Test: Fabric Water Bottle – ea drinking bottle without a bottle holder? Sounds strange, but it has its appeal - and works pretty well. Velomotion looked at and tested the seemingly simple concept of Cannondale's sister company, Fabric.
Fabric is the name of a relatively young accessory brand that is causing a stir with innovative products. How about a stay-up drinking bottle? First of all, one may ask oneself, what is this supposed to mean? But if you think about it for a minute, you can certainly think of uses for a bottle that can be “just like that” latched onto the frame.
The Fabric bottle makes sense on a cyclocrosser, for example. Anyone who rides quickly through the terrain for an hour does not necessarily need to have something to drink with them and would like to be able to shoulder their bike without a bottle holder getting in the way. If the bike is used for road training with other tires, a bottle cage would first have to be mounted - with the Fabric system, on the other hand, you are equipped for both options. Even an everyday bike that is occasionally used for a longer tour does not always need a bottle cage. Mountain bikes with a small frame triangle could also be a target group, especially since the bottle only has to be moved by almost three centimeters to attach it.
So there are possible uses – the only question is how well and whether it works. The "how" is quickly explained: The mushroom-shaped plastic holders are attached to the frame with the supplied screws; the bottle is hooked in and locked with an audible click. What sounds fiddly at first works surprisingly well, as we were able to determine in the "practical test" on the reel. Even without looking, you found the right position to snap into place in a flash, after a few tries we got the hang of it. There is no need to fear that the bottle will accidentally get lost; if you push it onto the holder until it "clicks", it sits very firmly.
The bottle itself makes a good impression. The rubber valve is easy to pull out with your teeth; If you then turn the bottle upside down, a sealing lip ensures that nothing runs out. The BPA-free bottle holds 600 ml and is available in different colors. And we can think of something else: Of course, the look also plays a role, and not everyone thinks a bottle holder on their dream bike is nice. Perhaps the holder-free drinking bottle with its fastening bolts is an alternative, and an inexpensive one at that: The bottle including two sets of bolts and screws costs only 14,90 euros.
Oh, and fans of lightweight construction will also get their money's worth with the Fabric bottle. At 70 grams, the bottle itself is one of the lighter of its kind; conventional high-quality bidons weigh up to 90 grams (!). Two screws and bolts together weigh 7 grams, easily 15 grams less than the lightest bottle cage including screws. This, in turn, is of course several times more expensive than the bicycle bottle without holder.
Conclusion
How to twist it: The Fabric bottle is a good idea, and it's pretty cheap at that. The system only has one disadvantage: With conventional drinking bottles, it definitely is not compatible.
price and web
- EUR 14,90
- www.fabric.cc