KineticShift.com continues our hands on test of water bottles.
It is time to come clean about a sad fact about water bottles. Some bottles just never get clean when used with energy drinks, and even water can transform bottles into something that you’d never want to drink out of – but the Clean Bottle might just have the solution.
Clean Bottle Description: Flat tires. Getting dropped. Bad drivers. Stinky, moldy water bottles.
We can’t help you with the first three, but we can do something about the fourth.
Introducing Clean Bottle, with a patent-pending, leak-proof , screw-off bottom. Gone are the days of trying in vain to wash out that funk at the bottom of your bottles. With Clean Bottle, cleaning and drying are easy.
Clean Bottle is made with 100% non-toxic, BPA-free plastics, making it safe to use over and over. Clean bottle is also top-rack dishwasher safe, so you can run it in the dishwasher without fear of it breaking down.
Bottle Sizes: 22oz
Plastic: Polyethylene (body) and Polypropylene (caps)
Country of Manufacture: China
Retail Price: $9.95 (22oz)
Basic Standards:
- Neither cap leaked
- Again, no leaks
- BPA free
Taste test and manufacturer’s claim test: The Clean Bottlemade a big splash this year at the Tour de France with the infamous ‘Bottle Boy’ running around multiple stages and a few mentions on Versus during the TV coverage. There are two unique features of this bottle – the cap on both the top and bottom to allow easy access to both ends of the bottle and this bottle uses rubber gaskets to seal both caps from leaking. Though in my 20 years of cycling I have never had a moldy bottle, I can see how this could be an issue for those cyclists who do not routinely clean their bottles after each ride.
For my evaluation I once again chose the Accelerade Sports Drink. I rinsed the bottle before the first use, filled it with water and tasted. No plastic taste or smell was present so I proceeded to finish the water and refill the bottle with orange Accelerade. Then I was off on my ride.
I took this bottle out along with another Specialized classic bottle for the ride that lasted a little over two hours. The Clean Bottle performance was very similar to the classic bottle. The bite valve is made from a semi-rigid rubber which was easy to bite, but it did not collapse under the pressure of a bite. I preferred the Clean Bottle bite valve over the Specialized classic bottle’s bite valve. There was no leaks from either cap, and though the plastic was a little more rigid than the Specialized classic bottle, that did not seem to impact the performance.
When I arrived back home, there was the typical Accelerade residue on the inside sidewalls of the bottle. I filled the bottle with water, gave it a vigorous shake and dumped the water…unfortunately, most of the residue was still there inside the bottle. Out came the scrub brush and dish soap. After the residue was scrubbed, the bottle did still retain a little of the orange smell, but eventually disappeared with the use of a bottle sanitizing solution.
Overall, the Clean Bottle performs as advertised. To clean the residue out of the bottle, it was a little easier to be able to scrub from both ends of the bottle. I have two concerns with this bottle – the number of crevasses on both of the caps and the use of rubber gaskets. These are areas that may prove to be difficult to clean for some individuals especially if somehow sports drink gets under the gaskets. The gaskets seem like they are difficult to remove and could possibly be damaged when removed. I am not sure that the unique features of this bottle outweighs the use of a good bottle brush for your normal water bottle…I guess only time will tell.
Likes: Access for cleaning through both ends of the bottle and the rubber bite valve.
Dislikes: The rubber gaskets on both the top and bottom caps. The number of crevasses that may collect debris.
Kinetic Shift Recommended Use: All water bottle uses… cycling, hiking, running, fitness classes, etc.