27 oz Klean Kanteen with Sport drink cap

My experience: I’ve used the 27 ounce Klean Kanteen with the Sport drinking cap once a week for about a month.

Function: 3/5

Style: 4/5

Build Quality: 5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

Summary:

For those cyclists who are sensitive to plastic taste in their water bottles, want a more retro looking bottle, or want longer term durability in water bottle, Klean Kanteen offers a line of metal water bottles for your hydration needs.

I chose the 27 oz size as the largest bottle that would still fit a standard bike water bottle cage as well as the Sport drink cap which allows on-the-bike drinking with a bite mouth drinking spout. While the overall build quality was good and I found no metallic or plastic taste to my water, the lack of insulation resulted in very quickly warmed liquids which made me want to pass on this bottle any time during our six months of Texas summer.

Klean Kanteen sells a range of metal water bottles in various colors starting at $15 for the 12 oz sippy to $26 for the 40 oz Big Gulp size. In addition, they offer a range of cap types in both metal and plastic caps as well as totes for said bottles.

Style and build quality

For those used to plastic water bottles that are either boring utilitarian or funky futurist, the Klean Kanteen offers a classic more retro style that makes me think of the days of Bartoli and Coppi. Their bottles would definitely not be out of place on an old steel touring bike or English roadster. While I chose simple stainless steel, colors from black to pink are available to those who want to stand out more or match their bike.

Although they are made in China, the overall build quality of these stainess steel bottles were quite high. The drink cap makes a nice tight seal with no leaks.

Part of Klean Kanteen’s marketing is environmental, with a graphic of the earth being part of their logo. I will say that I find this a little dubious due to their choice to have the bottles made in China. While I don’t doubt that their bottle would out last their plastic counterpart, anyone shipping bottles half way around the planet from a country that has shown little regard for the environment in manufacturing shouldn’t be quite so sanctimonious about their product.

Function

My biggest issue with the Klean Kanteen is its complete lack of any insulation. In more temperate climates, this is probably not an issue. In Texas in the summer, it is a huge issue. While my regular plastic bottle will keep liquids cool for about 1/2 hour and my Polar water bottle for longer than a hour, the Klean Kanteen could not keep water with ice from becoming distastefully warm by the end of my 20 minute commute. This is not an acceptable choice for me.

The other problem this caused was excessive condensation sweating on the bottle when the liquids were cool. The bottle to be very damp to the touch and a bit slippery. As a side note, Klean Kanteen does not recommend storing hot beverages in their bottles, so coffee is out.

The bottle did deliver on water without a metal or plastic taste. This is due to the stainless steel build of the bottle and the lack of softening agents in the plastic cap. While the absence of softer plastic did improve taste quality, it was a bit painful biting down on it with my mouth. I chose the sports cap to make drinking easy on the bike, however there are also plain screw on caps in both metal and plastic as well as adapters for Avant rubber sippy cup caps. Parents may find this last option appealing if you are looking for metal waters bottles for your toddlers.

My final minor gripe is the rattling this bottle causes in metal bottle cages, which is quite loud. This rattling got irritating real fast and made me think the bottle would not stay put if I hit a big bump. This would not be an issue for carbon or plastic cages, but I’d think twice about long rides with these bottles on a bike with metal bottle cages.

Final Thoughts

While the Klean Kanteen does deliver on a stylish bottle with no noticeable negative affect to the taste of water, I think is fails to function better than a plastic bottle at keeping liquids cool and resting securely and quietly in your bottle cage. These bottle may perform fine in a non-cycling application or in a mild climate, but I’d avoid using them on your bike or in the summer months.