Water bottles

I put mine in the dishwasher about once a month. They've never made me ill.

Dishwasher every time. Been using the same bottles for years.

Either it's fine, or it's slowly killing me, or it's doing my immune system the world of good (like having kids go to nursery for the first time)

Give them a rinse in cold water after a ride then in the dishwasher every week or so.

Every ride my 2 bottles get a wash outside,then once a week they get a Milton tablet each,after a good soaking with a milton tab,they get a good flushing with cold water,and are ready for the next rides.SAFE ENOUGH FOR BABIES,SAFE ENOUGH FOR BIKIES!Wash out thoroughly you wont taste the Milton.New bottles 2 yrs ago still looking ok,3 rides per week.Enjoy,FOXYLOXY

Bruclens for me. None of chlorine aftertaste you get with baby bottle products.

Btw, baby bottle sterilising tablets for me too. Sainsbury's own brand are a good size for a single bottle and you get about 72 of them for a quid

i took the spout out of one of my bottles last week.. there was some horrific pulsing green gunk under there, suffice to say they get cleaned properly now every week

In days of old, when riders and teams did not seem to have a limitless supply of bottles with which to litter the place, a standard job was getting all bottles, fill a bath in the hotel with hot water, and empty a large amount of Milton or similar into it and submerge the bottles and lids. Leave for 30 minutes, rinse and scrub clean bottles, no problem with bugs.

Plus 1 for sterilising tablets, you can get them for 99p for a box of 64 use them all the time no probs with bottles.

i tend to use something like milton with mine, chuck them in a sink full of water and leave em for a couple of hours to soak

I tend to soak mine in very hot water after each ride. Using energy products and not washing them properly could be a bit dodgy. Also as many have mentioned, most can go on the top rack of the dishwasher. That said, if the Mrs is that concerned she won't mind you buying some nice new ones will she!

ubercurmudgeon - you'd be better taking the mud off the outside first.

I use the sterilising fluid or tablets that all good supermarkets stock for baby bottles. Pop half a tablet in each bottle, another half tablet in an old ice cream tub for the bottle tops, fill them with water, wait half an hour, then rinse out and scrub the mud off the exterior surfaces. Why nobody has launched a "performance" version for cyclists, with the customary 2000% mark-up, I don't know.

Do you not wash them; how often does she throw out chopping boards? Unless they are all scratched up inside they won't be providing anywhere for bugs to hide from cleaning.

Personally I'd be more worried about BPAs, which I'm not about to start worrying about! I've got, and use, some ridiculously old bottles; it's more likely cow and sheep shit washing off the fields and getting sprayed up by your wheels that'll make you ill than the contents of your own bottles.

If you get ones with large lids which can be unscrewed and removed completely then you can put them through the dishwasher after each use and the hot water kills the bugs.

You're not likely to get much living in them if you only use them for water. If they've got sports drinks in them, then that's lots of food for bacteria. Don't leave them sitting with sports drink or any residue thereof after your ride - rinse them out. A dishwasher will kill anything - as long as the plastic will survive it. The valve can be the trickiest thing to clean properly.

Surely just take care to wash and dry them well? Get a good bottle brush, and there's no reason why they would need replacing any sooner than other plastic containers, tupperware, plastic jugs etc.