Profile Design Aero HC System, Clear

This whole system is great. The more research I did for a water bottle for my aero bars, the more mixed reviews I read for every bottle including this one. The truth is, this one is perfect in my opinion. The bracket is adjustable for different aero bars, the bottle does not leak, it's very secure during a ride, it's very easy to remove, and the large opening makes it extremely easy to clean. I recommend cutting the straw much shorter and adding a Camelbak big bite valve (it's tight, but it will fit!). This will keep the end of the straw soft for safety and will keep water from splashing out of the top of the straw no matter how short you cut it. The price is right too compared to other models out there.

Purchased mine in May 2017. Have done many full and half iron distance triathlons, numerous bike rides, and shorter distance triathlons with it. I added a mesh type "scrubby pad" inside to reduce splashing. I also lost the clip that keeps the bottle in place but it was easy enough to 3d print a replacement. It is very easy to clean and has worked very well. I do wish the straw wasn't so rigid. It can be a little dangerous taking a drink and hitting a bump but I pull the straw up a little off the bottom of the bottle when taking a drink. Overall, this bottle has served me well over the 7 years I've been using it.

Amazing. Couldn’t ask for a better aero bottle. Install took about 3 minutes. My aero bars are 10cm apart center to center and could be about another centimeter closer and still adjust and work. And could be probably 13-14 cm apart center to center and still work, the bracket is adjustable. It shipped with everything seen that I needed to make it work perfectly except I chose to add a camel back mouth piece which worked well too. There was no rattling or shaking of the bottle. It has a clip on the top that is removable that helps lock it in place, I don’t believe I saw that in anyone else’s reviews, it may be new. Used it this weekend for Ironman Augusta 70.3 and it was great. For practice or shorter rides, a standard bottle fits in the cage snugly as well. I have a small light weight basic cycling computer attached to the mount that also worked well.

UPDATE: Customer Service was very responsive! Since writing this review, I eMailed Profile Design customer service ([email protected]) They were VERY responsive and friendly. Responded within hours. They offered to send an alternate cage that may have a stronger retention mechanism. Will try it out - but thought it was worth noting that these guys stand behind their products & listen. That's worth a lot in my book. Customer Service: 5 stars Product Design: 3 stars Pros: Aero and clean design. Dresses up the front-end Nice integrated computer mount behind the bottle Easy to fit and fast to attach / detach. Solid connection Convenient to drink Quick release to fill Secure with homemade strap (see pics) Cons: Bottle ejects (with original cage and no strap) Straw is REALLY stiff, feels a bit spear like while drinking Details: ------------- First the downside: I bought this because on various trade magazines and blogs they rave about how secure this bottle is with it's retention clip. Well, I'm not sure what kind of roads these industry writers ride on. Maybe in San Diego (where I'm guessing all the tri-magazine reviewers must live ;-) all the roads are glass smooth and repaved, but here in Colorado, once in a while you hit a series of bumps or potholes. I'm not talking about a huge digger. I'm talking about normal chatter that is not even enough to cause you to come out of aero. On multiple occasions on it's maiden 2hr voyage riding at TT pace, I ejected the bottle 3 times. That's more than my makeshift bottle cage tied in with zip ties. It was unnerving after that because I kept having the hover my thumbs over the sides of the bottle when I'd see some bumps ahead - not something I want to keep worrying about during a TT. On the rest of my ride, I kept noodling on how to make a safety strap that would keep the bottle in, but also be easy / fast to pull the bottle for a refill during a long course TT. I took a velcro strap and cut it to the right length to allow it to slip under the metal clip and then strap over the top of the bottle between the fill cap and straw foil. Works great - I posted the pictures on the Amazon product page. Wish they had included that as part of the package for optional use. It's also a little bit of a pain to fill the bottle. You can't really fill it from the end cap - unless you pull the straw and cover the straw insertion hole. And if you fill from the top and want to shake / mix up your drink mix, then you have to pull the straw and cover the straw insertion hole with your thumb (there is a air relief hole behind the straw, so you can't just cover the straw). From an engineering perspective, I'm not sure how you solve this one - and it's not that hard to pull the straw, so it's not a deal breaker. Straw is pretty stiff. Makes you want to not have it near your face. Might try to replace it with something softer. When you're drinking it's a little unnerving because the straw is so stiff. I just kept thinking, "Man if I hit a big digger, this thing is going to puncture the back of my throat!" Make sure you cut it in short increments and ride with it for a bit - I cut mine a bit too short I think. That was my fault - just warning that you probably will cut it short if you just lay on the bike while leaning up against the living room wall to size it (like I did). Dumb me. On the upside: Cool, aero design. Straw is much more accessible than having to pull a bottle in and out of a cage zip tied in the same location. Looks cleaner. Not sure if it's really more aero (or if it really makes a difference overall in your time ;-) But again - it does make the bike setup look cleaner. It sits well and the straps hold it securely. Nice added touch of the behind bottle mount for the computer and the adjust-ability of the bottle fore and aft is decent. The adjustable width was a bit narrow for my bar separation (Zipp Vuka) but it was close enough to still make a good fit. Overall - I think they have work to do on the retention mechanism. Would be nice to have a quick release clip / band or make the retention a little stiffer or adjustable. I couldn't see how to do this easily. I've gotten it to work, and the new cage they are sending may be better - but if you buy, be prepared to improvise a better retention solution like I did.

Okay I bought into the aero studies. Supposedly by putting this bottle on my bike I am saving a few watts. It makes sense when you stop and think about it the toughest thing about biking is wind. Anything flopping out there will slow you down. Previous to this bottle I had the profile design vertical bottle. I had to move the vision aero bars apart to fit this bottle on my cervelo p4. I cut the straw down to size and installed a bite valve it works perfectly no more electrolyte dripping onto my brakes. Having this bottle and straw directly in front of me reminds me to drink and hydrate. The cap On top allows for easy refill while racing. The only thing I don't like about this bottle is that it eats up the space that would normally be reserved for my garmin 810 bike computer. The computer mount behind the bottle is too far back. A perfect solution to this problem is to build an extension underneath the bottle which would allow for the bike computer to be mounted directly in the line of vision.

So just went for my inaugural 50 miler with this in place. 1st there were no instructions on how to install and it took me about 20 mins to get my aero bars to the exact location that lets the water bottle be in place. 2nd it was not sturdy at all and pulled on my bars and I had a hard time getting them tighten to position. I cut my hands screwing my bars as tight as possible, but they finally got to the place I needed them to be. 3rd had to cut the straw and had to place my own mouthpiece (that I took from my camelback) or else would splash in my face. JESUS this was horrible during my ride. Every bump had water flying out all over the place from where the straw was inserted and the entire thing did not stay in place. It also pulled so hard that my bars came loose and during my entire ride I had to hold them into place. So much for a comfortable drop position. I’m returning immediately.

Used this out of the box at Ironman Hawaii and it worked flawlessly except for 1 monster bump where I almost lost it! Generally very well constructed and seats well in the cage. Also nice and light weight and the straw is perfectly positioned. Super easy to refill on the fly and no splashing whatsoever. Well designed product!

The profile HC is one of the first hydration systems I actually like using. It does not leak like all the rest. Unfortunatley it did not fit between my aero bars and I had to rig it up with another base, not the one profile design provided. Once I had that squared away, it worked great. I recommend this hydration system for cost and ease.