MyRedTrek

I happened to notice the one-way nozzle ears that hold it onto the back side of the lid on my Giant water bottle looked dark. I squeezed them together with channel locks and worked the nozzle out of the lid and saw that much of the bottom end of it was black with mold. Then with needle-nosed pliers I worked the plastic pieces of the one-way mechanism out and gaaah - the inside was disgusting with more mold and crud buildup. I can't believe I've been drinking through that. 🤮

Soaked and scrubbed the main rubber section in a bleach water solution as well as scrubbing the inside with sliced cotton swab stems and a narrow round brush.

Scrubbing with bleach removed all but some particularly stubborn stains from the mold. I'll definitely be conscious of cleaning it in the future.

Anyone know if Giant sells those nozzle components as replacement pieces or is the bottle simply considered a throwaway item?

frogman

I don't know if Giant sells nozzle components but thanks for the heads up. I am going to check my assortment of water bottles.

MyRedTrek

I don't think it would be much of an issue with a bottle with a simple nozzle that pops up - running bleach water through it once in a while would probably keep it flushed out but this one-way nozzle with multiple pieces and places for them to set into inside the main rubber nozzle has more nooks and crannies for crud to hide and build up and I sense the rubber nozzle is more conducive to mold growth.

tempocyclist

I've found this can sometimes happen with my CamelBak Podium bottle nozzles. They're a multi-part thing that you can pull to pieces for cleaning.

Chucking all the parts in a dishwasher works wonders if you have one. I tend to go with the bleach and scrubber method. Give all the parts a soak in disinfectant if it's particularly bad.

Sucking on a mouldy nozzle can't be healthy... 😉 😂

Bolo Grubb

I also store my water bottles and caps in the freezer after I clean them.

I used to use camelbak bottles but found their caps were harder to clean then polar bottle caps. Something to look for I guess when choosing a bottle.

OldTryGuy

For my CamelBak caps for years I've been twisting the nipple 1/4 turn then pull off, next dismantle valve and clean. EASY-PEASY

Bald Paul

I tossed two water bottles with nozzles like that after one of them decided it would barely squirt when trying to get a drink from it. I looked closely at the insides and almost puked. Kind of reminded me of the old refrigerator that was in my Mom's basement for 40 years, but had stopped working and been forgotten for about 15 years. Unfortunately, Mom forgot to clean out all the food that was in it.

I went back to the 'pop up' nozzles, and just open them up and run them through the dishwasher after I ride.

dmanthree

Throw it out, get a Polar. And Camelbak has that same stupid one-way nozzle that's nearly impossible to clean. No such issue with Polar.

wolfchild

I use water bottles with screw on lids and never had the problem you described.

Deal4Fuji

A similar gross-out can come from looking under the rubber seal of a Yeti type tumbler. About once a month I take the tumbler lids & gaskets, and Polar water bottle tops and soak them in a bowl of vinegar for an hour or so, then scrub them with dish liquid and an old toothbrush. For the final cleaning and to give them a nice minty fragrance, they go back into the big bowl with hot water and cheap denture cleaning tablets that fiz like Alka-Seltzer.

Litespud

I buy the cheapest bottles I can find - usually something with a bike shop logo on them. Put them through the dishwasher maybe once a year, whether they need it or not😀

REDMASTA

no big deal, you get some live culture probiotics with your water

rsbob 

When I use a standard bottle withsports mix, I always pop them in the dishwasher

frogman

I like the dishwasher idea, I will start doing that.

Milton Keynes

And if you can survive that, you can survive about anything.

Bmach

Has anyone with the gross bottle tops ever been sick from then?

gringomojado

or died?

gm

rsbob 

I died but came back from the dead. The Grateful Dead concert, that is.

grizzly59

If you are looking for parts there are prob only 3-4 different caps for bike bottles. You can prob find a like new bottle with a cap that fits your bottle at a 2nd hand store for $1-2.

fishboat

I carry water in my water bottles, rinse them off after a ride and let them dry. Never have any issues.

If you feel, as sports drink marketeers would have you believe..so they can sell you something, that you can only exercise if you're powered by some secret sugar-laden salty concoction..with a drop of jojoba juice and pomegranate seed extract, then your bottles will be a petri dish. Clean them accordingly.