bipedfred

I bought 4 of the Soma Crystal bottles and the first one I used is now permanetly stained after one use with a sport drink mix. Also, I didn't have the top torqued down 100% tight and it spit drink all over my bottom bracket.

I ended up really disliking them and gave the remaining 3 away. They look pretty cool though.

bikinpolitico

I just posted a review of the the Klean Kanteen on my blog here if any one is interested: https://austinbikeblog.org/?p=967.

Bottom line: these bottle are good at removing the plastic taste but don't make great bike water bottles.

jpdesjar

i like my sigg bottles...i have one i keep at home and for rides and one at work, no funny tastes yet although i should clean it out soon

d2create

Water Bottle of the Immortals.
Cheap and works great! No taste at all, even after several days.
No insulation though.

https://www.rivbike.com/products/list...product=31-457

Editz

Don't know if they fit cages, but they're cheap:

https://tinyurl.com/4dv8yw

BBnet3000

i have two of the specialized #4 plastic ones, the one that i use every day doesnt make the water taste but the one i dont use much does. its all about how much its used.

eAspenwood

i have both sigg and kleen kanteen bottles. I like both, but I think the thin aluminum sigg may die soon as it dents really easily. Also, the sigg has an inner coating cuz aluminum may not be good for you either. The sigg is noticeably lighter than the kk (stainless steel), but thats not a big deal to me. so i guess kk bottles are my preference.

ZombieButcher

I just recently got the cheapo water bottles from the lbs but i soaked them in baking soda and hot water. works like a charm to get most of that nasty taste out of the bottle.

huhenio

use a metal one

Juggler2

+1 I walk on the wild side.

chingon77

I have a couple of the soma (immortal) bottles. Sometimes when i'm out and about the bottle will get a beating from the SoCal sun for a few hours. The water gets pretty hot but it doesn't taste like plastic, it tastes like water. I have the older bottles were you have to make sure the lid is tightened down good or else water will trickle out when you take a drink. Apparently the newer model lids remedy this as well as provide a rubber cap to make it easier to chew on when you get hungry.

mike

I thought the days of buying water bottles were over. There are so many good drink bottles available free from post-use drink bottles. Like Savethekudzu's post advises above, the Gatorade bottles are perfect. For $1.69, you get the bottle and the drink too.

These days, when I am in a gift shop and I see a water bottle with the area name silk-screened on it, I think, "oh man, how many of these things do they have bungled up in inventory?" Kind of like having a Zippo lighter with a company logo on it as a promotional gift. You wonder what dinasaur was responsible for that brilliant idea.

I sure do agree that many/most purchased water bottles DO indeed leave the water tasting like chemical swill. I just switched to the empty retail water/drink product bottles and the problem was solved.

I-Like-To-Bike

Me too. 1.5 liter water bottles at 58¢ each, last for at least a couple of months of daily refills with plain or lime flavored tap water. No cleaning routine; rinse and reuse; no after tastes. The scare talk of the "dangers" of reuse of these bottles is just so much urban legend and Internet paranoia.

brokenknee

https://www.plasticsinfo.org/s_plasti...D=705&DID=2839

It seams that all misinformation about the safety of reusing plastic bottles came from one study done at the University of Calgary. The conclusion was about bacteria building up in the bottles from not washing or improperly washing the bottles.

There is a ton of info out there, just google reusing plastic bottles. All the information I found said it is safe as long as the bottle is "cleaned" properly with warm soap and water, not just a rinse.

m_yates

I just washed mine in the dishwater on "high temperature" setting + "heated dry" twice. The heat exposure bakes out a lot of the plasticizers, so less leaches into the water. My bottles don't smell "plastic" any longer.

bhop

Ditto.. we all gotta go sometime.

noisebeam

The bottle my LBS gave me indicates 'Trek' on the bottom and is #4 plastic - LDPE translucent. No taste.
Al

seagullplayer

The $6 cage I bought at Wally world will let me strap in just about anything, I’m pretty sure I could take a 2 liter home with it. I just use whatever water bottle I have laying around, I even used a GLASS tea bottle while camping last week! Yes I know that is like running with scissors, but I have been known to do that too…

For those worried about reusing a store bought water bottle, you better be sure and stop and dismount from your bike when you drink. You can’t risk being distracted while riding, that would be dangerous.

Might want to consider giving up your cell phone to, they cause brain cancer.

I-Like-To-Bike

Not for those who wear a metal colander/tin foil hat and protect their precious bodily fluids by drinking only pure rain water from water bottles fabricated from all natural coconut shells after being filtered through beds of activated charcoal.

seagullplayer

My bad, there is an exception to every rule…

bikinpolitico

My biggest problem with the Specialized bottles is I've never had one that didn't leek something awful.

d2create

If the FDA won't allow plastic bottles to be recycled and used as plastic drinking bottles a second time, that's good enough for me not to use them more than once. "They" say the plastic leaches harmful chemicals. Do i have proof handy? Nope. Don't need it. A $4 bottle is nothing when it comes to my health. But I work in the packaging graphics design business and I heard it has something to do with the fact that even the cold drinks are "hot-filled" at the plant for shelf stability.

Booger1

I just can't see how water will leach out of throw away bottles,They have a shelf life of a few years,won't it leach then?Or does it only leach when you refill them.If it's leaching stuff,shouldn't it taste funny some some of my other bottles have?Sorry,it doesn't pass the common sense test.

How big are the plastic bottle lobby groups anyway....

FDA,they don't even know where our food come from,let alone what it does to you.If it was up to the FDA,chickens wouldn't have heads and feet,it would be a thigh and breast with no feathers sitting the corner waiting to get big enough too sell.

modernjess

I have 2 and I like them very much as bottles. They fit well in my elite bottle cages and it's true they do not add a plastic taste.

BUT: a word of warning, the tops are fragile! I had one drop the other day and the top shattered! That's bulls**t. These things supposedly made for biking, but if the tops are that fragile that is simply a bad design. I know I can probably just buy a new top for them, but I shouldn't have too.

I'm not happy with them now.

d2create

ok, my curiosity got the better of me.

https://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/200...tle-study.html
https://www.consumersearch.com/www/ki...water-bottles/
Notice the term "single-use" here
https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...onsumer12.html

And here's the other side saying it's BS.
https://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/petbottles.asp
https://www.petresin.org/qa_002.asp
https://www.breakthechain.org/exclusi...erbottles.html

I'd still rather be safe than sorry and spend the $4 on something that doesn't taste like plastic. Using common sense like you said tells me that if I can taste something in my water, that means SOMETHING has to be in there, harmful or not.