Even if it’s not scorching hot outside yet for many of us, keeping your fluids topped up on a gravel or bikepacking ride is critical. But what if you can’t easily access your liquids? Maybe your frame is too small to carry enough bottles? Perhaps you’ve prioritised storage over liquid and have filled up your frame’s main triangle with luggage? What if you are underbiking and the trail is too gnarly to safely take your hands off the bars to grab a bottle? If any of this is causing you to lose sleep at night, then the team at Restrap are here to help. Read on to find out more.

The 25th April sees the launch of Restrap’s brand-new Race Hydration Vest. They’ve been teasing it for a little while on social media, but now the details are confirmed. Their Race Hydration Vest is designed “specifically to meet the requirements of riders who need to carry extra fuel and hydration on longer, remote rides and ultra-endurance races” and should “withstand the rigours of outdoor exploration while providing reliable hydration on demand.”

The last few years has seen a rapid growth in the number of hydration vests available on the market, but many of them have been produced by companies with a background in running rather than cycling. Restrap have designed their vest work primarily as a cycling product, with particular attention paid to fit and stability. If you’ve come into gravel riding from a mountain biking background, you might wonder what the Restrap vest offers above and beyond what a hydration pack offers? 

The answer lies in the fast and light ethos of the vest. The vest is super lightweight – 515g for the size small/medium (with the included two-litre hydration bladder) and 530g for the large/XL. The vest sits high up on the rider’s back which allows them to continue to use their jersey pockets. It has three areas of fit adjustment – sides, shoulders and chest and has numerous areas of stretch fit material to allow the vest to remain comfortable no matter what terrain the rider is on, or how much the rider has filled up the various storage areas.

The vest is equipped with a lot of different storage options, with 5.5 litres of capacity, plus the 2 litre bladder. There is one large, zipped storage section on the rear, mesh pockets on either side at the rear, mesh pockets on the front, a zipped pocket on the front for storing your smartphone and a variety of gear loops to allow you to attach a rear light, or a GPS tracker (or anything else you can think of). To make the vest even more cycling friendly, there are reflective elements all around and the buckles have all been designed to make them “glove-friendly”.

For those of you looking for a simpler/cheaper way of meeting your hydration needs, Restrap have something for you too. They’ve recently launched a new side-opening bottle cage. Side-opening cages are the perfect solution when you have limited space inside your frame’s main triangle – either when you are loaded up with a frame bag, or if you ride a smaller-sized frame for example. Their new cages are ambidextrous courtesy of a fold-out tip and come with a rubber retention loop which “adds a little piece of mind” when you’re riding “on extremely rough ground or carrying outsized bottles.” The cage design allows for 25mm of sliding adjustment, which means you can adjust the fit to suit your particular frame set-up (or the length of your arms….)

Of course, an empty bottle cage, no matter how well designed, isn’t much use, so Restrap have also launched some new bottles too. They’re made from “100% recyclable, BPA/F/S and PET(E) free polyethylene” and come in 500ml and 750ml sizes.

You can find the details of Restrap’s new hydration products over on their website.