Thermos flask for standard cage

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bikepacker
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by bikepacker »

My flask a Thermos Ultimate was £24 four years ago, Monkii cage was £11 about 3 years ago. Although you may consider this expensive I do not. Having run my own companies for 35 years I look to the return on purchases not the initial cost, so let's look at the figures.

I like a cup of tea in fact I like lots of cups of tea. During my cycling over 10,000 miles a year I would estimate I drink about 500 cups of tea. Cost of these in a café (which I do not enjoy using) would be about £700. Equivalent use of flask including cost of boiling water approximately £22. So each year I save enough money for at least 2 months of cycle touring. So you see why I am confused by your remarks.
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reohn2
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by reohn2 »

bikepacker wrote:My flask a Thermos Ultimate was £24 four years ago, Monkii cage was £11 about 3 years ago. Although you may consider this expensive I do not. Having run my own companies for 35 years I look to the return on purchases not the initial cost, so let's look at the figures.

I like a cup of tea in fact I like lots of cups of tea. During my cycling over 10,000 miles a year I would estimate I drink about 500 cups of tea. Cost of these in a café (which I do not enjoy using) would be about £700. Equivalent use of flask including cost of boiling water approximately £22. So each year I save enough money for at least 2 months of cycle touring. So you see why I am confused by your remarks.


But a 0.5ltr Thermos in a bottle cage with a strap around to secure,does just the same job and looks just as neat and tidy.
The cage can be used without Thermos for an ordinary drinking bidon.
I can't see the need for a special cage if an ordinary one + a toestrap does the job just as good,that was my point :? .
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bikepacker
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by bikepacker »

A standard bottle cage will not take my 0.8l flask. Also many bottle cages are more expensive and less versatile than the Monkii system. I have one cage and three sets of the hangers (one on each bike) and that is much cheaper than thee bottle cages or the Bike Buddy system.
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breakwellmz
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by breakwellmz »

I`ve a 1/2 litre stainless steel flask that i`ve had for years and often goes out `ont bike.
It has a washable, zip up cover which makes it a snug fit in any of my bottle cages, it may have come from Millets or Oswald Bailey.
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Vantage
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by Vantage »

My 0.5ltr thermos that cost me £8 goes in the pannier. Simples.
I haven't tried it while cycling, but it will go in the standard resin bottle cage with a toe strap as suggested by reohn2.
My dad has used the same thermos 1 ltr stainless flask in his truck for the best part of probably 20 years. That didn't cost him either of his arms or legs either.
I seem to remember a thread not so long ago about silly priced products being just as good and in some cases better than their cheaper counterparts.
Bill


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It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
reohn2
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by reohn2 »

bikepacker wrote:A standard bottle cage will not take my 0.8l flask. Also many bottle cages are more expensive and less versatile than the Monkii system. I have one cage and three sets of the hangers (one on each bike) and that is much cheaper than thee bottle cages or the Bike Buddy system.


If that works for you all well and good,yer pays yer money and takes yer chance,as the saying goes,whatever strums yer strings :)
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by cyclop »

I,ve used a small,.5ltr tesco s/s flask for a few winters but found I had to put it in the carradice wedge bag to keep it warm enough
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mjr
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by mjr »

I bought a half litre stainless steel vacuum flask for £3 or so from Morrison's when they sold off their picnic stuff at the end of the summer. Fits two cages snugly, needs a strap in the other. Coffee stays painfully hot!
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Brucey
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by Brucey »

it seems to me that not all stainless steel flasks work as well as one another.

I bought a couple of inexpensive ones in Woolworths (showing my age...?) years ago and they are OK but nothing special; I need to pre-warm the flask with hot water and then they need to be stowed vertically so that the liquid doesn't slop against the stopper too much; if it does, or the flask sits on its side, the heat seems to escape more easily.

After eight hours the contents are invariably tepid rather than 'too hot to drink' which to my mind says that they are nowhere near as thermally efficient as a traditional glass dewar flask insert, even if they are much more practical and robust.

So I wonder how many variations of flask construction there are? I'd supposed that they should all have a sealed for life vacuum in a sealed space but maybe mine are not built this way...?

BTW a good test is to fill and then wrap the flask in something that insulates well, like a duvet or similar. If the outside of the flask gets hot in a short while then the insulation is poor (poorer than the duvet, probably). The surface temperature of the flask (in air) is otherwise not a good guide to how well the flask works; for it to be hot on the outside the insulation would have to be very poor indeed.

