Thank you for your review! I get tired of a lot of the bougie side of cycling and it was refreshing to hear someone call it out! I got told that a bike I was riding was basically like a good commuter bike but not a good bike. I worked hard to buy that frame and build it up and it got shit on by some bougie assholes.
Sustainable products are more costly to design and produce than the throwaway stuff. They last longer and hopefully give value for a long time. But you're right, these bottles are pricey & the paint will scratch. It's hard to hit the sweet spot. Thx for the review.
Solid review. Thanks! To your point, these type of bottles don't a lot of sense for racing. But for every day/training rides and casual use, stainless steel bottles do make a lot of sense. And I like the sustainability aspect. Thanks to reviewer Alex for the hint on the Theroflask bottle tip! I found them on Amazon (I don't have a Cosco membership). I may give them a try.
Low-cost stainless steel water bottles (not cycling specific) get bent up easily, the paint scratches off for hardly any reason, and they sometimes can have problems with leaking. Any higher quality stainless steel water bottle will cost about as much as Bivo's. The pricing does not seem in any way outrageous. Cycling-specific products can also just be expensive. You're right of course though that you shouldn't have to be rich to be eco-friendly. You shouldn't have to be rich to be a cyclist. You shouldn't have to be rich to have proper healthcare even. We need to change larger systems that would create more accessibility to cycling (or healthcare etc) but also make attending the environment more of a requirement for societies rather than a personal consumer choice. Within our fucked up world though, Bivo seems alright in terms of it being a worthwhile purchase. Also, think of it as per use. How many plastic bottles do people throw away because they get grody or they lost them because they knew they were cheap? These will likely be held onto a lot more. In any case, interesting discussion about capitalism and environmentalism in what might otherwise have been just about the bottle itself.
Living in Arizona, the insulated version is the BEST at keeping your hydration at a bearable temperature. I can fill it with cool water, drop in a couple of ice-cubes and there's still some ice left after four hours on the road.
I think the main point in using stainless steel is in the decreasing use of plastic...but due to "microplastics" in your body and water supply. If you can smell the plastic or taste the plastic (I don't mean the residual taste of your lemonade), it's "reactive" and will be throwing tiny, tiny bits into your body, and into the water supply, etc. I view it as not that the stainless steel product is pricey, but that the plastic product is cheap. Dump the plastic. Is that costly? Of course. But we've been lulled into the use of plastic(s) as normal. It is not healthy.
Thanks for the review ! It makes sense to get a stainless steel water bottle, much better than plastic, and it will last a long time, so then $34 is not that much. Also, water tastes horrible from plastic on a long really hot day.
Great review! I don’t burn through plastic bottles very often, prefer unflavored electrolyte mix, and have been given free bottles. It’s hard to compete with a free bottle. Now if my LBS gave me a free Bivo, hell ya I’d use it and not look back (well maybe a little while cursing up a mountain climb).
I stopped using plastic water bottles a couple years back do to the “gross factor” and because I was throwing them out on regular basis and was tired of throwing things away. I use bottles from Clean Kanteen ($25 220 grams) which work pretty well, but the caps on mine don’t flow quite as well as a regular bike bottle does. It took some getting used too, but it was easy enough to adjust.
You make sense about these bottles, and sustainability, and cost. Thanks. Even though I'm as straight and cisgender as they come, I'm thankful for your content.
I definitely like seeing a company making a durable bike product. There's a lot of plastics in the cycling industry and products that are light but simply don't last.
Solid review. I’m considering buying one to try out. Considering how much I spent on my bicycle and those expensive made in the USA bags 50 for a bottle that should last forever doesn’t seem that bad really. I bet your edited out capitalism rant would have been very entertaining;)
If you don't mind the weight & size I was able to get a two pack 40oz mtel Thermoflaks bottles for $35 at Costco. It doesn't have a dust cap but does have top that twists off. I use it with an Arundel Looney Bin cage(the one that ratchets) on each of my bikes. I pair it with a standard 21oz plastic bottle that only sees water in it. Works great as water is hard to find on the traiks around here in SoCal. I think Thermoflaks makes a more manageable 16oz and 24oz metal 2pack option too. Worth a look.
Good review on these because the plastic bottle taste especially during summer rides sucks; I rather spend extra and get these also to just get away from plastic bottles. You could probably put some helicopter tape on them to prevent scratching and also use that tape to protect your bike frame.
