I not going to argue with your plastic preference, if you prefer to taste plastic for the lighter weight. By all means, go ahead with your lemon juice, isopropyl, bleaching tricks to *cough* cover up *cough* the chemicals. The only time I will use plastic, is to use for a bladder pack. Even then, I don't like it.

Stay tuned for our next installment: "Method for removing isopropanol taste from water bottle" :)

It is probably worth noting that about 99 out of 100 people who can detect "plastic taste" in water stored in modern plastic water bottle are simply suffering from the "princess on a pea" syndrome. A blind test would confirm that rather quickly.

That's not even how you spell it.

Ditch the bottles and get some nice bpa free bottles. Camelback podium bottles are awesome cause they dont require you to open a cap to drink. Also nalgene makes a decent bottle with similar features to the camelback one. But simly make sure you buy bpa free otherwise yes, you are poisoning yourself essentially

Spelling is not as important as a good sense of humor around here.

No wonder it's leaching. Dump it out and refill. Or better yet, drink before and after your ride.

I had both the hard plastic ones were obviously better, but I still had problems. They are good bottles it was just my experience.

I'll add that a slight concern of the lemon in your water is that there is acid in that and it could be bad for your teeth. Of course alot of the American population guzzles soft drinks all day so this pales in comparison to that. I am not trying to strike fear of lemon into anyone's heart or anything just bringing up something that some may have not considered. =P

I rinse out my plastic bottles after the morning commute and wash them after the afternoon commute. I have over a half dozen bottles I rotate through. After a 2-3 years of use I just toss the bottle into the recycling bin. I also try to avoid "made in China" plastic bottles where quality can be more questionable.

I couldn't imagine myself using the same bottle repeatedly without a good rinsing/washing.

As mentioned, I use all stainless steel bottles so I don't have any of those issues.

I have found that leaving egg nog in the bottle for a few days helps get rid of the plastic taste.

Sorry, mixed up your post with the op. Still, if you drink from the bottle during those few days, you're introducing bacteria.

I just use a nice stainless steel thermos/water bottle. It keeps my water cool in the summer and if I did want to carry something warm in the winter it would probably stay warm for a while. It also unscrews in the middle making cleaning very easy.

I prefer stainless bottles and commute and tour with these and will also grab a Powerade or two on most days and once those have been emptied will refill these a few times and then recycle them... the Powerade bottle is nice as it has a no spill lid.

If I am carrying the maximum for a day's riding, 2-3 bottles will be stainless, one will usually be my stainless thermos full of tea, and I'll have a couple of Powerades and keep one in the cage and the second stashed in my bag. Works out to approx 4 litres / 1 gallon of liquid refreshment and on 100 mile rides on hot days I will come home on vapours.

If I am commuting and plan to be on my bike where I can refill my water 1-2 bottles (stainless) is enough.

A benefit of stainless is that you can flush them with boiling water which is a good sterilizer and if you are camping, you can heat them and their contents up.

Surprised to read so many positive comments on stainless steel bottles, have to dig mine up from the camping gear and try it on the road bike. It did not work out on the mountain bike because it kept falling out on the bumpy trails. I have been using the Camelback Podium chill for about a year and am quite happy with the taste and delivery system, although it doesn't keep water cool for long or at all even with ice cubes. Used the baking soda + water rinse in it when I first got it, never noticed the smell or taste of plastic even before that like most other bike bottles I have tried. Does the Efferdent tablet tip really work? It seems like it would, thanks!

For longer rides I usually buy a fresh Gatorade or similar for the bottle holder and wear the Hydration pack.

I've seen claims like this often and would really like to know where this info comes from. The expiry date I've personally seen on bottled water or Gatorade is measured in YEARS. Just my opinion, but if that bottle can't be reused a couple times over a couple weeks - I can't see how the original contents would still be OK after 4 years either. So I think maybe things are being exaggerated just a little.

Another vote for Camelbak Podium Big Chill bottles. They even come in myriad colors to match almost any frame.

One drawback is that they're so big that they barely fit on my comically dwarfish frame.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...-02-46_739.jpg

Right saying kookaburra!! But it is quite confusing that why people can't use good quality bottles like Camelbak Podium Big Chill bottles instead of low quality ldpe bottles? I think Life of good quality bottles are more than ldpe bottles. Just think about it..:thumb:

everclear kills the taste....buds, that is.

metal bottles only here.

sucks in the winter when my lips stick to them

Another vote from me for the Podium Chills. I have 2 of them and love 'em. I usually fill one with water and one with Gatorade, and the Gatorade bottle seems to retain a bit of the smell/taste of the drink, but I never get any kind of plastic taste.

My cheap LDPE bottle from the LBS on the other hand, that thing smells nasty inside and the water I put in it ain't much better. I was wanting to keep it filled with water in the fridge at work for when I bring my bike to work to ride during lunch, but I'm going to have to try to do something about that gross smell/flavor in it. Mind you that bottle had not been used for months until this past Tuesday, and when I tried to use it for my lunch ride... *blechhh*

Yes, a liner made of the same chemicals people are trying to avoid by buying a metal bottle in the first place.

Yea, it's "safe" - which really just means it doesn't leech the buzzword chemical of the year - until next year when the chemical changes and it's not.

As there is lots of ways to mask the bad taste the only true way to prevent the bad taste is to not have leaks at the first place

The only true solution i have found is to use glass bottles as even stainless steel bottles can't prevent corrosion in the long run. Here is my classification:

glass bottles with glass caps > glass bottles without glass caps > (316) stainless steel bottles > (304) stainless steel bottles > (HDPE) plastic bottles > aluminum BPA-free bottles > other plastic bottles

Here are some glass bottles:
http://www.amazon.com/Ello-PURE-Glas...s=glass+bottle

http://www.amazon.com/Takeya-Classic...s=glass+bottle

http://www.amazon.com/Lifefactory-22...s=glass+bottle

I use good quality plastic bottles. They don't taste like plastic but I use mouthwash (the really cheap, harsh, alcohol-y ones) to clean them. Never have any probs.

there is increasing evidence that germ-phobia in developed nations is linked to the dramatic increase in allergies and other serious immunological disorders. the only study linking water bottles to bacterial contamination proposed that this was due to poor hand washing. of course our sensationalistic corporate media reported this story in an entirely different manner.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12353459
http://www.ehow.com/list_6527251_bac...r-bottles.html