ELSITE FLY 550ML BOTTLES Review
-
Overall rating
Summary
PRODUCT TESTED: RED & CLEAR
OTHER BOTTLES AVAILABLE:
Source: ELITE dealers, websites
Supplied by: ELITE via Thorpe Marketing
Summary: The lightest bottle in the world!
Pros
- Lightweight @ 54g (550 mL)
- Large and open designed spout
– Water gushes out
– Easy spout cleaning after the ride, especially if you use a drink mix - Bottles are light weight and hold the perfect amount of liquid (550mL or 750mL)
- New colors just announced
- BOTTOM LINE-low price & top quality all the way!
Cons
- After testing bottle(s) for 11 months, no issues identified
User Review
( vote)
ELITE FLY BOTTLE:
LONG TERM REVIEW & NEW COLORS
Last May 2017, I did a review of Elite FLY bottles and the VICO carbon cages. Elite is known for their high-quality bottles, cages and trainers – and used by most top racing teams around the world, but, how do these hold up long term.
Since the review, I returned the loaner 2017 Trek Émonda SLR 6 (pictured in the article) and picked up a lightly used 2017 Trek Madone 9.2. The VICO carbon cages were mounted on the down tube along with the FLY bottles. In use 5 days a week, Thorpe Marketing recently called and asked how they have held up over these past 11 months. Other than normal wear and tear scuffing, there are no cracks, breaks nor chips in the carbon and the bottles are still going strong.
In my experience, the one thing that ‘kills’ a bottle is using a drink mix. Ride after ride, you can never seem to get the inside of the spout clean of drink mixings nor get the inside of the bottle 100% clean.
After each ride, I usually scrub and scrub and scrub each bottle eventually throwing it away due to the gunk that is built up inside…normal problem with most bottles. The Elite FLY bottle has an EXTRA-LARGE and EXTRA-FLOW spout opening that is not only EASY to clean, but, when drinking, the liquid gushes into your mouth.
No need to squeeze the bottle much.
2 SIZES
The FLY comes in 2 models, 550mL (18.6oz) and 750mL (25.4oz). Most cyclists carry 2 bottles. Carrying 2x550mL bottles gives you 1,100mL (37.2oz), carrying 2x750mL bottles gives you 1,500mL (50.7oz) of liquid. For me, 2x550mL bottles are perfect for winter training while I prefer the 2x750mL during the summer months. Either way, you can’t go wrong with FLY bottles.
Click here to see available bottles
CHARACTERISTICS
So, what makes the bottle so light? The bottle appears to use a slightly thinner easily squeezable polyethylene. For the cap, a food-grade 
thermoplastic rubber and polypropylene. Bottle body and cap are biodegradable, 100% recyclable and BPA free.
Note: the term ‘Food-Grade’ complies with European EC and American FDA standards relevant to contact with foodstuffs, and the term ‘BPA Free’ means the elements making up the bottle are completely BPA (bisphenol A) free.
As stated earlier, this bottle has the largest restriction-free spout opening of any bottle I have used. Figure 5 shows that as soon as I turned the bottle over, water started flowing. Next, giving the bottle a very light squeeze, you can see the large volume of water flowing easily from the spout.
COMPETITION
Over the years, I have collected quite a few bottles. In fact, looking in the closet, there are at least 32 bottles. You can never have too many bottles 🙂
As can be seen in Figure 2, I picked the lightest of the other bottles to compare to the FLY and they all come in heavier. The other drawback to these other bottles is you need to squeeze them pretty hard to get anything out of them. The last issue with these other bottles is that it is extremely difficult to remove the top cap for deep and thorough cleaning. It’s easier to just throw them in the recycle bin.
Figure 4 shows the top cap removed. All I did was pull up on it and it popped off. This not only shows the large spout openings but shows the open and ease of access for cleaning.
SUMMARY
Elite’s FLY bottles are top quality and even more important inexpensive making them the no-brainer best choice.
After almost a year of usage, the VICO cages are still robust and they still hold the FLY bottles firmly and securely. The bottles show some scuffing but so far, are the longest lasting bottles I have owned due to the ease of deep-cleaning. Both products are highly recommended.
Final thought – Since you need bottles anyway, might as well get the lightest and the best!
Click here to see available bottles
I have always enjoyed bicycling and, through a series of coincidences, became a Bicycle Industry Consultant and Product Tester. I test prototype products for companies and have published only off the shelf production products on biketestreviews.com.
