There are tradeoffs.

Upright:
-Less likely to launch
-Easier to insert/remove bottles (you don't have to reach back as far)

Angled:
-Less likely to catch your leg during flying mounts/dismounts
-Looks sleeker (FWIW)

As you can see here: https://www.google.com/...mp;bih=665&dpr=1 there are quite a variety of setup angles even amongst top pros.

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

Thanks, since I don't do a flying mount/dismount and am not looking fast at all I'll stay with up and down.

I had the opposite experience. Straight up and down had me launching bottles. I went 45 degrees tilted back, and haven’t launched one since.

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Athlinks / Strava

Obviously the most important part is being able to safely access the bottles. Beyond that I would say probably straight up and down so the bottles don't launch. If you can't access the bottles or the bottles always launch out of the holders then they are useless.

I used the same setup for my last IM but I did one nutrition bottle BTA and the other on the left side bottle holder BTS. I went this route because I always want to be taking in nutrition. The less access I have to it the less I'll take in. Since my race was pretty moderate in temperature I only needed to pull the water bottle occasionally but making sure I finish the bottle before the next station. I put the water on the right side holder because that is the direction I'm most comfortable reaching for a bottle so I should be constantly taking in nutrition and sporadically taking in water. Once I'm finished with my BTA nutrition bottle I dump that at the next aid station and pull up the other nutrition bottle. Now I have the ability to take on 2 water bottles at each aid station if needed (both BTS). I was planning for a 5hr ride so I started with one 1.5hr bottle BTA (extra calories to catch up a little from the swim) and one 2 hr bottle. At special needs (special needs was like 60-65 miles in) I had two more 1 hr bottles that I picked up. I supplemented the ride with some gels when needed (probably 4-5 total).

That's my experience too. Definitely got more launches the more vertical the bottles were.

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Strava

I've always had angled and never had a bottle launch.

My understanding of physics (some college level courses as a failed engineer) would lead me to believe angled is less likely to launch a bottle.

This is my experience/understanding too. The primary negative of a more angled approach is more difficult accessibility.

If you don’t need to drink from the bottle often angle it and toe rubberband to it to prevent and launching. Then when you need bottle flick off rubber band and you’re good to go. First time I used bts bottle I kept hitting it when getting on my bike so angled them and looks better and never launched one once I added the rubber band.

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Twitter - Instagram

Those freebie rubber wrist bands they give out, with the slogins/sayings on them, work great for this.

If launches become an issue, I highly recommend the Topeak tri cages. Heavy, but it’s just a better design for a bts cage than a standard cage. Never launched a bottle, and easier to use since you pull the bottle out towards you.

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