Not used a bottle for over 20yrs offroad, dont miss putting a cowpat smeared bit of plastic in my mouth one little bit 🤢. I find a camelbak perfect for a drink and carrying all my bits and pieces, everything is all there in one place. Also adds a bit of crash protection, saved me a sore back on more than one occasion.

I wont consider a bike without a sensible mount for bottle. Ideally a 750ml bottle. Really useful to be able to add some tools, pump, bottle to the bike for a quick spin. Then a camelbak for anything bigger/longer.

My “big bike” doesn’t have one. Annoys the shit out of me.

All my bikes have kits on them so that I always have the right stuff- since they all needed different things and you either end up lugging it all round in your overstuffed pack or not having the version of bits you need.

Often I end up with a soft bottle in my back pocket on the big bike but I’d rather have a bottle in a cage like every other bike I have.

I don’t use one on my mountain bike (or cross bike on certain rides). Too much riding through sheep and other poo that gets flung up onto the bottle mouth.

2 bikes here.

One is ONLY used for commuting, so spares n stuff is in work bag, and commute is 35 mins tops, no drink required.

MTB has a bottle mount that’s never used, bumbag sits packed ready to ride. I only ever take water if it’s over 2 or 3 hours though.

Bottle cage mounts are bottom (well, not even on it, tbh) of my ‘must have features’ list. All my bikes have them. Rarely use them.