Bidons

[Flick of the Elbow]

Almost all cycling lingo is French. The only common non French term I can think of is riding piano. Like the kid in Breaking Away, I don't have a problem with this. D'accord ?

 

[John the Monkey]

Indeed it is - so why not call it a borracce or trinkflaschen ??

Do you think that would be as widely and easily understood as "bidon" among your cycling confrères, as a synonym for cycling-specific-water-or-other-beverage-bottle?

 

[Citius]

Do you think that would be as widely and easily understood as "bidon" among your cycling confrères, as a synonym for cycling-specific-water-or-other-beverage-bottle?

None of them are as easy to understand as 'bottle', to be fair.

 

[Citius]

Almost all cycling lingo is French.

It isn't. You just like to think it is.

 

[John the Monkey]

None of them are as easy to understand as 'bottle', to be fair.

Cycling Specific Bottle, remember, as clarity is our aim here.

 

[Citius]

Cycling Specific Bottle, remember, as clarity is our aim here.

Just 'bottle' will do - let's not over-complicate things, or pretend we're talking some special language. Last time a team-mate said to me "hand me up a bottle on lap 4, matey" - he didn't say 'bidon' (cos he isn't French) and I didn't need to clarify with him what type of bottle he meant.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

When I was racing in the 80's there seemed to be a lot of Italian spoken in the amateur pelotons, lots of riders seemed to be sponsored by the Giro.

 

[vickster]

When I was racing in the 80's there seemed to be a lot of Italian spoken in the amateur pelotons, lots of riders seemed to be sponsored by the Giro.

Being amateurs, they were on the dole?

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Just 'bottle' will do - let's not over-complicate things, or pretend we're talking some special language. Last time a team-mate said to me "hand me up a bottle on lap 4, matey" - he didn't say 'bidon' (cos he isn't French) and I didn't need to clarify with him what type of bottle he meant.

When people use the term 'bidon', that also doesn't need clarification, because people already know what it means. If you seriously think English needs purifying by removing all words of foreign origin, then feel free to try to convince people of this. Good luck with that: you'll need it.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Almost all cycling lingo is French. The only common non French term I can think of is riding piano. Like the kid in Breaking Away, I don't have a problem with this. D'accord ?

You learn something new everyday, I had to look up riding piano, never heard the term before.

 

[Citius]

When people use the term 'bidon', that also doesn't need clarification, because people already know what it means.

Unless of course people don't know what it means - in which case it will need clarification.

If you seriously think English needs purifying by removing all words of foreign origin, then feel free to try to convince people of this. Good luck with that: you'll need it.

Thanks for the good wishes, but I never actually said anything remotely like that. Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion.

 

[John the Monkey]

Just 'bottle' will do - let's not over-complicate things, or pretend we're talking some special language. Last time a team-mate said to me "hand me up a bottle on lap 4, matey" - he didn't say 'bidon' (cos he isn't French) and I didn't need to clarify with him what type of bottle he meant.

How super!

I'm going to carry on saying, and indeed writing, bidon though. not only because of Its undoubted je ne sais quoi, but also because of the advantage of concise, clear meaning in situations where ambiguity may ensue otherwise.

 

[Citius]

You learn something new everyday, I had to look up riding piano, never heard the term before.

Never heard that term in UK racing, presumably it means soft tapping, or similar. Oddly enough, when you google it, this comes up...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11CuX2Om-wQ

 

[400bhp]

How does a cover for a bidon work? You only want a cover for the bit that touches your mouth, so woulnd't a cover just get in the way?i

 

[John the Monkey]

How does a cover for a bidon work? You only want a cover for the bit that touches your mouth, so woulnd't a cover just get in the way?i

Usually some sort of plastic flip cap - it closes over the spout, normally around the circumference of the lid.

I've not seen it on cycling specific water bottles, but some commercial bottled water lids have a spout with an integral flip up lid - opening that means the spout is open too though (whereas the ones I describe above tend to have the spout you'd be used to from a cycling specific water bottle inside). How well that would work on a bike, or when running, I dunno.