When we came up with the idea of Bivo, we knew we had to be able to drink out of it with ease. We had tested other metal bottles out there and the other sports nozzles all chugged as air was pulled into the bottle so the water could come out. Neither Robby nor I liked that experience, and knew we needed to solve that problem first if were really going to make a bottle specifically for riding bikes. There were other things we needed to solve for, but that was NUMBER ONE!
The goal was a fast, clean stream of water. That’s it. We didn’t think much of it other than that to be honest. We had never really thought about the flow rate of a bottle before. We had never complained that we didn’t like the flow rate from a plastic bottle, for example. We just thought we had to be as good as plastic.
We did lots of testing to figure out the best way to have optimal flow rate. There were a lot of cool ideas, many of them too complicated. What we ended up with was actually one of our original concepts – vent air inside the bottle and the water will flow out cleanly! Check out Robby's video below explaining how it all works.
Annnnnnnd, it turns out, it’s awesome to drink out of. Seriously, we never intended to create a better drinking experience from a flow rate perspective, it simply came out of trying to solve the problem of getting water out of a metal bottle better. We laugh at that often – while it wasn’t a mistake, it was a surprise win and we are very happy you all love the drinking experience!
*Remember, make sure to close your nozzle when you're done drinking so you don't spill!
We are all very excited here in the Bivo office because our Gravity Flow system that allows for that amazing drinking experience is now officially PATENTED! It takes some time (3.5 years), so it is fun to see that come across the finish line. Thanks for being here and fueling more fun with us!
Carina
Keaton Smith
March 10, 2025
Hey Peter, thanks for the question on the flow rate! This is due to a decrease in “head pressure.” As the bottle empties, the weight of the volume of water decreases, which ends up reducing the force which the water is acting on the valve to pull air into the bottle. All in all, this means, the flow rate becomes slightly slower as the bottle drains. However, normally this difference is pretty slight, so if you’re seeing a significant difference, we should replace your lid. Please reach out to us at thirsty@drinkbivo.com with this question and we can help you! Thanks so much!