Starting to see insulated steel cycling bottles. This Camelbak one apparently can keep drinks cold for 18 hours.
Any experiences with these?
I have the Bivo ones and like them a lot - enough that I got the non-insulated ones too. Though I originally bought them because of the insulation factor, the lack of a plastic-y taste is even more of a benefit to me. I don’t always need the insulation, but I always benefit from the absence of weird flavors in my water.
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+1 for steel bottles.
This! If your primary reason for chilling drinks is to not taste plastic, just get a non-insulated steel bottle. They’ll have substantially higher capacity & no plastic taste. I use the Klean Kanteen 27oz bottles. But I drink water like a fish so I need it. (Their large insulated bottles are 20oz.)
If you were to go with that brand, a lot of bidon cages might not work well with the 27oz because many cages have a bit of a hook at the end to hold onto the top of small bidons & the notch in large bidons. I use the aluminium Shimano brand “pro” cages without a hook for these. Haven’t had a bottle come out of this cage despite not having a hook, but these are on road bikes so YMMV on rough terrain. You probably won’t have that concern with the camelbak ones, nor the issue with the directional cap.
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I recently bought the abloc steel bottle since i’d been interested in buying one since the escape collective article. In that James reviewed the Bivo verus 2 iterations of the camelbak. All seemed to work fine with the bivo working a bit better. I bought the abloc since they had a preorder discount and I have never seen a bivo sale though i’ll probably still get one eventually. I’ve been quite pleased with my abloc. It has become my first choice workout bottle since unlike my camelbak plastic insulated bottles it actually keeps the ice solid for the workout and even into the next day to an extent. Meaning I go to refill the next day or 2 and there’s still some ice in the bottom, mostly melted but still clearly ice. The only 2 downsides to this bottle is that its design leaks when shaken so when mix is involved a classy swirl is in order for mixing. Hoping bivo doesn’t. The other is because the ice doesn’t melt over the course of the workout there’s actually less to drink over the course of a workout. But it sure do stay cold.
Bivo costs $1 more, has 3oz greater capacity, and weights 50% less than the camelbak one
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Anyone tried the Elite 0-100 thermos plastic bottle?
Not convinced by a bottle I can’t squeeze on the bike!
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Another vote for Bivo. Plus their valve is really good for getting a good flow into your mouth given you can’t squeeze the bottle like you can with a plastic one.
I’ve wanted to try these for a long time, since I first saw James mention them, but from reading articles, the downsides kind of seem to outweigh the benefits in my brain. They’re expensive, so I’ve never just bought one to try it. Can anyone who owns them comment on the questions below?
I get the “no plasticy taste” argument, but aren’t you just trading it for metallic taste? Or are the cans lined with something (plastic?) to prevent that? I can definitely taste the metal when drinking from a Yeti/Hydroflask/Liquid Death.
Is anyone using carb mix in them? I saw the “swirl, don’t shake” comment, but any other issues?
I’ve seen it said that you more have to sip the water and can’t get a big quick blast, is that true?
The other downside I’ve seen mentioned is that they scratch easily.
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I think the upside is that there are no microplastics from the bottle (tho the cap still prob does but you have far less exposure). Microplastics is a new “bad” thing to be looking out for. Hormone disruptions, etc. I don’t know enough about the likelihood of health problems from them, but it is akin to having a water filter to remove PFAS
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Absolutely. Totally agree on the upside. Just not sure it outweighs the downsides, so looking for feedback on those.
I think another upside is that if they really do stay cold for 24 hours, no more freezing bottles before every ride.
I always though this is mainly an issue with BPA, BPF and BPS? Or do we simply not know if there is more?
Some manufacturers avoid BPA, BPF etc.
I believe the new consensus is that microplastics are in everything regardless. They’re released into the water. I read some article on it lately from Google news / NYT and others. Some researchers basically found them present in water from like any plastic bottle. I also think there is something bad about exposing our plastic water bottles to hot water (in the dishwasher), but not well versed on the specifics
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And after reading this thread, just like that, ads for Camelbak steel bottles show up in my IG feed.
Big Brother is always watching. 
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ends up ordering Bivo bottles and watches some money disappear
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Downside: Can’t imagine one of them hitting the tarmac in the peloton or group ride. Seems much more dangerous than a plastic bottle.
Upside: Everyone will hear it hit and be alerted that there is a loose bottle … not that you can do much.
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I got an Elite Deboyo Race insulated stainless steel bottle for Christmas.
