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When I got home from work to discover a couple of water bottles on my desk for review, I thought to myself “Water bottles, eh”. I usually get water bottles handed to me at expo’s or triathlons. They are not really something I give much thought. I expected to be carrying around a $2.00 water bottle that I would have nothing to say about. I was wrong. I was carrying around $15 water bottles that I love.
When I removed the lids to wash the bottles, I noticed a clean smell. New water bottles always smell like plastic. After washing, I took my water bottle out for a trial run. The water did not taste like plastic, quite impressive. The flow out of the cap was perfect. Now it was time to take the bottle out for a bike ride. When I go out for long bike rides, I add an extra 50% concentration for my electrolyte drink in both bottles.
I like to drink my fluids warm which really adds to the plastic leaching into the drink. I spent more than 5 hours on my bike with no odd flavors to my drinks. After my bike ride, I threw a half full bottle in my clothes bag, filled up the other bottle then took off for a run. At the run turn-around, I stopped for a gel pack and drink. I noticed that I was not dripping water on my shirt before I started drinking water. The water tends to stick in the bottle before you squeeze. Nice touch. When I got back to my car, I found that I did not push the cap closed on the bottle before I threw it into the car. It did not leak.
The Specialized website for water bottles state that infused silicon dioxide create a barrier to the plastic. If a waiter tries to sell me infused food, I tell him to take a hike. If a water bottle is infused, I say it is cool. I guess there is no way of explaining how I think. Check out their website. It is pretty good. It is not really detailed but I probably would not understand the details anyway.
For some odd reason, this review wound up in the in process queue since last year. After about a year of use, the Purist bottles are still my preferred water bottles. I left a purist bottle and a $20 running bottle in the car overnight. The running bottle had a distinct taste of plastic. It was very sad for me since the running bottle is my second favorite bottle. I plan on replacing my water bottle collection, now that I can taste the plastic. I hope Sports Basement has a sale.
Mike’s Note: Specialized bikes have become even better in recent years, with the company’s accessories also making huge efforts as of late.
