Review: Nashbar Gel Flask Holder

This is a review for the Nashbar Gel Flask holder


It was all of $4.00. Other gel flask holders will do essentially the same thing. My main reason for trying it is that I usually keep my gel flask in a jersey pocket. Reaching around to get it out and put back can be difficult while racing. And it got my pockets all sticky and lint all over the cap. And individual packets are pain in a race, messy and lead to litter.

-It attaches with two velcro straps. It takes a little effort, but you can get these straps on tight and it won't rotate around
-It has compression cords for tightening down the grip on the flask
-it comes with a flask that has finger grips on it


Initial observations
-the cap on the flask sucks big time. I put gel in it and opened it up and none came out. I squeezed HARD too.
-I tried using a Hammer Gel flask that comes with a bottle of the gel, but is larger than the Nashbar flask so it didn't fit into the holder as well as the original flask, and I was worried about it falling out
-Took a cap off a Hammer flask and put it on this flask. The threading wasn't exactly right, but it did go on there.
-Thread it on TIGHT otherwise it will leak
-Now it worked good in terms of releasing gel
-Learned later to Dilute the gel with some water to make it flow easier. Now I easily use up a whole bottle on a 2:30 hr ride whereas before I wouldn't just because it was so slow for the gel to flow I wasn't going to hang out with one arm on the bar and the flask held high for very long.

-Right now I've got it on the seat tube. Had it on the down tube which I think is a better place as a crud catcher can help keep junk off it. But my SRAM front der made it harder to put a cage on the seat tube so I switched locations. One should try different locations. Tried the stem first but didn't realize just how much you actually grab your stem when loading the bike, putting on front wheel, etc. Was a just in the way there.

-It does get dirty. Just like a water bottle would but even worse because it is placed with the cap on the bottom. So if you are worried about La-Guardia or don't like taking in a little dirt it may not be for you. I wipe it on my jersey to help clean it off.

-So far I have not lost it on a downhill (knock on wood)

-After some practice it is fairly easy to get out and put back in with one hand.

-one problem with it is the bottle does not have a flat bottom, so you can't just set it down anywhere for filling. And you can't store it upright.

So far I like it now that I've got the dillution down better it will work great for races. I think I'll take an extra flask in a jersey just in case it does get lost.

*Revisions
5/23/05
Lost the gel flask on the Beast last week. Takinig holder off. Thumbs down.