A focus on cleanability.

When we came up with the idea of Bivo, we felt fortunate to already be connected to so many cyclists through riding bikes ourselves and lots of friends who also like to ride bikes. Product design and development was part of our lives too – we owned a footwear design and development studio and making product was a passion. So, when the idea of Bivo popped into our heads, we had a product ideation and development process down. One of our first steps was setting up focus groups and customer surveys to get to the bottom of what cyclists would want out of a metal cycling bottle. Some of the answers surprised us (weight was less of an issue than we originally thought!) and others were things we predicted (how can you drink if you can’t squeeze?!).

Testing, prototyping and focus groups to ultimately get us to the Bivo One. 

One that really stood out to us and came up in almost every conversation was cleanability. People were SO frustrated by how hard bottles are to clean. Whether they were the type to leave their bottle on their bike for a week without cleaning or the type who cleans their bottle after every ride, mold buildup was a common problem. One customer interview revealed that she switched her bottles out every 3-4 months because her bottles get so gross. Annually, that meant she went through at least 20 bottles simply due to mold. 

Cleanability quickly became an integral part of our design process. We designed the Gravity Flow components (nozzle, straw) to be removable and we used radiused edges wherever possible. The nozzle and straw are made from food grade silicone and the body of the bottle is stainless steel. Those are all dishwasher safe, while we like to wash the PP lid by hand with mild dish soap. Check out this cleaning video to see how to remove the components of the Bivo lid! 

Don't forget, the lid components are all removable for easy cleaning!

A team-favorite tool for cleaning Bivo bottles.

Enter The Unscented Company (TUC). We first met the Unscented team through Maghalie Rochette. We have so many values that overlap with TUC it felt really good to switch to their products. We started using unscented laundry detergent long ago and discovered how important unscented soap is in the dishwasher when we started developing Bivo. TUC’s dish soap and dishwasher pods clean really well without leaving any residue. Seriously, smell your dishes next time you unload the dishwasher and you can probably smell the soap (unless you use Unscented already ;)).

It also turns out my sister, Mariah, is seriously obsessed with the company as well. I asked her about it recently and she said, “I started with the dish soap. Loved it. Got laundry soap. Loved it. Got dishwasher tabs. Love them. Got cleaning fluid. Love it too. Everything cleans really well.” Mariah is a serious critic (I love you, Mariah), so getting a fan like her says a lot. TUC is a B Corp, woman owned and uses ingredients good for the earth and humans. Maghalie has been working with Unscented for a couple years and last year, she and her husband, David, saved 251 single use plastic bottles by switching to Unscented. That’s pretty mind blowing.

What to try it out? You can find a store near you here or you can buy directly from them at www.unscentedco.com. Get the dishwasher pods and dishwashing soap for cleaning your Bivo bottles, you won't be disappointed. 

Another fun thing about The Unscented Company - their team loves to ride bikes and they have been making a positive impact on the cycling community. We even overlapped at Rasputitsa with their marketing director, Halina, for the first time this year in April. The photo above is of Halina and co-worker, Pier-Anne, riding with Maghalie. I'm itching to get up to Montreal for a ride with them. 

Thank you! - Carina (co-founder of Bivo)