Thanks. Thats informative, but kind of sounds like “you’re going to have to buy one and see”.
I’d recommend trying one from a friend!! 
And definitely not just that brand; many others are great I’m sure, too. Jesus… crap, my post looked like “BUY ONLY THIS BRAND”… LOL… gonna edit that…
I like the look of the Bivo… sounds like they let you drink fast, that KK does NOT do… and the whistling is SO annoying…
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My “swirl not shake” comment only applies to the abloc bottle I bought as far as I know. I don’t have experience with the other makes so I can’t speak to that yet. I think alboc’s nozzle design while easily cleanable and good flow seems to leak but I might have also put it back together poorly after cleaning so there’s that issue. I’d say it’s easier to clean and clean more thoroughly than a camelbak podium cap/nozzle.
As for flow by most accounts on steel bottles there’s no wanting for speed, it comes out as fast as you can drink. Figure a plastic bottle doesn’t have an air return so the gulp is only as big as you can squeeze which then uses that same nozzle to reinflate for the next drink. With the the system they put in the metal bottle caps as long as air can get in the liquid comes out as fast as you can drink if not faster. You could sip or you could chug, the bottle don’t care.
I’ve never been bothered by plastic bottle taste and will be using them in summer since they’re lighter. Perhaps by extension I don’t necessarily get a metallic taste either but it does perhaps taste “cleaner.” I think camelbak makes a Ti version as well which would be completely neutral but at a high cost of course.
There’s no freezing of this bottle but if I’m planning ahead I just fill it the night before with fluid and ice and throw it in the fridge. The ice is still quite solid the next morning. Figure if you did freeze this bottle they’re insulated as such that it would probably be still mostly solid by the end of your ride.
As far as scratching my specialized/sworks bottle cages scratch the crap out of all my bottles so cosmetics is a lost cause for me and not a concern. All my podium chill bottles that I’ve used look like utter crap which I’ll put a side note of caution to anyone thinking about getting sworks carbon cages with raw carbon on the inside. They both scratch and blackened my bottles, hard to recommend.
In the end my biggest downside is the weight. Water is heavy and these things ain’t helping. As far as use outside it will probably be at the extremes of temperature. Super cold, it’s a way better choice to put warm drinks in as plastic doesn’t do well with hot water so a black tea/honey or maple/lemon/salt hydro drink will suit much better in a steel bottle. At the other end I could imagine even on the hottest days there will still be a little ice jingling at the end of a decent ride unlike the podium chill bottles whose ice lasts for maybe an hour.
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Steel bottles on a bike?
You guys riding fixies too?
I guess I never found the need, hydrating at 1 bottle per hour. No plastic taste either when it gets emptied that quickly.
On cold days where I don’t drink as much, the insulation isn’t necessary anyway.
Gonna put this one in the “fad” category.
FWIW I used to own half a dozen Camelbak Podium Chill bottles. Those were all trashed years ago.
… those were my thoughts when I picked one up and felt the weight.
If you want something lighter Keego make a titanium lined bottle, the titanium layer is so thin you can squeeze them like a regular bottle.
Wow. Thanks, all, for the responses. Clearly this was a needed discussion. I hadn’t thought about plastic leeching and the microplastic aspect.
I’ve only used plastic bottles from Camelbak or Purist, and insulated ones from Camelbak. The reason these steel ones are interesting to me is their insulation capabilities. In the summer, it gets really hot where I am (Sacramento, CA) and even the plastic insulated bottles can’t hold temperature for too long. Trying to stay hydrated on a long training ride on a hot day is hard when your drinks get warm and they become unpalatable.
It sounds like the spouts/flow rates aren’t too much an issue, and the insulation works. The tradeoff is their weight, but if I’m cycling in 90F+ degree weather for periods of time longer than a plastic bottle can hold temperature, maybe the weight penalty is worth it if I’m able to keep drinking.
And the reduced carrying capacity. Their 21oz insulated bottle is generally the same size as a large regular WB, but carries 3-4 oz less.
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I rather like the idea of these, but I’m married to my titanium King Side Loader cages and don’t think they would work well together.
I’ve found the Spesh insulated bottles adequate enough for my rides.
@Pbase In response to your questions - I haven’t noticed a metallic taste at all, though I’ve also never noticed one from my Yeti travel coffee mug. I do notice a plastic flavor from all of my plastic water bottles, though depending on the bottle it may be right away or not till the water’s been sitting for a number of hours. Maybe I’m just really sensitive to a plastic taste but not to a metallic taste.
