I''ve now spent a couple of months with the Razor bottle system and wanted to share my experience.Quality: Let me first start by saying how impressed I am with the quality of the bottle and cage. The carbon cage alone is a work or art with a beautiful glossy carbon finish. It aligns straight with your frame when mounted (if your frame''s mounting holes are not perfectly aligned, you will quickly find out with this system.) The bottle is the typical plastic you find with standard bike water bottles. In the store, it feels a bit firm and hard to squeeze but on the bike delivers water easily with an easy squeeze. The top is a snap-on vs. the current trend on screw-on tops. So far, not a single leak from the top, even when placed on its side for long periods of time (more on this below). All of my screw tops leak at some point.
Mounting: The cage has two sets of holes (for a total of four) to allow for different placements. This is important because the large shape of the bottle can fill a small frame quickly. On my bike (54cm.), there is enough clearance for a Razor to be installed on both the down tube and seat tube (more on this below).
Use: The Razor is designed for road cyclist who want an aero edge. Some research I''ve read suggests that an aero bottle in this location provides as much or more advantage than aero wheels. In my experience, I''ve been a tad faster since starting to use it but I also just upgraded my shoes so I can''t say which is contributing to it, if at all.
So how does it work? In a word, great! Once filled and ready to go, the bottle slips easily in and out of the cage and is VERY secure. The bottle is easy to grip, pull out and squeeze, all with no-look. Inserting it does require the rider to look down to get the bottle aligned in the cage but once the heel is set, the top of the bottle snaps in with a reassuring "click". It event looks cool if that sort or thing is important to you.
Disadvantages: Nothing is perfect so here''s my list. First, because there is no flat bottom, the bottle cannot be stood up to be filled or stored. Especially tricky is filling the bottle with sports drink powder. The bottle has to be laid on its side most of the time. Fortunately, it doesn''t leak or there would be a real mess in your kitchen, car, etc. Second, the bottle only holds 20 oz. which is fine for an hour ride in cool weather but won''t cut it for longer rides. I recommend checking to see if two will fit on your frame. They fit on my frame but haven''t purchased the second one yet. I imagine having 2 will provide a bonus aero advantage. Third, if you race for a team and need a spare bottle, you better be sure to stock up if your teammates use standard bottles. Fourth, spare bottles are hard to find. If you are going to a ride out of town, bring your own bottles because you might not find them at the local bike shop. Lastly, the cage and bottle are not cheap. If you are willing to live with these shortcomings, go for it!
In a 2km section of moderately bumpy paved road (not potholes or railroad tracks or anything just smooth bumps) the bottle was dislodged twice and ejected onto the road. This occurred when the bottle was full and while emptying it prevented it from being ejected again, there''s no point carrying a bottle on the bike if the only way to do it safely is for it to be empty.
On perfect roads it was OK, however it''s not something I would ever trust particularly if you are in a group where a loose bottle could cause a crash behind you. Even if you are riding solo, who wants to stop to retrieve a bottle?
If this doesn''t dissuade you I will say that the apparent quality of the cage and bottle seems fairly high, ignoring that it wouldn''t hold onto the bottle reliably. A minor point is that it''s awkward to cap after filling because of the shape.
In short this bottle system behaved worse than anything I''ve ever encountered before, and I will be throwing it in this week''s trash. That it is expensive on top of this just adds insult to injury.
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