How often do you change your bottles?

oinkely

Doing a bit of spring cleaning and thought back on how long I have some of the bottles in my cupboard. I'm pretty sure one of them is pushing 20 years old, and another is 15 or so.

Decided to recycle them and replace with a few I bought in France this summer.

But it got me thinking - how long does a standard plastic bidon last? They seem fine, but might be killing me with every sip!

For info - I pretty much only put water in them - very occasionally an electrolyte tab will find its way in on a very sunny day, plain old tap water for the most part.

fat bloke

I keep them until their condition is cause for embarrassment. But I do buy good ones, the camelbaks last years and years.

loyatemu

plastic does break down over time, but I know mine look a lot worse on the outside than inside from being shoved in and out of the bottle cages.

Apparently a lot of people rarely/never wash their water bottles, that's probably a bigger risk to your health than microplastics.

ednwireland

wash them with Milton every few months. usually when I open them and go ughh.

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657106#Comment_123657106

Every few months?? Jesus!

Mine go into the dishwasher after every ride. I've about 12 that I rotate according to bike colour, jersey colour etc. to ensure co-ordination.

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657403#Comment_123657403

I've 2 black CamelBak bottles. Sometimes, not only will they not be washed from the last spin, but I could be drinking the water from the last spin too 😅😅😅

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123656819#Comment_123656819

Wash and let dry fully with the cap off. That's the key action as otherwise the bacteria can remain alive.

MojoMaker

New set every 12 months or so for me.

Keep 4 on the go.

if they are really desirable bottles from a prestigious event, I won't use them at all and just collect. That's fairly few and far between though.

07Lapierre

I've two bottles. I tend to wash them by hand using hot soapy water after every ride. I don't use electrolytes just Mi-Wadi mostly. If you use electrolytes i recommend you inspect the inside of your bottles regularly, as bacteria builds up inside the bottles very quickly.

ednwireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657403#Comment_123657403

I rinse them every ride, just Milton every couple of months or so jeez!

CramCycle

I just dilute the bacteria with fresh water before every ride

beggars_bush

Never use dishwasher.

Have a variety of small squeezy bottles and bigger 750ml rigid bottles.

Hand wash them regularly, taking the lids fully apart. bought a handy longer bottle washer brush which makes the job a bit easier. Milton every few weeks.

Colour coordination is the least of my worries

magicbastarder

i usually throw them in the dishwasher after a few rides. i often use electrolytes, but occasionally find a bottle sitting in a corner with a slight haze of mould in them if you leave them like that for a week or so.

an old colleague of mine once had his utility room re-tiled trying to eliminate a smell, and realised afterwards it was a bottle with electrolytes in it which had fermented after being left sit in the back of a press for weeks or months.

Large bottle small glass

"Amazingly, he was a proverbial camel and never carried water. His bike didn't even have braze-on's for water bottles. Despite the desolate routes Jobst would ride, he always knew where the drinking spots were in the mountains. There were North coast rides that he'd decline to do with me I think it's because he didn't know where the water was along the route."

https://ritcheylogic.com/blog/tom-ritchey-a-tribute-to-jobst?srsltid=AfmBOorvoI-qBXwo5H4ILtJ69ef24W6hdnnN6naCUzRin8Ut9xbFeKAk

Water?

sham58107

Went through a clean out lately and found some from TDF even some form Nissan Classic, although I never used most of them.

I rinse and clean after ride, and use milton every month or so, also find putting them in freezer overnight kills bacteria, dont usualy change until I lose the top! or the bottle !

deandean

My two favourite bottles are (1) one chucked by a Giro d'Italia rider in Clontarf in 2014 that I picked up, and (2) one given to me by Sam Bennett circa 2020.

Both are in regular use.

Neither has ever been washed. They get a quick shake in cold water after use. I was praying that some DNA would transfer from them to my legs. I live in hope.

magicbastarder

My favourite bottle is one I won in a GCN caption competition. Not so much the fact that I won it, it's just the best bottle I have.

It's been through the dishwasher multiple times with no harm to it.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123665644#Comment_123665644

oh lordy! 😂

Acquiescence

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657437#Comment_123657437

Ditto.

The front bottle is my 'clean' bottle. It derives its cleanliness from increased throughput rather than any actual cleaning.

The bottle in the rear cage is almost never touched as it contained a carb-mix in the distant past and is now only for emergencies.

Causing them presumably.