cooler water bottles for bicycles
1999/ 27 October
Cyclists often
complain that their water bottles become hot, and have an unpleasant
"plastic taste", particularly in high summer.
This is
because plastics contain volatile chemical compounds that are released into the
water continuously, especially when the plastic is heated - the same effect
used to be common in cars on hot days, especially when they were new.
However, you can in large
part overcome this problem. It's possible to insulate the plastic bottles with
a sock (an old one is fine!), fastened with a rubber band on the INSIDE of the
sock- tricky to get just right, but long lasting as a fastener.
The result
is
Water is
cooler, tastes much better. The effect lasts for a couple of hours, about the
length of time it takes to empty the bottle.
(It also
helps to have premium / food-grade bottles, rather than the logo-encrusted
rubbish in the bargain bins at bike shops - I bought mine, one-litre size, in
the sports section of the supermarket, without an advertising logo, for half
the price of the smaller bottles available in bike shops, and twice the
quality).
There are
commercial sites on this subject - see
Runnin' Cool
Insulated Water Bottle Carriers
http://www.runnincool.com/bottles2.html