Saturday, February 20, 2021

How to adjust Bowflex C6 and Schwinn IC4 water bottle holder position

The Bowflex C6 and Schwinn IC4 are great bikes to use with Peloton and other apps (see my analysis of using these bikes with apps), but the water bottle cage placement always had me bumping my knees on the top of my bottle. It probably inadvertently was influencing my form, so I wanted them moved!

Stock water bottle holder positions on the Bowflex C6
Stock water bottle holder positions on the Bowflex C6

Here’s a quick fix: For those of you irritated by the placement of the water bottle holders on the Schwinn IC4 / Bowflex C6, you can make a bracket to move them pretty much anywhere you'd like!

Extender brackets installed to move bottle holders
Extender brackets installed to move bottle holders

I'd normally machine something like this out of aluminum, but I made it by hand with Instamorph (also available in black) to be a project with my 3yo daughter.



So that means you can use pretty much any material you want. Bolt spacing is 35mm. You'll need longer M5x0.8 mounting screws for attaching to the bike, then whatever screws you want for the "new" end of the bracket. I used M4x0.7 cap head screws (and nuts) and they fit nicely flush in the bottle holder.

Note that if the extenders are too long, the bottle holders will wiggle a bit, but I didn’t find this to be an issue for the length shown. You can always make the brackets thicker or more supported (think area moment of inertia!) to make it more stable. Even embed a wooden dowel or threaded rod for support.

Comfortable rides for all!

Mike

3 comments :

  1. Dude thank you so much for the idea! Awesome bike but what a crazy design flaw they have with the placement of the holder.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a shameless plug but I am offering an extender made out of metal (steel). It's on etsy now and will soon be available on Amazon prime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally cool if you want to tell us the name and give a link! That is relevant, and I'm happy to support.

      Delete

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