Nice! Just picked mine up this week, as well.

One note: The bottle is taller than the 2016 model, so very low and narrow arm rests will not fit nicely. I am currently having this problem but am working on a solution.


Otherwise, yes, the front bottle is larger and much more secure. Bento is larger and also secures its contents.

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Alex Arman

Strava

Whoa! Terrific!

Did your shop notify you or did you reach out straight to Giant?
Unfortunately, the shop I bought mine from (Athlete's Lounge in PDX) is shuttered.

I actually saw it on an ebay auction and contacted my LBS. Within a few days, I had a box waiting for me.

Meanwhile, Felt IA owners fume...

Good on Giant to timely respond to customer complaints

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just your average age grouper . no one special . no scientific knowledge . just having fun.

Just wanted to update you all....

Went for a ride today with the new setup. I purposely filled the hydration up, almost to the top. No bueno. I need to double check but I think the fill cap is only a single baffle design, which is probably the reason why. Water squirts out of the top continuously, sometimes 4 inches high. Once the water lowered though, it was a lot better. A side note too, is that I was riding pretty harsh roads. So we just have to fill it about 1/2 to 3/4 full.
The bottle also came with a "no fill" plug. I believe if you use that, you won't have a problem with leakage; but then you can not fill on-the-go. I did test this and filled the front hydration with my water bottle. It worked great. You can now pull your bottle out and the fill cap stays in place. Overall, I believe the new design is much better. I'm going to see if I can help with the squirting water somehow.

I didn't have many problems with the other set up, but this is much improved. I have 3 rides on it and haven't had problems with it. I've filled it with two bottles worth of water, so guessing 40oz each time. There are droplets that pop out a little at first when I hit a bump, but not enough to be an issue. This new set up takes away any of the frustrations I had about this bike and I now have to say this is the best of the 5 TT bikes I've had.

Good to hear. Just curious, is your fill cap a single baffle too?

You must ride on smooth roads. :)

Any idea how to secure the di2 junction box inside the bento? the older version had a little slide in clip but this newer one doesn't have that. Is the velcro included in the bag anything to do with it?

Overall the bottle and bento is much better, I have a small frame and the bottle capacity has grown from 440ml to just under 740ml.

Nice touch by Giant to offer upgrades to 2016 customers too.

Can you stuff a loofa in it to buffer against splashing?

(Still trying to find a shop to hook me up with this kit.)

That is a great idea. I will look into that! Thanks.

I used the Velcro to secure it to my top tube inside the Bento.

Yes, it is a single. The roads around here are chip seal, so not the smoothest, but not horrible. I haven't taken it on any of the really bad roads around town. When I did fill it all the way to the top, it did splash out a bit more.

Yea that's what I did, grabbing it to charge looks a little fiddly but I suppose that's a once in a blue moon job. Overall, very pleased with the new designs.

Good information folks. Thanks for the responses.

Now that the new hydration system has been out awhile, has anyone launched one on a ride?

I only ask because I finally put my new front water bottle on and lost it twice on my 2nd ride out. Of course, the ping pong ball size top latch broke so I'm needing a new one.

I've had the new hydration now for months with ZERO issue.
Put it to some serious test this weekend at St George. Completely full bottle on the rough chipseal, speed bumps, cattle guards.... no ejections.

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Alex Arman

Strava

Ditto.
With the bottom wheel-hugging slider AND the top triangle piece locked in, I cannot imagine ever launching that bottle.

I have had trouble getting the top to snap on, though. I can get either the front or rear tab to lock on, but not both. I had it on once or twice when I first got it, but no luck since. It is such a tight snap, that something is no longer lining up nicely. Thus, I snap in the front and throw a strip of tape on each side to be sure.

I am very impressed by these upgrades. Very cool.

Ah... I'm pretty sure my issue was probably caused by the top latch not being all the way locked in on both sides then. I was pretty surprised since on my first ride out I went over some really rough conditions and didn't have a problem. Yet on my second ride, I flew over a small bump that I didn't even get out of aero for and the bottle went flying.

I don't have any problems with the bottle flying off. What I have problems with is getting the top triangle piece off to remove the bottle. That thing is on pretty snug.

I also shaved down the piece that clips on top to hold down the straw and rubber cap; where it meets with the triangle piece.

Stil have problems with liquids spitting out of the fill hole. Most of the time I'll just use the one with out, or make sure I just have water in the tank.

Yup, I have to wedge a screwdriver into the little cutouts and pry it off.

