I do the same as you. Fill the bladder with Infinit. I have a BTA bottle and one single directly behind my seat using the Specialized reserve rack system. Works well for me. I always shake my head and what what is going on when people a) don't use the fuel cell or b) have a bottle on the seat tube and don't use the fuelsage. What's the point in having a Shiv if you do that?

Disregarding one's feelings on Specialized, the tall fit, etc., I too find it odd that the integration features on the Shiv are often ignored in light of newer "fully integrated" superbikes (Diamond, P5x). Spez did a really good job of planning out where to keep all the anti-aero crap that we triathletes strap to our aero-bikes such that it will have the least impact on drag. And it's all modular such that you can adjust your load-out depending on race distance. Yes, the hose is silly and gimmicky, but it works.

I use a very similar set-up for HIM:
- Modified bladder full of water which gets refilled at aid stations
- BTA and single BTS bottles full for liquid fuel
- Flat kit in coffee bag is Velcro'd up inside my saddle rails (actually quite easy to rip out if needed)

For Olympic, I generally just use the bladder and a few gels which I keep in my pockets.

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Jon Ryder
RPM Coaching

Post from P5X thread:

You know what, I get it. Should we compare this more to a shiv than a p5? Maybe it's the name p5x that has us comparing it to a p5. Maybe a whole new name would suit this bike better. As of now it just seems like it is an XTREME!!!!!! Version of a p5. Maybe name it p6 long course triathlon bike.

IMO the shiv did integration right. I know they have the patent on the bladder so it kind of handcuffs other companies. Some people do not use it. I do. It works, holds fluids fine and can be refilled on the fly. You said before this a better way than picking up a bottle and drinking it. Not saying this is the perfect bike but at about $8,500 less it's got what the p5x attempted to do. Add the fuel cell you have a aero way to store gels and a flat kit. Throw a BTA and a BTS (real easy with the integrated rear cage mount on the stock saddle.), use the bladder and you are about right here with the p5x. Yes the frame itself isn't as aero but it's an old ass frame than can be optimized very well without much thought like the p5x. Specialized sells you the parts and tell you where to bolt them on the most aero way. It's just a shame that all these years after the shiv we only found a way to integrate round bottles without an aero penalty. For the record I never would question the craftsmanship of HED or cervelo I am sure it is of the highest quality.
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This is exactly what I wrote in the comments for the p5x The shiv gets no love for such a forward thinking integrated bike.
I use the fuelselage for water and fill up at aide stations for longer races. I have a BTA that I swap out as well. if its a sprint I use the fuelselage only. Olympic/70.3 I use both the bladder and BTA and swap out and fill at aide stations. I carry my flat kit with a BTS xlab mini cage pod and use the fuelcell for anything extra and my gel/nutrition. I find this is very clean and very easy to set up. It basically says use this for that and if you do that you have a aero set up without having to think.

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2019 T-Rex Tri Series

Bta cage for handup bottles or for xlab torpedo

Fuel cell for flat kit

One bts cage for a second bottle

Dsw aero bento behind stem for food in longer races

Not a big fan of the bladder, so I don't use it.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Mind if I ask what modifications you did to the bladder?

I actually didn't mod the bladder itself. I changed out the stock mouthpiece for a Camelback bite valve. I also taped a rare earth magnet to the hose a few inches below the nozzle which connects to another magnet on my extension. This keeps the hose from flopping around when I hit any large bumps.

One idea that I have been toying around with is to cut a hole in the bladder cover so that I can fill the bladder, similar to what you would find on an aero bottle.

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Jon Ryder
RPM Coaching

For a 140.6 I start with the bladder full with 1 hour of infinit. One round BTA with 2 hours of infinit, one BTS bottle with 2 hours of infinit. Then some Cliff Shot Bloks in the fuel cell (plus anything else you might want to nibble on for a change). You can also just go with one hour bottles in the BTS and BTA and pick up 2 new ones at special needs. Either way gets you through 5 hours.

Refill the bladder with straight water at the aid stations.

For me, the fuel cell and fuselage was a big reason I moved from my slice to a shiv.

Never used the fuel cell never used the bladder....

Bta bottle and one on the seat tube.

Start with bottle bta and on seat tube.
Have spares in special needs only for ironman. Tape gels to the top tube so I can simply rip them off and consume as needed while riding.

Not stuffing around trying to rip open gels or get them out of a fuelselage or re fill the bladder while I'm trying to concentrate on riding fast...

I just got a Shiv in November (2020) and the first time I used it was in December at Daytona. Is a Small frame and found it rather hard to fill the bladder. The empty bladder was collapsed and that initial angle inside the frame made it too slow and dangerous to fill on the go.

Is there a trick to minimize spillage and fill that thing fast?

Thanks