Torhans isn’t a new name to AeroGeeks, having made the VR bottle that comes standard on our Felt DA, so when we had the opportunity to test out the rest of their line, we jumped at the chance. First up is the Aero System, which is actually three separate pieces of equipment, the Aero 20, Aero 30, AeroFlow straw mast, and the Aero Mount. The first two are the bottles of the system, which include an AeroFlow mast, straw, solid fill cap, “gated’ fill cap, and a gated gasket with the number designating the number of ounces each bottle holds – 20 and 30, respectively. The Aero Mount attaches to your bike on a semi-permanent basis using zip ties (or velcro straps if you have a set handy) and acts as a receiver for all bottles in the system, including the upcoming Aero Z. And rounding it all up is the AeroFlow straw mast, a fairing for your straw, cutting the drag produced by having it waving about in the wind and keeping it in place for when you want to drink. A fairing for the straw? Yes.

What is even more surprising is that it all works incredibly well together. The mast keeps the straw in place so you can drink from it without trying to play catch and keep the bike straight at the same time. The Mount is solid on the bars and stays exactly where it is put, even with just two zip-ties. Filling with the gated cap is a breeze, just stick the nozzle of your bottle into the flap and squeeze. During all our test rides we never once had any splashback from filling, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. Both the 20 and the 30 fit into the Mount tightly and securely with the velcro retainer on the front of the mount and don’t so much as rattle even on some less than ideal stretches of pavement. The smaller 20 leaves a gap between the head tube and the trailing edge of the bottle, whereas with the 30, if one pushes the Aero Mount all the way back to the basebar, the gap can be almost nonexistent and gives a nice, clean transition between it and our test bike, the DA4.

The only downside to the Aero System so far has been with the gated fill cap on rough roads – simply put, it has a splashback problem when the bottle is above about three-quarters full. This is easily solved by using the solid fill cap, but it is worth mentioning that it will take you longer to fill with the solid cap, as you have to pull it off, then fill, and replace the cap. It comes down to, like most things, knowing your course and the roads you’ll be riding over: glass tarmac, gated cap. Pothole central, solid cap.

The bottle of choice to date has been the Aero 30 for the better mating to the head tube shape and the larger amount of liquid requiring us to carry fewer bottles on our longer rides, but the 20 is great for those fast sprint workouts where you only want to carry enough liquid to get out and back and not an ounce more.  As we put more miles on both bottles and the Aero System as a whole, we’ll be giving updates and looking at the minor tweaks that make good setups great. But for now, we like what Torhans has produced; enough to keep it on our test bikes regardless of what the ride is that morning.