X-Lab Sticker Shock

X-lab is very proud of their products and the prices reflect it.   I've got a couple of X-lab alum. behind-the-seat mounts and they're well-made products.  the one I like the best is the flat-wing, don't know if it's still made.  Add carbon to anything and the price seems to skyrocket.    

There is the question of how aero the behind-the-seat mount is.  I'd go with an aero bottle on the seatube if you're looking at aerodynamics or a Chris Lieto style zip tied rear cage under the seat.   

Honestly I was really looking for a good way to carry my CO₂, tubes and tools. Currently I have them in an old water bottle and I use the only water bottle holder on the bike. I have a aero bar drink bottle. For my longer unsupported bike rides I want to bring another water bottle so I thought bag for my gear would be good and the Carbon Wing seemed like a good way to go but for that much money I'll put the stuff in my jersey pocket and bring an extra water bottle. 

I may even go for a bento box.

Too bad this is so expensive too http://www.mywedgie.com/about

Lots of athletes have had much success using our Speedpack 480 to hold their clincher tube and repair kit. Our price is reasonable, our quality is top notch, you'll probably reduce drag by using it, and, unlike XLAB bags, the Speedpack is actually made in the USA. More info here and pic here:

I've got to come to Craig's defense here a little and add some (potentially unpopular) industry perspective to this.

Craig Turner, the fellow who founded Nytro and X-Lab, is a guy I've always respected greatly. He is an aeronautical engineer and former defense industry worker. He's also a good business man.

So what?

Craig started a product category with his X-Lab accesories almost entirely on his own. Before X-Lab and Turner, the cateogry nearly did not exist. As such, he owns the category. I did a review of a bunch of hydration systems some time ago and Craig took time to e-mail with prompt responses to my questions and insghts into why some of the products- espeically the carbon fiber products- cost what they do. Initially, I called Craig out on pricing too, but he let me know what has happened with carbon fiber prices in the last 18 months (they've risen very substantially).

Finally, Turner understands something about business that I had to learn the hard way. Don't sell what you're doing short. Compare Craig's equipment to the other products in the category. If you do the comparison (I have) against other brands of seemingly similar equipment you're going to learn something. I did.

Now, does that justify Craig's prices? Standing on the floor in the bike shop it may not seem so. On the course of a 70.3 race, with one bottle in your rear hydration unit and 18 miles left to go on the bike with no aid station, if you hit a chuck hole and your bottle launches onto the pavement you'll rapidly understand the value of an X-Lab Gorilla cage over other cages that don't hold bottles as well in the real world on race day.

- Just my perspective, and yes- my employer does sell the product- but first we have to buy the product. Additionally, I have two hydration accesories from another company under my desk at this very moment that were submitted to us for review, I reviewed, deemed unsatisfactory and never made the first cut to our webiste or review pages.

Finally- my opinion is that Craig makes a premium product. It commands premium pricing. There are competing products for less, my employer sells them- frankly, I don't think they are as good and I've said so in my reviews and ratings.

Is Craig's X-Lab stuff pricey? Yup. Some of it is. Is it worth it? That's an individual decision on the part of the consumer.

Yes, the X-lab is expensive.  You will pay a lot less for a  Profile Design or Bontrager X-lite (not sure if they still make these?) rear hydration system.  But both of these (and many others) truly suck when compared to the X-lab product.  

I do not race with the X-Lab but when doing unsupported long course training I have found it to be a great way to carry water, flat kit, car keys ...etc.   

It really is a case of getting what you pay for and the X-lab is the Cadillac of this category. 

Have fun fumbling with all that as you try to take it out fast on the side of a race and it's all over the asphalt, then having to stuff it back in.

I'd rather to pay the extra bucks to have something reliable and easy to use.

I have yet to find a bag that fits on my Cervelo because of the position of the seat, so far back on the seat rails and the shape of the seat post. 

I'm pretty sure a seat bag could be considered reliable. Maybe not as easy as the X-lab but if you flat in a race aren't you pretty much out of the running for the podium no matter how fast you are. I can't see how the extra few minutes to use the bag could matter much. Of course this is coming from someone who isn't in the running for the podium anyway

X-Lab makes a Cervelo specific hydration system that accomodates a bag. The system uses the two holes in the Cervelo seatpost so it works with any saddle fore/aft position. the bag would mount under the hydration system.

You can find it on X-Lab's website at www.xlab-usa.com

click on ther "Cervelo" tab in the menu bar.

Perhaps its because of all the practice I have (flat tires grrrr.) but I can change a tube in about 5 minutes. I have 2 co2 cartridges, the head, 2 levers in my seat bag which all go in nicely. The tube goes up into the seat. Im not sure if the xlab would reduce that time enough to justify its price... to me anyways.

That's nice but where is the cork screw?

Not 100% sure which of the quotes above you are responding to but I was agreeing with you in mine. I do the exact same thing as you but the tube goes in the bag too. I'm just not fast enough to justify the time savings vs. expense with something like the X-lab.  I did flat in a race once and when finished the repair I just stuck the CO2, lever and chuck back in the bag and threw the old tube over my shoulder (couple miles from T2). That part of the fix couldn't have taken a few seconds.

I tried a Profile Design behind the seat hydration system (installed in May, it was broken by August) and I launched bottle after bottle after bottle off of it, before it just broke and fell entirely off.

I got a second hand Xlab bottle cage holder, and 2 Gorilla bottle cages and I have YET to launch a bottle. The thing is sturdy and strong and although I paid $50 per BOTTLE CAGE I have never thought twice about it. It functions fabulously and I love it. Worth every penny.

Some things just aren't worth the inconvenience. I saw a bunch of people at Racine 70.3 this past weekend with all kinds of bizarro-world setups on the backs of their bikes... fasteners, bungee cords, rubber bands... when they could just bite the bullet and get a couple of Gorilla cages and live happily ever after.

Yep, me too.  After loosing my nutrition on the second lap at IMLP last year I stopped fooling around and spent the dough and even with the crappy road conditions of my next IM I never even came close to losing a bottle.  I use the gorilla cages on the turbo wing and love it.

According to a slowtwitch wind tunnel test, behind the seat bottles are the least aerodynamic/most drag!!! However, they do look the coolest, which is the most important. Granted, the drag coefficents are almost all the same no matter what you decide upon doing, most of them are ~0.1 of a difference between eachother.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/techctr/waterbottles.html

Hi bradaskins,

We're about to announce the new price of $99.95 for the Wedgie.

The price reduction on the Wedgie is due to the fact that we've replaced the internal tool box material from carbon fiber to plastic (the carbon fiber tool container was over kill).  We're passing on the manufacturing cost saving to our customers.

If you, or any of the beginertriathlete.com tribe would like to take advantage of the cost saving before we update the website, please type "beginnertriathlete forum" into the notes section when placing an order and we'll issue a $40 rebate.

best regards and fast times,

  Tom

www.myWedgie.com

Can there be any more important reason? Actually, I need a different seatpost to fit the xlab, so I'm just going to go with bottles on the tubes. Thanks for the info.

ETA- oops replied to the wrong thread