I haven’t had any leakage issues with the Bivo, so no problems shaking drink mix, provided I actually check the cap is closed. (That day made a mess… whoops!)
The flow rate on the Bivo is excellent. I think they claim it empties faster than a plastic bottle that you can squeeze, and I believe it.
So far, no scratches, though I just got them a couple months ago, and have still been doing mostly indoor rides. But they’ve also become my daily driver water bottle that I just carry around, and I haven’t treated them gently - so far, so good.
I don’t “need” insulated water bottles that often, but have been on enough rides where my bottle of ice water was hot water a couple hours in that the purchase was worth it to me. While they say no hot liquids, I can also see putting warmish liquids in during cold weather, and not worrying about brain freeze every time I take a drink.
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These work really well.
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I forgot about that! 
Some of mine whistle, some of them don’t & never have. Same nozzle design so I don’t know what differentiates it.
I forgot about that too. The things you get used to, hey? 
It’s alright on smooth-ish tarmac. Bumpy roads they do shake around. I just thought to put some rubber shim on the contact points at the base of the cage to see if that quietens them. Side topic… Nobody seems to have a problem with cacophonous freehubs, but get the tiniest bit of brake rotor rub & people lose their minds. 
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My use-case is quite different than most here. I recently finished ITI350 (a 300+ mile race from Knik Lake to McGrath, Alaska on the Iditarod trail) on my fatbike and used the 22 oz Camelbak stainless insulated bottle as a part of my hydration system. During the race my primary concern was keeping liquid from freezing. Temps rarely were above 0F during the 6 days I was out there, and it was very windy most of the time.
At every opportunity I would fill my insulated 2.5L bladder, a 1L Yeti insulated bottle, and the 22 oz Camelbak bottle with hot water. The camelbak bottle would also get 4 scoops of carb mix (unflavored tailwind) each time it was filled. The plan was to sip on the bottle for 2ish hours, supplementing with sips of plain water from my bladder. I’d refill the camelbak bottle from my bladder when empty and add more tailwind. The Yeti bottle was a backup for when the bladder ran dry.
I kept my camelbak bottle in a feedbag next to my handlebars, and a small portion of the bottle was exposed directly to the air. I would keep the bottle locked and upside down in the feedbag to prevent the valve from freezing.
The only time the camelbak bottle froze was on the climb up over Rainy Pass, where temps were in the -20s F with a 20-40mph headwind over the 16+ hours I was pushing my bike up and over. And, I don’t even really blame the bottle for this, as I was in a rush that morning to leave Puntilla and my water was closer to lukewarm than hot when I filled up. The first bottle of drink mix stayed liquid, but the water that I used from my bladder to fill second bottle of carb mix was no longer warm, and froze solid after about a 1.5 hours. I was able to thaw it out in Rohn and had no other freezing issues for the remainder of the race despite temps in the -20s F and plenty of headwind over the next few days. FWIW, the Yeti bottle stayed unfrozen for the entire race, but was nestled in my pannier and out of the wind.
If the insulated stainless camelbak bottle can keep warm water from freezing for a few hours in those conditions, I’m sure it’ll keep my water and drink mix nice and cold in the summer!
The “lock” feature worked well, and I had no issues with spilling or mixing the tailwind in the bottle.
And, while you can’t exactly “gulp” from it, the liquid came out plenty fast enough for me.
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Damn…that is seriously hardcore.
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I think I’ve indirectly trained myself to crave that plastic-y taste. So refreshing!
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My weird brain says if tap water smells like chlorine it is refreshing even warm, but I need ice to drink our current no smell tap water.
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I wonder if this is the case for anyone else but I have found that the bivo flow-rate gives me heartburn. I would love this not to be true because otherwise I really like them.
The poison has become your medicine! Lol
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What do you mean by that it gives you heart burn? I’m considering buying them so curious
I can’t remember the brand of steel bottles I tried years ago, but the metallic taste was horrible! Tasted like I was chewing aluminum foil or sucking on spare nuts and bolts. One was an insulated bottle that I used for coffee a couple of times, and that seemed to make the metallic taste quite a bit worse. Almost as if the coffee acids removed a coating, or stirred up something in the metal composition. As a result I swore off them for many years. I’ve since gotten a few well known brands, and they seem better, but for use on a bike? I like the squeeze factor of standard bike bottles. Having to suck hard on a steel bottle seems a distraction, too much work.