Did you try the loofa trick to slow down the splashing?

Yes, i tried it. The loofa ends up sinking to the bottom. Can you think of a way to keep it up at the top?

A bit of floss/fishing line that loops through several holes of the loofa, then comes out the slits and ties taught around the straw? (I am imagining the loofa is life a teabag and the floss is the string. Does that make sense?)

Maybe a hook or other catcher plastic welded inside the bottle near the top?

Super huge loofa that fills up the whole thing? (haha)

The first one sounds the easiest, but if you go with weak line/floss, maybe have a few in case jamming a fill bottle in there snaps the first and then drops the loofa down again.

Great ideas. I see what I can do along those lines. Thanks!!!!!

So I decided while waiting for a new top latch from Giant I'd model up my version and 3D print it. It came out pretty good for a first attempt and sits snug but not so tight that I need a screwdriver to pop it off. After I refine it a bit more I'll post the file in case anyone else is tired of breaking out a flathead every time they want to take off their water bottle.

I'm going to take the bike out for a few rides this week to see if it's tight enough where I'd feel comfortable training with my version. Then use the factory latch for races. After I refine the part a bit more I'll post the file in case anyone else is tired of breaking out a flathead every time they want to take off their water bottle.

Nice work. Doesn't look like it is pushing up against the top cover.

Looks good!
I'd definitely take that file once you've tested it.

I was thinking to put a smear or two of assembly grease on that part next time to help it release.

Update: I've ridden the bike about 100 miles with my 3D printed latch and I have yet to have a problem with it.

I did however find the culprit of how the latch came off the first time. It turns out the bottom bracket was loose allowing the hydration system to vibrate more than it should have. I found this out when the "around the wheel" piece dipped down and hit my front wheel which sent it flying. Nothing else on the hydration system came off. I looked at the bottom latch and it was extremely loose. So just check that bottom latch to make sure it's screwed in tight and aligned correctly. I'm sure if it doesn't sit perfectly flush with the head tube, it'll vibrate loose. I'm sure some Loctite will help.

So I re-tightened the bottom latch - this time in a slightly higher position than before. This of course made the hydration system fit better than before. So now my top latch is a few mm too long. It's not actually a problem; it just leaves a 2-3mm gap between the top of the stem and the hydration system. I've rode with this gap 50 miles and had no problems.

I'm going to print the latest version I created, make sure it fits and then upload it.

I got the new setup a few months back and haven't had the bottle fly off yet, and I don't think it will. Plain and simple, the old bottle was terrible. Giant should have never sold the bike with that bottle. So I'm glad they fixed the problem and are doing it on their dime versus the customer.

The new bottle is huge though. Why the hell does it need to be so big? I will never put anything sugary in it because, as someone already pointed out, if you fill it more than half way you're going to get whatever concoction you have in it spraying out the top, and all over your front end. The last thing anyone needs is the already janky front brake, or the whole front end for that matter getting gummed up with sugary stuff. So, water is the only thing going in it for me. The longest you will need to go in a race is ~25 miles without water from an aid station, so why not make it smaller and less ridiculous looking?

I love the larger size bottle. And the front brake works fantastically.

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Alex Arman

Strava

Yeah, I haven't had any issues with the brakes myself. (Of course accessing the rear brake is a little tricky.)

Of course, you'll get some spray from that bottle, but aside from a little mess, not really enough to worry about it affecting anything. However...
I grabbed a too-loose gatorade bottle at Victoria last weekend and a quarter of the bottle sprayed out of the threads when I tried to fill the front bottle. That soaked the whole front end: bare bar, wheel, even down onto the chain, rings, FD. It immediately started feeling weird and within a mile, chain-sucked onto the BB. Could've been a timing coincidence, but I think the splash was the culprit. In any case, that was WAY more fluid then you'd even get from normal splish splash. Besides, in the other thread, we've talked a bit about how to reduce that. I'll be trying some of these out myself.

Does anyone have pictures of the bike without the front hydration mounted. Side profile and frontal?

Thank you.

got a link?

I can snap one when I get home tonight or you can just look up the TT version. I'm sure there is some sort of 360 view on giant's site. If not, search for Dumoulin's Giro-win-clinching trinity TT bike!

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=6247506

Thanks. Lots of good stuff in there.

Thank you. How do you guys like the bike? I am super interested in getting the trinity advanced. Will likely buy the frameset and build it up. Its just too good of a bike for the money compared to other brands. I was going to go for the Canyon when it hits the US but I don't fit on the speedmax. I need to find out if I will fit on a Giant but if do it will likely be my next tri bike.

