Unless you have been camping out at Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan for the past year, you have probably seen a commercial for Clean Bottle, the reusable sports bottle that unscrews at both ends for easy cleaning. The first time I heard about Clean Bottle was last year during one of the mountain stages of the Tour de France when Phil Ligget pointed out a man who was dressed as bottle running up a hill chasing a breakaway (click here to see the Bottle Boy video). Even in a crowd of costumed people the Clean Bottle guy stood out. I visited the Clean Bottle Website, but decided not to purchase one because I really didn’t need an easy to clean bottle since my lovely wife cleans my bottles for me after every ride (I am a lucky guy).
This year commercials for Clean Bottle ran on nearly every bike race on Versus. I always record the TV shows I want to watch on a DVR so I can fast-forward through the commercials. However, last week I got distracted during the Tour de Suisse and forgot to hit the fast-forward button and ended up watching a Clean Bottle commercial. Did I mention that my wife was watching the Tour de Suisse with me? Well, when the commercial for Clean Bottle come on she asked, “Have you heard of those bottles before?” I explained to her that they’ve been running those commercials all year, then she asked, “Well, why haven’t you bought them? It would make it a lot easier for me to keep your bottles clean.” So, without any further discussion, I pulled out my iPhone and ordered two bottles from Amazon.com.
According to my wife, Clean Bottle lives up to it’s advertising—the bottles really are easy to clean by hand (or dishwasher). Each Clean Bottle holds 22 fluid ounces and is made of non-toxic BPA free plastic. They are also top-rack dishwasher safe, which is a good thing since you will probably want to run them through the dishwasher before you use them to get rid of the “new bottle” smell (it goes away after the first use). The bottles have a fairly thick silicon washer at both ends that makes for a leak-proof seal.
Clean Bottle retails for $10 each, but you can get them on Amazon.com for around $9 with free shipping on orders over $25. You can also buy them at any REI store or order them from the Clean Bottle Website.