How do you carry your water bladder?

[surly56]

Hello Folks,
Have bought a 6 litre MSR Dromedary for an upcoming trip but am not sure of the best way to carry it on the bike as i have no feel for how strong or how abrasion resistant it is.
Have Back Roller Plus panniers on a Tubus Cargo rack, with a heavy duty drybag on top.
I know that others carry the bladder between the panniers but is this directly on the rack or do you use some kind of padding to protect the bladder from the pannier clips and rack?
Any pictures would be great.
Cheers,
Ross.

[pbekkerh]

I carry my Ortlieb on the rack between the panniers with a carabiner in the rear of the rack and one in the saddle. I have only had a problem once when I had a big bag of fruit besides it and the water bag got in contact with the rear tyre, otherwise I have had no wear at all.

[Baalzamon]

Fill it up with water, let it sit for a few hrs and have a taste of it. Make sure it doesn't taste foul. I found that out the hard way. I had it on my rear rack on top strapped down.

[Leaf T]

Fill it up with water, let it sit for a few hrs and have a taste of it. Make sure it doesn't taste foul. I found that out the hard way. I had it on my rear rack on top strapped down.

I have this problem too with the Ortlieb bag. Disgusting. I cleaned it with denture cleaning pills which helped a little but I wonder how safe the bag is re chemical off gassing. Do you think it is the heat and or sun that makes it taint the water?

The bags are fairly tough so I wouldn't worry about punctures too much other than obvious sharp objects.

[pbekkerh]

I have 3 ortliebs, never had any problem with taste but then I inspect and clean them regularly.
I have put water in them, that wasn't suitable for drinking but I cleaned it with Cochlans pills and the water was good and my bags are still good.

On the Stewart highway, I had two 4 liter Ortliebs on the rear rack and one 10 liter suspended under the handlebar.

[Leaf T]

Perhaps there was a batch of smelly ones. It is brought on by being in the sun for a couple of hours. At home I store the bag open so it can air out but it was still smelly last time I checked.

[il padrone]

The MSR Dromedary is one tough bag. With the 6L I carry it on the rear rack, lengthways between the panniers and strapped under my rack-top drybag. Travels very securely and I'm easily able to access it to top up the water-bottles on the road. The 10L one is a bit more difficult - bigger and heavier. On my desert tours I have carried two and when full they went in the bottom of each rear pannier for a balanced water load. I put clothes and water-sensitive gear in the panniers on my Extrawheel trailer on the dry stretches on those tours.

Dromedary carried like this on the rack, no padding.

[thecaptn]

My MSR waterbag always tastes plasticky. I clean and dry it etc but once water has been in it for a few hours the taste comes back. I think it's just volitiles coming out of the sealing membrane and I don't worry about it.

I carry mine in my Ortlieb Rack bag along with the items I want to put my hands on first when I get to camp. My sleeping bag, mat and pillow (in dry bags) along with my tent. This way if I stay at a pub or something I don't need to open or unpack this stuff. If I'm camping I can set up my tent and sleeping arangements without having to touch my panniers which is good if it's getting dark.

I carry spare water bottles so I don't normally need to access my waterbag when riding and only carry it full if I'm unsure about water supplies ahead.

Pete

[surly56]

Thank you to all that offered advice or shared their experiences.
A special thanks to il padrone for the picture.
That is a very similar set up to my own and if it has survived your Red Centre trips, it should survive my jaunt.
Cheers,
Ross.

[Cheesewheel]

a slightly more pricey option is to get a huge frame bag and put it in there with the hose and mouth piece hanging out and strapped to the handlebar. I do it with an insulated 3L one on a surly frame and I am reasonably sure I could do it with my 6L if I used the framebag exclusively for carrying water. Will maybe do an experiment in the next few days and post a pic. You can certainly fit more water in a frame with a framebag than you are ever likely to get with two bottle holders and its a lot more convenient to grab a sip and certainly preferable to wearing a reservoir on your back.

[Cheesewheel]

My MSR waterbag always tastes plasticky. I clean and dry it etc but once water has been in it for a few hours the taste comes back. I think it's just volitiles coming out of the sealing membrane and I don't worry about it.



Pete

I noticed that with some red coloured ones (the thinner ones) but it was almost completely absent with the black (heaver quality) ones.
Dunno whether it was part of the different manufacturing process or simply product discrepancies/older stock or whatever.

I also had one particular camelbak bladder that was particularly plasticky but I washed it out and had it soak a heap of times and drank the rest of it out so that it is on par with the rest of my camelbak bladders

[il padrone]

If you are after drinkability on the road, another option is the Veleau system by Showerspass. More a road biker/Audax system, but it can be made to work on a touring rig.

[Wingnut]

I plan to ditch my bidon cages and use a frame bag for my bladder...there's usually a port for the drinking tube if required...