The design is great. The quality isn't so much. They claim it stands on it's own on a flat surface for filling. That's bullshit. The mold quality on mine has the bottom bulging, and it falls over. The design of the rubber lid, and snap cover, sucks. I had to use a dremel, and cut away a portion of the snap cover, to clear the tab, that fits around the straw... so that the cover would snap in place. Before that, it leaked all over the place, every time I hit a bump. My biggest gripe is the shitty aero bar mount, with flimsy cheap velcro straps. I have mine pulled as tight as I freaking can, and the whole rig still slides around on less than perfect roads. A friend of mine had the same problem, and he ripped the velcro tab right off, trying to get it tight enough. He bought his the same time I bought mine. His chincy rubber strap (that holds bottle to mount) also broke, soon after he bought his. In just a few months, his mount is now held to the handlebars with zip-ties (works better than the velcro!) and his bottle is held to the mount with rubber bands.

With the above said, it's a great design. Light. Good capacity. Works as advertised for refilling and drinking, and seems plenty aero. Once I modified the snap cover, it does't leak much at all. I think once the velcro straps are replaced with zip-ties, and you don't mind using rubber bands in place of the original rubber strap, the thing should last forever. I also have a profile Design front set-up that's built a lot better... but it's also twice as heavy, and leaks way worse, and has less capacity. All things considered, I like the Hydroblade better, and what I'm racing with.

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Athlinks / Strava

thanks for these details...nothing like actually using the product to find the faults.

Here's a photo of the snap cover (black piece). It's originally straight across the top. I had to dremel out the half moon shape, to allow it to snap in place. The black cover hinges in the rear, and you flip it up. The tab that goes around the drinking straw, is part of the bottle lid, that is held in place under the black cover. To refill, you flip the black cover up, pull the lid off, and swing it out of the way. Without making the dremel cutout, the black cover would not snap down all the way, thus not keeping the lid on tight. Below is a before photo, where the cover wouldn't snap down.

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Athlinks / Strava

Agreed concerning the velcro straps. They don't seem to work all that well period. The Profile Design equivalent has the same issue, needed some electrical tape to keep it in place. Very tacky.

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

Hello Dean,

Been reading your detailed comments on the Hydroblade and did want to address a few of them and also offer my assistance.

When we first launched the Hydroblades we literally received the bottles in and fufilled orders straight away - this went on for a few months before we could catch up. During this time we were dealing with factory issues - not meeting drawing spec or not allowing for product to settle after being produced. At an early stage, we started testing on a variety of the items and rejected quite a few. Some product could have gotten through before hand and during this. We do stand by our service though and we will warranty product that is not fitting the bill.

We can warranty your bottle and ensure that it stands upright by testing it specifically before we ship it to you.

As far as the leaking - with the black refill cap one could expect some leaking as it is an open area, but you shouldn't have experienced any leaking on the clear cap. If this was the case I would like some more details so we can help you here! If you were experiencing leaking from the clear cap then putting the Clickcover lid over I see could potentially minimize it, but this lid wasn't actually designed to work with the solid clear - thus why the lid doesn't have a cutout and you had to make one. The setup is usually refill cap/Clickcover lid or clear solid cap

The sliding is something I haven't seen before - your bars look to be a standard shape and the positioning of the XLAB logo on the strap shows me it is where it should be. I am interested in finding more details out on this as well.

Your buddy's velcro strap - we do know this was a problem. There was 1 little stitch that was, at times, done in the wrong location...we have new straps that not only ensure the location is correct, but reinforces this area. Happy to send some out to your buddy and you.

Rubber strap - this is also a rare, but known problem. We have tried to replicate it in-house recently and actively looking on getting this fixed. We don't have a fix right now, but I can certainly offer a replacement strap if you would like.

Sorry for the trouble you have had, but hopefully I have provided some answers that might help, and happy to look into those other issues in more detail to figure out what's going on.

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike

Hello Fuller,

Happy to look into why the straps aren't working for you. As I mentioned to Dean, we do know of them breaking - there was a small batch that had a stitch in the wrong location, but.we have new straps that not only ensure the location is correct, but reinforce this area. Happy to send some out to see if it helps!

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike

Hi Candice, Wow thanks for a great reply!

