Review: Profile Design FC Bottle
Profile Design has been in the hydration game a long time, and they make a large variety of aerobar-mounted drinking solutions. Their latest is called the FC Bottle, a modular system that combines BTA hydration, gel storage, and a computer mount all in one. The system works very well, and has some clever ideas, but doesn't use a standard bottle cage mount, relying instead on Profile Design's aero bracket.
Let's start with the good stuff: this bottle is simple, clean, and customizable. You can run the straw on the front or back, and there's an optional straw clip so you can tuck the straw out of the way (and out of the wind) between drinks. I tend to like the straw up all the time, to make it easier to take a sip without moving the hands. But you can do either with this unit, a very nice feature.
Beyond just the straw, the FC Bottle comes with two snap-on accessories. The rear piece is for storage, and can hold about 3-4 gels or similar volume. The front piece provides a computer mount just in front of the bottle. This is a nice addition, though it would be really nice to see a Garmin-specific mount to make things even cleaner.
The bottle itself is the result of Profile Design's considerable experience in the industry. The new two-stage cap is really good at preventing splashback, while remaining very easy to fill on the go. It's also very easy to break down for cleaning. Full marks here. The bottle has considerable capacity: the version shown here is 25oz, and Profile Design also makes a larger 35oz version. The bottle is shaped with something of a ventral fin, that provides a nice deep reservoir for your straw to grab the last couple ounces of fluid. Great work here as well.
The one thing I'm not a huge fan of, as with similar systems, is the mount itself. Like the TorHans AeroZ, the Profile Design system uses a proprietary mount that prevents you from using standard bottles here. I'd love to see this bottle redesigned for a standard cage. But Profile Design already makes the excellent HC Bottle, which suits me just fine. For info on other hydration systems, see our recent BTA Shootout as well as our comprehensive Hydration Guide.
