The Tiibo water bottle is made using double wall vacuum insulated stainless steel for temperature retention, keeping hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold.
Though insulated stainless steel bottles have been common accessories in the day to day lives of many of us, plastic bottles are still the go-to for many cyclists, as they’re lighter and inexpensive to replace. If you’re tired of drinking lukewarm, plastic tasting water, here are a few good reasons to add a Tiibo bottle to your collection.
Features
- Double-wall vaccum insulation keeps keeps ice cold water chilled for hours
- High flow rate sports nozzle
- 304 stainless steel and food-grade material
- Top-rack dishwasher safe
- 23oz capacity
Water flow
Unlike plastic bottles, you can’t squeeze a stainless bottle, so the flow of liquid delivery is a make or break job for the nozzle. The Tiibo succeeds in this area with a smooth flow of liquid thanks to the air vent design. Sucking slightly helps deliver an increase in flow when you’re thirsty, but I’ve never taken issue with the rate of fluid delivery, and you can easily go through the contents quickly if desired.
Speaking of the content, the 23oz fluid capacity is the equivalent of a full size plastic bottle. The double wall construction takes up space and the Tiibo is taller than a typical bottle to achieve its fluid capacity goals, and is both a plus and a negative of the Tiibo bottle. Tiibo warns site visitors that the 23oz Tiibo bottle is large, and it is. It didn’t pair well with a number of my bikes as it simply didn’t fit.
A full size bottle is a big ask on most dual suspension bikes though, and I don’t run stainless bottles when riding aggressive terrain. I also swapped out my titanium bottle cages for resin cages to avoid scraping up the stainless steel bottles.
Stainless bottles are also heavier than plastic ones, and though most of my cages hold the Tiibo bottle securely, this isn’t the bottle I’d use for banging through rocks gardens, berms, and rough black diamond trails. That said, it’s a joy to have cool, refreshing drinks on those long all day xc rides or gravel rides.
It’s been my go-to for commuting, and been a part of my daily regimen.
Cleaning & maintenance
A huge win of stainless steel bottles is the clean taste of the drink it carries. It also helps how easy they are to clean. I always mix water with some kind of juice or soda for flavor and maintaining a clean bottle is easy – just rinse the bottle and maybe run a brush through it. The nozzle for the cap is a bit more challenging to clean but a q-tip does the job adequately when funk has eventually accumulated. I’ve found I don’t need to get into it often if I stay on top of post use clean up.
Durability
Stainless steel bottles are far more durable than plastic ones that get their graphics scrapped off after their first use. They’re not impervious though, as I found one day when mine rolled out of the car. I was super bummed to watch it bounce off the pavement as I had been babying it to this point. The impact with the ground left a ding in the bottle, but aside from the cosmetic blemish doesn’t affect it in anyway.
The bottles are available in black and raw finishes. I think the black looks great but the raw finish is more likely to hold up in the long run. As previously mentioned, I swapped out my titanium bottle cages for resin cages to avoid scraping up the finish.
The Tiibo insulated bottles run around $40. Check it out at Tiibo.com or order one at Amazon.com.