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review
Accessories - misc
B'Twin Tool BottleBTwin Tool Bottle

B'Twin Tool Bottle

7
by VecchioJo
UPDATED Thu, Oct 15, 2015 04:24

First Published Apr 9, 2015

17
£1.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Cheap simple effective secure watertight tool holder; someone will tell you how to make one for free from an old bottle though
Weight: 
65g
Contact: 
www.decathlon.co.uk
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The B'Twin Tool Bottle is a cheap, effective and dry way of carrying tools on your bike.

You can easily fit a spare tube, some tyre levers, a multi tool and some puncture patches in the 500ml hollow of the B'Twin Tool Bottle, with a little bit of room to spare for any other tiny tool preferences you may have, or some keys, or café cash, or lucky gonk. There's definitely enough room in there for the ride essentials. You might need to pad things out a bit with a bit of rag or something to stop all that rattling around, depending how snugly your bits and bobs fit together.

Once all your kipple's in the top screws down to keep everything secure and watertight, and slotted in a bottle-cage it will stay safe and unnoticed until you need it.

There are benefits to using a tool bottle over a saddle-bag to carry your kit. It's easier to get to stuff for starters. You can just hoik the bottle out of the cage and not deal with the faff of unstrapping a saddle-bag or fiddling about with bits while it's still under the saddle, watching things topple into the gutter, and then fingers-and-thumbs strapping it back on again. It's quicker to find the bits you need as the hole in the top is bigger and easier to access than that of your normal seat-pack. It's also a lot more waterproof, something those that have had to dry off the sodden contents of a saddle-bag after a five-hour wheel-spray soaking will appreciate. The downside is that it takes up space where a water bottle could be, troublesome if you like to double up on bottles, or have a frame-fit pump covering the other set of bosses.

You don't have to put the bottle on your bike though. It'll handily keep all your tools and bits clanking around in the bottom of your commute rucksack too, bruising your lunchtime banana.

The B'Twin Tool Bottle just works. It's a cheap as chips, simple way of carrying tools and spares, the screw-top lid isn't totally waterproof but rain and spray has to make an effort to worm its way in. Tidier than an old chopped water bottle.

Verdict

Cheap simple effective secure watertight tool holder; someone will tell you how to make one for free from an old bottle though

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: BTwin Tool Bottle

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Fits into bottle cages instead of a standard water bottle.

Watertight for carrying tools and protective layers in the event of rain.

Big opening for easy access to contents.

500 ml

 

It's a plastic bottle for carrying tools and personal belongings in a bottle-cage. It does that.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Plastic container with screw top. Recyclable, not approved for food use.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
5/10

It's a cheap plastic container with a lid, let's not get excited.

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10

It holds tools securely and out of any rain.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10

It doesn't actually have to do much, so it's holding up fine.

Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10

Light plastic, lighter than a saddle-bag.

Rate the product for value:
 
9/10

At a couple of quid it's a fraction of the cost of a seat-pack. Someone will be along in a minute to tell you how to make one for free.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

It kept all the useful ride bits and bobs safe and secure in a bottle cage.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Carries stuff, easy to get to stuff, kept stuff secure and dry.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Takes the place of a water bottle.

Did you enjoy using the product? Enjoy is a big word for a tool bottle. It did its job.

Would you consider buying the product? No, I'm a saddle-bag kinda guy.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes, if they were a fan of such a thing.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 47  Height: 180cm  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: It varies as to the season.  My best bike is: The one I\'m on at the time

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, cyclo cross, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Fun

 

Decathlon
B'Twin Tool Bottle
B'Twin
VecchioJo

Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

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