Gear Review: Klean Kanteen

12 May Gear Review: Klean Kanteen

Whenever you are on a long bicycle tour, it’s the little things that can make or break your day. Little things like having good tasting water helps sweeten the day. That is why I use Klean Kanteen bottles whenever I go on my bike tours. Here are a few reasons why I prefer taking these bottles with me, both on and off the bike.

Tastes Better

Have you ever forgotten Gatorade in your plastic bottles for days, weeks, or months? I’ve done that before and even with a good wash from the dishwasher, I can never get the taste of Gatorade out of the bottle. It’s enough to deter ou from even thinking about pouring fruit juices or anything else besides water in your plastic bottle. Depending on the type of plastic bottles, you may be tasting it for miles of usage. A properly cleaned Klean Kanteen bottle does not hold any residual flavor from the beverage before. I have forgotten about the Gatorade, orange juice, and soda pop before and even after cleaning, the water tastes great without a hint of these sugary drinks.

Going Green

Part of the company’s mission is to reduce the dependency of plastic, which is harmful to the environment. To have your own BPA-free, stainless steel bottle to refill and use every day will help this cause. Through time, even your best plastic bottles will degrade and turn filthy to a point that you will need to throw it away or recycle it. Having a Klean Kanteen bottle will stop this waste cycle. If you don’t lose it, it will be with you for a long, long time.

Open Wide

I also own a Sigg bottle and those are made of similar materials. They’re also great bottles, but the one big drawback is that the bottle opening is tiny compared to Klean Kanteen. Don’t even think about putting ice with your drink when  using a Sigg bottle. Klean Kanteen’s mouth is wide enough to accommodate ice cubes and allows you to easily pour things in without making a mess.

Variety

Klean Kanteen sells a few different types of bottles and bottle caps. The bottles I currently own are two 18oz and one 27oz of their “The Original” classic bottle. They are all stainless steel with the bigger one branded with CICLAVIA on it as I purchased it during the last CicLAvia in support.  These bottles fit in the standard bottle cages on my bike. They also offer Vacuum Insulated bottles. These are great as you can put in ice-cold drinks or hot drinks, and it will keep them cold or hot for a long time. How long? How about 24 hours for ice-cold drinks or 6 hours for a steaming cup of coffee. I can certain attest to that as I’ve witnessed it myself with several people who own one. In fact, I’m probably going to splurge and buy myself one as well.

In addition to that, they offer a multitude of bottle cap varieties. I personally like the loop cap as I can hook it on to my panniers using carabiners. I usually drink when I am not riding,so that’s not an issue. They also have bamboo caps, sports caps if you want to drink on the go, and stainless steel caps if you want that look. For the Vacuum Insulated bottles, there is a cap that can turn your bottle into a coffee tumbler.

They also sell other things like growlers, food containers and cups, which I’ve heard good things about, so check those out. I don’t have any need for those products, so I don’t know too much about them.

The Not So Great

Of course, they are far from perfect. One complaint that I’ve heard from people who use these bottles is the rattling noise your bottle will make against metal bottle cage holders. This actually is worse once you’ve consumed all the liquid. So if you have a metal cage, be warned. This isn’t much of an issue with plastic bottle cages. If you have the bamboo caps, the noise factor is even worse because they have a handle that clinks against the cap.

They are also heavier than your average plastic bottle. This is a given since they are made out of steel. It is one of those things to consider when you’re packing for an oversea tour, and you want to make sure you don’t exceed your overall weight limit.

These bottles are also prone to getting scuffed up from heavy usage. All three of my bottles have dirt streaks from the bottle cages. I actually don’t mind that too much. I suppose I can really try to buff them out, but it really doesn’t matter to me. As long as the inside is clean and tastes great, I will continue to use these.

Be warned that the Vacuum Insulated bottles don’t fit in your standard bicycle bottle cage. You’ll most likely bend the cage out shape and scratch up your bottle in the process. You can either get a bicycle cup holder or store the bottle in one of your bags.

In Review

If you’re looking for a great bottle to bring with you on your bike tour, look no further than what Klean Kanteen has to offer. They offer the following benefits:

• Easy clean
• Mouth of bottle is larger than others
• Water tastes great after cleaning
• Environmentally responsible
• Durable
• Stylish
• Large variety of bottles

Here are some of the annoyances:

• Noisy in bottle cages
• Heavier than other bottles
• Easily scuffed
• Vacuum Insulated bottles don’t fit in bottle cages

The prices start at $18 and goes up to $34 based on the sizes. You can pick up your own at Amazon by following this link.