Other than the issues I've mentioned, I love the design, and it works well. My bottle is holding up fine after a season of hard training and 5 triathlons. It does't stand on it's own on a flat surface, but that certainly doesn't effect it's use on my bike. I mentioned that, because it was mentioned in the bottle's advertisement... and I was like "hey mine doesn't!" but I don't consider it enough of a problem for the hassles of an exchange. If the advertisement didn't make the claim, I wouldn't even given it a second thought.

The movement on the handlebars is something both my friend and I have experienced. My friend broke his velcro trying to get it tight enough not to move. I can report that he did contact Xlab, and got replacement parts, including a new rubber bottle strap, so customer service is very good! I do not know how well he is doing with his set up, but I did see that the last time we raced, he had a bungee strap holding the bottle in place.

After my friend broke his velcro strap, I've been very careful with mine, and so far I haven't ripped it. With a full bottle, early in a ride, the mount will slide on the handlebars, with the velcro as tight as I dare pull it. Often the bottle will be an inch or more further aft by the end of the ride, and sometimes even gets a little sideways. I don't dare adjust it or tighten in a ride, because if it does rip I'm screwed. Naturally, the less liquid in the bottle, the less it moves. I have found a workaround, in that I adjust the little allen screws on the mount, to off center the strap pieces just a little bit. This way it takes some pressure to fit the mount onto the handlebars, and they are more-or-less wedged in place, Then the velcro just holds them down. After doing that, I raced a 70.3 and they stayed put. I am fully intending to replace the velcro with zip-ties before next season, for peace of mind.

As for the bottle leaking, When I train, or race short triathlons, I fill the bottle quite full, and don't plan/need to refill. The refill lid leaked too much, and left my bottle and handlebars a sticky mess, so I switched to the clear lid. The clear lid has a breather hole, and every time I hit a bump, liquid would shoot out of the breather hole. Since the the flip lid wasn't snapping down, again, I had a sticky mess. I minimized this by only filling the bottle 3/4 full. That sucked, because the full capacity of the Hydroblade is just about perfect for an Olympic tri, without needing to carry other hydration. Once I realized I could make the cut-out in the flip lid, and it would snap down tight over the clear lid, I've been able to fill it full, with minimal leaking, and I love it for racing.

The rubber strap is no big deal. After my friend's broke, again, I've been real careful with mine. Truth be told, I leave it home most of the time and just use a rubber band.

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Athlinks / Strava

One of the things I like about Slowtwitch is the participation of the brands that we all use and want to know more about. So thanks for the reply Candice.

My issue resolved itself in that I was on a borrowed bike at the time which has now been returned to it's owner. My new Speed Concept has a BTA regular bottle set up that works well so far. I will be investing in a couple of Gorilla Grip cages for behind the seat after I settle my saddle issues.

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

Hi Dean,

After closer inspection - it looks like the clamp is mounted on a turn - perhaps the silicone of the strap and the clamp is not in full direct contact with the bars?

Well I am still happy to replace your straps and bottle if you wish. No need to exchange we would just send these items to you.

Thanks for the explanation on what happened on the lids. Good idea then with the dremel :)

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike

Hi Fuller,

Thanks for the kind remarks and happy to be on here to lend my assistance when needed!

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike

I'm the guy that Dean is referring to in the first post. I've def had my share of issues w/ the Hydroblade. And I reached out to Xlab for support & replacements, which I received but have not installed, as I was still a bit concerned about the black rubber holding strap. For the most part the setup works.

One of my other dislikes is on a hot day the liquid contends will get very warm/hot in a hurry. Which forced me to try some DIY methods of installation (foil bubble wrap stuff).

Hi Jim,

I will DM you on some specific things related to the conversation back in July, but I did want to mention we didn't have the newest velcro straps at that time, so I can send you newer ones.

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For everyone - I have raised this internally to get the engineers on a fix. We are a small team so can only work on so much. So along with a big project we are working on, this is a project we are now working on daily. If you would like to email me or DM me on here, I can put you on a list that I can reach out to once we get the replacement parts in. You will be the first to get them.

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Candice Turner
CEO
XLAB - Aerodynamic Triathlon Accessories
Dawn to Dusk - Off-road Specific Storage Accessories
http://www.XLAB-USA.com http://www.dawntodusk.bike