Does a product exist that allows a bladder to be filled while the reservoir is still enclosed in the pack?
I’d happily carry a bladder hose splitter and adapter on every ride if it meant I could fill my pack faster and save precious time. I’d just leave the splitter and adapter installed at all times.
This would also enable faster filling during long limited-support events.
Can someone make this for me?! Or point me in the right direction to make this with parts from the hardware store?
But really, just faster than having to take my pack off, unzip the pack, open the bladder, reseal the bladder, rezip the pack, then put pack back on.
I’d love to just leave the pack on my back, hose the water in, and be done with it. Or if prepping for a ride, just grab pack from garage, hose in water, put pack on. No other steps.
Cheaper, faster, easier to just have a second pack at the drop zone in a cooler to throw on or have ready to grab then go down this rabbit hole.
You’re right, if racing, maybe multiple packs are the way to go for multiple reasons (prestocking with other fuel etc)
Are we sure that’s cheaper though? Al three packs Michelle and I own were >$100, each. Maybe I’m just pricey… but if there is such a thing as 1/4" hose splitter, and 1/4" hose quick releases, I can’t imagine it’s cheaper than multiple packs.
Biggest factor affecting my personal decision-making here: time taken to fill up at home.
Great point. Do you (or anyone here) happen to know how common it is for races to allow bag drops like this, as opposed to something like UG XL where it is gas stations for fill-ups?
The drink end can go on one side and some kind of filling device on the other (like the quick fill device in your link).
If I’m understanding what you want, I see several difficulties when compared to just swapping the bladder.
I don’t think refilling with a 1/4" tube would be that quick (especially for a 1 or 1+ liter bag)
You’d need some way to exit the air while filling. This could be done by detaching the drink end, or adding another y-splitter; first splitter goes to second splitter and drink end, second splitter goes to filling attachment and air valve. I’d prefer a 3-way y-valve, but couldn’t quickly find one. The air valve would need to be higher than the fill valve so you’d have air escaping and not your drink.
I’m never at the pointing end of a race, so I don’t think about these things. But if I were worried about seconds, I would think about something that would attach to regular water bottles. I’d want something I could screw on, squeeze as quickly as possible, screw off, and go to the next refill bottle (all assuming my “water” bottles were filled with what I wanted to take). But I’m not sure you could create one that was faster than just swapping the bladders or opening the bladder and pouring your drink of choice in.
Interesting idea though and one that might be solved with some ingenuity (maybe from someone smart like a doctor (LOL)).
Awesome. Mostly this is a “save me time at home” idea.
Is the air problem solved by the fact that the bag will start collapsed with no air in it and can just expand to max capacity with fluid, with no need for air to escape? Or am I misunderstanding something?
Cheaper, faster, easier to just have a second pack at the drop zone in a cooler to throw on or have ready to grab then go down this rabbit hole.
That goes against the spirit, if not the acutal rules, of “gravel.”
Edit: Unless there’s some kind of formal ‘drop zone’, but I haven’t seen such a thing in a gravel event…maybe there is, though.
I believe some major gravel races are now allowing formal drop zones. IIRC UG XL was not one of them, but UG 200 & 100 were. Don’t quote me.
Yes, I forgot about that. If the bladder starts full (no air) and there are no leaks, it will expand. In fact, if you had enough pressure when putting the hydration in, it would compress the air until either the bag broke or you filling pump reached it’s maximum PSI. Of course, when you’d go for your first “sip” it might drown you
I don’t think it’s going to be faster to fill a pack through a 1/4†orifice. A liter is 61 cubic inches. That connector has 0.21 square inch csa. You could do the math to figure out the inlet pressure needed to fill the think faster than taking out your pack but I know it’s going to be pretty high.
Still an interesting idea and a cheap part. Try it out and let us know!
That goes against the spirit, if not the acutal rules, of “gravel.”
Edit: Unless there’s some kind of formal ‘drop zone’, but I haven’t seen such a thing in a gravel event…maybe there is, though.
Midsouth allows support crews at the aid station around halfway through the race. You can grab new bottles, or a musette bag, or a hydration pack, etc. Unbound allows support crews in the designated aid stations. I’ve grabbed new packs from a cooler from my crew there before. Leadville (not really a gravel race) allows your support crew to hand up packs as well. I handed my pack off to my wife before climbing Columbine so that she could refill it and have it ready for me when i got back down to twin lakes, but i decided i preferred riding without it.
I think i remember seeing support crews at aid stations at BWR too, but i could be remembering wrong. I loved that BWR had neutral support handing up nice (Purist) waterbottles at the aid station. I got to bring home a matching set of blue BWR bottles.
Many races do not allow support crews anywhere on course, including at aid stations; but some do.
What are you planning to use as a source? You need pressure to make this work which is either a small electric pump for Gatorade bottles or a city water spigot to overcome the force the pack exerts on the reservoir. The Sawyer product could be adapted to work with water spigots if available on course, but I can’t think of a good option for an electric pump that would be portable and reliable.
Personally, I would use several bottle cages or other on bike storage along with the Hydration Pack for the extra fluids. This works well for me in distance training, but I’m not climbing hills…
A spigot, probably. Most spigots are between 30-120psi which should be enough pressure to push water into the pack to full capacity, even if pack height is 3-4 feet higher than spigot height.
I generally carry the “fuel” in a water bottle, concentrated.
OK, so that makes this thread a little clearer. See if the Sawyer product fits water spigot, if not… I’d get two of the quick adapters that Osprey uses since they seal when disconnected and then a cheap 1/4" spigot adapter from Home Depot or amazon that is used for drip irrigation. If you wanted to move a little faster the Y adapter someone posted in conjunction with Osprey adapter would work.
Note: you will barely turn the spigot on and need to stop it once the reservoir feels full, 1 or 2 psi will blow out your reservoir.
Another quick note. When in a hurry I just leave the bladder in the hydration pack and fill it. It still gets like 80+% filled. No real need to complicate things.
