflushing help?

No idea how much it takes and the amount of sediments will likely depend on time of year (temperatures, snowmelt), course of the water (is there a lake or a couple between glacier and you) and other factors. So perhaps you clog the filter within 5 L at one river and 50 L at a seemingly similar one. Pure speculation though and in the end I never had a filter with me and was able to fetch silt free water in even very awkward circumstances (storm slowed/pinned me/us down, thus collected rain water from the tent fly or snowmelt water puddles on rocks). I only ever brought along Micropure drops for those water courses visites by geese or sheep.