Benefits
Keeps my tea warm for cold winter rides
Its got a built in vent, which means its easy to take a drink without having to overcome a vacuum because its not possible to squeeze the bottle
Same style of easy to remove rubber nipple as regular elite fly bottle which makes it easy to clean
Downsides
Its as a big as a 950ml bottle but only holds 550ml
there is an extra part to clean, the silicone straw that lets air into the bottle while you are dinking there is also an extra vent hole in the cap which needs to be cleaned with a pipe-cleaner.
It makes an awful racket if you have metal bottle cages.
When I want to keep my bottles cold in summer I just add Ice or freeze the bottles in advance.
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Upside: you now have a reason to upgrade to carbon bottle cages 
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@khg thanks for the Bivo reco; flow rate looks fantastic. I love Klean Kanteen, but their lid is annoyingly loud when you pull from it, makes a whistling sound, and pulls slow. Thinking of upgrading. @Pbase w a quality stainless steel bottle, there is zero taste. No metalic taste. Just pure water You could drink oranje juice out of it, wash w soap & water, drink water, won’t taste OJ at all.
Microplastics are extremely dangerous. Right now is like living in 1942 RE: Cigarettes. Research [real, credible, medical research, globally agreed on…not one dude in a lab] is just ongoing right now, and will start coming into public light over the next 1 - 5+ yrs.
But the early, already solidly proven, and shocking indications, are that we have now firmly proven that microplastics do not stay in the gut & pass through. They cross the blood barrier, and also the blood-brain barrier; large qtys of micro plastics have been confirmed both in human brain tissue, and more shockingly, cross the placental barrier and get into the tissues and brain tissues of fetuses.
We also know that they are in the air, from plastic fabrics, etc, and that we inhale them, and the cross the lung blood barrier…
The impact of those, and the leaching of chemical compounds in them into those tissues, won’t be fully understood for a while, of course.
But I don’t need someone to prove to me whether or not having polyvinylhexane [made up name… any weird chemical] in my brain is OK for my health or not. I’m gonna go with “pass” on having it there, thanks.
Never use plastics in cooking. Try to eliminate them from food storage. Plastic coffee makers are disasters; use SS & glass only. It’s surrounding us, it’s everywhere, and it’s useful; we will never get away from it. But you can choose to not ingest it, or ingest way less of it.
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So you’re saying that a Yeti or Hydroflask is not a quality steel? Not trolling, serious question. I just find it hard to believe the reason water tastes metallic is because I’ve never used the right quality of container.
I work in specialized alloy steel purchasing and sales for aerospace, pressure vessel, chemical plants, etc.
Sadly, nobody / there is no regulatory body that can stop someone from buying crap steel, stamping “Stainless Steel” on it, and selling it as a water bottle. [Those orgs. do exist for industry level applications, of course.]
There are also many grades of SS, and the cheaper ones, you def wouldn’t want to make a water bottle out of. You want a bottle made out of 304L. [Or, even better, 316L stainless, but that’s unnecessary and more expensive; I’m not yet aware of any mfg that uses it.] Old people call 304L “18-8”, so you may see that stamped on bottles.
The 18 and 8 refer to Chromium and Nickel alloyed into the steel, displacing iron & carbon. They make it non-reactive. Lower grade SS will give a metallic taste to water and a weird taste to some drinks like juices, coffee, etc.
A quality SS bottle will produce no metallic taste in quality tap or mineral water. It’s completely non-reactive; you put H2O in it, and H2O comes out. Nothing is added or subtracted. If there is a metallic taste, there may be an issue with the water source, water softener, chlorine level that day if on a municipal system, etc.
Klean Kanteen uses 304L; they call it 18/8. But I’m sure there are many good brands that use quality SS; I’m not saying only KK; this is not a KK promo post. I’m strongly eyeing a Bivo, bc the KK sippy lid draws quite slowly, and makes a loud whistling sound… ok on the bike, not so cool in the cafe after! 
You can’t taste stuff that isn’t there. Something has to be there for you to taste it: When you get a “plastic-y taste” from a water bottle, that’s because there is plastic and chemicals leached from the plastic in that water, and you’re drinking it.
Yeti is quite a can of worms. They are not a gear company; they are a marketing company, a “luxury brand”. Their purpose is to charge the maximum possible for a product, and get maximum profit. You can get a cooler that holds cold equally long, weighs literally less than half, for 1/4 the price, with a lifetime warranty. I would never trust a company like that to use the best quality materials in construction; they are maximizing profit, and selling to people who just want it to say “Yeti” on it. They undoubtedly use the lowest grade steel they think they can get away with… to maximize profit.
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