Rear shock and your bottle cage

[slabs]

Have just had a rear shock serviced where the bottle cage is situated above it. The energy drinks have literally destroyed the valves... luckily the shock is less than a year old and has been serviced without charge.

Has anyone had a similar experience as it is not always possible to ride with water only in your bottles!

[mtb_Josh]

I promise you its possible to ride with water only

[Vetseun]

Jiss do you ride with acid in your botties?

[slabs]

Cannot mention - maybe I will get banned! They actually said even something like energade can damage the seals..

Lately i have been using the Maltodextrin concoction, so only sugar and salt. Before that the normal USN, once or twice coke and water, nothing special.

[Bike Mob]

Coke can eat rust off metal so i'm not surprised it damages seals...

[Grebel]

I promise you its possible to ride with water only

 

+1 CamelBak for energy juice. Water in the bottles to cool your head.

[Lamber]

+1 CamelBak for energy juice. Water in the bottles to cool your head.

 

I do it the other way around (well, i don't use energy drinks to keep my head cool)

 

I find it a mission to clean out energy drinks from the bladder. Any special techniques?

[Thumper]

I do it the other way around (well, i don't use energy drinks to keep my head cool)

 

I find it a mission to clean out energy drinks from the bladder. Any special techniques?

 

I have never had an problem washing out the bladder. A little ajax and a sponge, stick my hand inside the bladder to make sure everywhere get blitzed. A boiling hot water rise out and thats it.

[andretraut]

If Energade can damage your shock seals, imagine what it could do to the o-ring in your arse!

[Shebeen]

+1 CamelBak for energy juice. Water in the bottles to cool your head.

 

also comes in handy when its uber muddy and you wanna squirt some water onto your drivetrain on the go to keep it moving.

[Grebel]

I do it the other way around (well, i don't use energy drinks to keep my head cool)

 

I find it a mission to clean out energy drinks from the bladder. Any special techniques?

 

Warm water straight after your ride. Rinse the pipe as well. Get a drying rack or alternatively a few plastic golf balls (the practice type with the hole in them). Put them inside and leave the bladder overnight to dry. If it isn't completely dry in the morning wipe the inside dry with some roller towel or similar. Be careful not to leave any bits of roller towel behind... Once it is dry, fold the bladder and put it into a large ziploc bag and store it in the fridge. If you use the bladder for both juice and water, get some Milton and mix it 12,5ml/litre and leave it in the bladder overnight after you have rinsed it to get rid of any smells or residual taste from the juice. I have been using the same 2l bladder in my Lobo for the last seven years without any science experiments starting to grow. I forgot about it once after a hectic race and a week later was getting ready to throw the bladder away until a mech at my then LBS told me about Milton (I was shopping for the CamelBak sterilising tablet) Never looked back!

[mark ellis]

If Energade can damage your shock seals, imagine what it could do to the o-ring in your arse!

 

very true, in the late 90's a top (won a few back then) dusi paddler was using a brand of energy drink for training and racing, started getting very sick and it turned out he had a hole in his stomach from using the stuff so much

[Tankman]

seatpost bottle cage

[slabs]

Found out what happened....as your sugary drink spills on the shock (and that is any drink..), it mixes with the dust and eventually becomes a sticky area which then turns into sandpaper. Basically the stem then becomes rough and then damages the seals as they move over it.

[banna]

Have just had a rear shock serviced where the bottle cage is situated above it. The energy drinks have literally destroyed the valves... luckily the shock is less than a year old and has been serviced without charge.

Has anyone had a similar experience as it is not always possible to ride with water only in your bottles!

 

There's this thing called a Camelbak which should solve the problem...

[Tankman]

There's this thing called a Camelbak which should solve the problem...

 

Then you have a new problem called back pain, discomfort and a sweaty heavy pack on your back.

 

I say again:

 

seatpost bottle cage