Also- if you like tea with milk, what gets the popular vote?

a) milk in the tea in the flask
b) carrying a small bottle of milk separately to add as required
c) carrying a little powdered milk to add separately?

cheers
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Vantage
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by Vantage »

Definitely A because,
1: Less faffing about when it's time for a brew and
2: I'm a clumsy buffoon at times and its guaranteed that when I'm miles from the nearest shop and I need a drink, sods law will intervene just as I pour the milk and the whole lot will end up on the ground ruining said brew. :)
Bill


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It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
bikepacker
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by bikepacker »

Brucey wrote:it seems to me that not all stainless steel flasks work as well as one another.

I bought a couple of inexpensive ones in Woolworths (showing my age...?) years ago and they are OK but nothing special; I need to pre-warm the flask with hot water and then they need to be stowed vertically so that the liquid doesn't slop against the stopper too much; if it does, or the flask sits on its side, the heat seems to escape more easily.

After eight hours the contents are invariably tepid rather than 'too hot to drink' which to my mind says that they are nowhere near as thermally efficient as a traditional glass dewar flask insert, even if they are much more practical and robust.

So I wonder how many variations of flask construction there are? I'd supposed that they should all have a sealed for life vacuum in a sealed space but maybe mine are not built this way...?

BTW a good test is to fill and then wrap the flask in something that insulates well, like a duvet or similar. If the outside of the flask gets hot in a short while then the insulation is poor (poorer than the duvet, probably). The surface temperature of the flask (in air) is otherwise not a good guide to how well the flask works; for it to be hot on the outside the insulation would have to be very poor indeed.

Also- if you like tea with milk, what gets the popular vote?

a) milk in the tea in the flask
b) carrying a small bottle of milk separately to add as required
c) carrying a little powdered milk to add separately?

cheers


There were quite a few test done by members of the Outdoors Magic forum and the Thermos Ultimate came out as one of the lightest in weight and kept drinks hottest for the longest time. Thermos claim 24 hours but I haven't yet put that to the test as my tea never lasts that long before being drunk. :wink:

In answer to your question always b. putting in milk starts to cool the tea before the flask is sealed.
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Brucey
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by Brucey »

personally I go with b) or c) because a) makes the tea taste terrible. If I can't be bothered with that then it is black coffee instead!

BTW it may seem counterintuitive, but temperature-wise, adding the milk ASAP results in hotter tea at drinking time; the reason is that the heat loss is fastest when the temperature of the tea is highest, and adding the milk always cools the tea by a more or less fixed amount.

cheers
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reohn2
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by reohn2 »

Polluting tea,or coffee FTM,with milk just isn't cricket,and similarly so making things worse with sugar yuk! :(

BTW instant coffee,if you must or it's unavoidable,can only be improved by a pinch of salt,nothing else but even then it's a sufferance :)


I'm going to now boil a kettle and fill my warmed Themos 0.5ltr SS flask,then check how warm it is tomorrow :)
Watch this space!
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RickH
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by RickH »

Brucey wrote:Also- if you like tea with milk, what gets the popular vote?

a) milk in the tea in the flask
b) carrying a small bottle of milk separately to add as required
c) carrying a little powdered milk to add separately?

cheers

I go for d) Just plain hot water (usually a 1l flask when walking). Then I carry cuppa soup, coffee, tea in whatever combination takes my fancy and make them up as desired. I often use a little of the hot water to swill round the cup so I don't have soup dregs in my tea, etc. :D

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Vantage
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Re: Thermos flask for standard cage

Post by Vantage »

reohn2 wrote:Polluting tea,or coffee FTM,with milk just isn't cricket,and similarly so making things worse with sugar yuk! :(

BTW instant coffee,if you must or it's unavoidable,can only be improved by a pinch of salt,nothing else but even then it's a sufferance :)


I'm going to now boil a kettle and fill my warmed Themos 0.5ltr SS flask,then check how warm it is tomorrow :)
Watch this space!


3 heaped teaspoons of Nestle Coffeemate, 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar and 1 heaped teaspoon of Asda cheapo coffee = gorgeous :mrgreen:

I'm off to hide your pitchfork now :)
Bill


“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
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