It's great to hear your thoughtful perspective on the cost/benefit of even simple purchases like this. I'm general, your critical thinking and empathy is an important part of why I'm here. Aside from the fact that I love that you're queer and on a bike. ;)
hey great video ! One question tho , how does the non insulated bottle hold up against normal plastic cycling bottles on a hot ride in the sun. Does the water heat up more in the bivo non insulated bottle ?
Hey :) I just discovered your channel through this video and I really enjoyed it! I do have one Question you didn't quite adress in the Video: If I were to buy a bivo bottle it would be because it can be properly cleaned and there won't be that residue that builds up over time in the nooks crannies of regular plastic cycling bottles. As far as I can tell the bottle itself would be easy to clean, but how about the cap? On plastic bottles the nooks in the "valve" (I don't know if that really is the right word, but I hope you know what I mean: The part you pull out to drink) are almost impossible to clean and therefore areas where gunk can accumulate. What is that like with bivos? Especially also with the straw that seems to be attached to the cap? I've got one bit of feedback about the video, just for the next time you review a product like this: It would have been cool to have a shot of the inside of the Bottle, the lid and also the mechanism of opening the "valve" included in the video. That would have given me (as somebody who has never seen those bottles live) a better idea of the product. Overall really nice video! I especially liked how you actually went to the effort of refilming the conclusion because you didn't feel like it had the nouance you wanted it to have. Really refreshing, have a great day :)
Agree with the sustainable aspect for sure, but I feel at that price point there has to be some major design break throughs. One for sure being a superior color coating that will not flake off. Agree dust cap should just be included. Overall cleaning of the lid should be easy (accessible to take apart/clean/parts replaceable). One question I have is when ur down to the end of the bottle & riding, does gravity get all the fluid out? I'm used to squeezing the last drops out, so just seems weird to me to not be able to.
I'm just getting interested in bikepacking. I am a backpacker so have the gear for myself but am clueless on bike gear. Do you recommend taking my bike to a shop to get help outfitted ?
Good review but I ‘d like to know what it’s like to drink from this bottle compared to a plastic one that requires squeezing. Also there are plenty of plastic bottles that cost $30 plus dollars so while these are more expensive I think the price is too high for sustainable product that doesn’t retain flavors.
thx for the info :) well for people who use it everyday i would say the price is not bad. ja peoples who use it just some times in a month the price would be high, for peoples who use it every day or near every day the price is good. btw a question how good are they to clean ?
I have one…yes expensive and wat thu about shipping a cap that doesn’t come with it. Another downside is that you can’t squirt the pit bull, about to chomp your leg, with an inflexible water bottle.
Yeah, the rant on capitalism! Maybe you should do an “outtakes” video, I’d watch. That said, so much of what we fret over is born in our desire and means. Funny that should emerge in a water bottle review.
This was a well thought out and informative video, personally (not saying you should post it) id kind of like to hear the capitalism Rant 😆. Well done, i am enjoying your feed very much if you ever come out to ride in CO. Id love to catch a few miles with you. (Also my favorite and only bike is a state single speed 4130 ❤, your favorite bike video was fun to see) Thank you again for your work and awareness in creating content. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Let's be real, nothing about the non-hobby cyclist is cheap anymore, so why just complain about these bottles? If you bicycle once in a while and are perfectly happy not buying into the whole cycling kool-aid culture, there's tons of cheaper alternatives that you can use (and throw and let future generations worry about).
Isn't the mouth piece made of plastic? So, where is the sustainability? The potential of wiping out another cyclist, or myself, is a huge drawback, as is the possibility that a stainless steel bottle, full of water, is going to put a dent in my bike frame, if dropped by accident. Paying extra for the dust cap? No, that's just profit, for a item that probably costs pennies to produce. Plastic CAN be recycled. But most plastic isn't, not because it cannot be, but because we live in a society that pushes that responsibility (or really, the perception of that responsibility) onto the consumer. But, I keep/use bicycle plastic water bottle for 2 years... for me, that's at least two hundred to three hundred times that I used the bottle. I think that's a satisfactory amount of reuse of a plastic product. As perspective, a bicycle water bottle isn't the plastic drink bottle or cup from a gas station, coffee shop, or restaurant, that sees a single use, then gets thrown away.