Does anyone know how much a full build weighs? Di2 or Etap.

I really like it. Check out the other thread (linked just above) for a full rundown of the good and bad. The biggest complaints were solved with these new pieces, making it a much nicer bike than when originally offered.

I can take its weight tonight, but keep in mind that the smallest aero gain/loss will negate a huge change in weight. Thus, more and more people simply disregard TT bike weights, since they'll all be 'light enough'.

Any other questions, fire away, but the other thread is a better spot since it has more background info.

Any update on this?
I have found that after a few install/remove cycles, the stock piece is just right. It takes a good bit of effort to remove, but doesn't need a tool.

I have just got a 3dprinter and was thinking about designing a draft box off the back. Have you tried anything like that? I can print OK, but my modeling is terrible. It is a simple enough shape, so I should be able to fake it. If I can make several versions, I'd take it to the tunnel to test.

So I modeled 3 iterations of the hydration top piece and the first one didn't fit at all. The second one required me to make a small cut in the plastic to get it to fit nicely. Then I realized there was a small gap between the bottle and frame at the top (~2mm) - so of course I wasn't satisfied.

I made a 3rd iteration that hasn't fallen off after 500 road miles and a 20+ mph crash. It also required a bit of xacto knife trimming. I realized that if the bottom bottle bracket is moved up or down, it changes the exact fit, so I gave up making it absolutely perfect. I noticed it rides up a bit (2-3 mm) after 20-30 miles. That's probably from me making the inner dimension a mm too small. I just push down on the piece once an hour or whenever I grab my straw.

I have the file - it's not perfect and does require some trimming, but it's a good start if anyone wants to make modifications. Just PM me.
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Haven't yet tried to make a draft box - (I have two cages BTS and throw my spare kit in one). That'd be a fun project. I imagine you'll need two pieces. A piece to wrap around the seat tube which would be the anchoring point and then the box itself.
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Lastly - in case anyone wants to know about replacing the straw. Buy silicone tubing with an OD of 3/8" if you don't want the black piece that sticks straight up. If you want to keep the black piece that sticks straight up, the OD should be 1/4". (I think the actual straw is 7 mm, but I couldn't find any 7 mm on amazon).

I'd definitely like the file! Either post a link here or email it to me. I'll PM you my address.

For the draft box, I agree, the seat post is the best place to anchor it. The rubbery clamp cover would be removed by this piece. It would need to be a tight fit, or else it would flex and buzz against the seat tube. Some double sided tape should keep it in place.

It looks like the trek draft box bulges out quite a bit. This would be the key parameter to vary and test.

I Noticed on Sam Appleton’s Giant @ the 70.3 WC , he appeared to have an extra-long bento box ?

Are these a special or aN addition on latest models

I have the 2017 and struggle fitting much in plus the rubber split

Giant changed the bento on the 2017 model to the one with the slit, not the lift up flap. Is this what you mean? His bento at 70.3 South Africa didn't look particularly long.

Has anyone considered making a 3d printed garmin mount somehow integrated into the bottle?

Also, what about drilling bottle boss into the seat post to mount a draft box? wouldn't hold?

I've thought about making a draft box that attaches with a loop that the seat post slides into. Then, some double sided tape would keep it from slapping around. However, there was someone on here who did a similar project and it ended up being worse in the windtunnel. I think aero just takes more work to do right than a single person with a 3d printer and an idea.

I think the project you are referring to was for the lower triangle of a P5. I doubt a “draft box” would be worse than aero neutral for any bike.

Hmm, maybe so. Was there someone who did a front brake fairing as well? I don't remember exactly, but my memory is a piece that sticks out above a tire. Whether it was a brake fairing in the front or a draft box off the, I can't be sure.

If you'd like, mock something up out of cardboard, just to see how much potential volume this would make. If it looks right and holds enough, I can try to model and print it.

I don’t have a dog in the fight as I don’t own a Trinity :) Just giving my somewhat educated aero opinion.

Haha, good call.
Well, now that aero season is over, I do not have any pressing need for this, so may get around to it by new years.

...unless someone else wants to sooner...

does anyone know the measurements of (ie width front, width back) as it appears to tapper back down towards the seat..I'm looking for a more narrow bento that I can use on my felt DA..I know I'm not a Trinity owner, but I do like that bento box

Not sure without measuring, but here is the link if you choose to order one: https://www.giantbikespares.com/...oduct_detail/3-42956