After Fabian Cancellara called for water bottle design to be reviewed to make bidons safer if they bounce out of cages in a fast-moving peloton, manufacturer Tacx has said its premium design focuses on stopping leakage rather than ensuring they explode under pressure.
Dutch firm Tacx, which supplies a number of top teams with its screw-top bidon the Shiva, said the pro teams favoured its bottles that didn’t leak over non-screw ones that blew open under wheel pressure. Sven Roggeveen, a senior figure in global marketing at Tacx told BikeRadar: “We designed the Shiva because the soigneurs of the professional teams asked for a screw-top bidon. The Shiva is a high-quality bottle and doesn’t leak, which are the most important properties for a bidon. That’s why we replaced the Shiva for the Source”
Screw top bidons could be more dangerous because they’re seen as less likely blow open if a wheel rolls over them. Roggeveen defended the Shiva saying they can blow open when hit by a wheel. "It's not that dangerous, I don't think," he said.
However Roggeveen said Tacx was considering a new design for 2014 but that it had nothing to do with Cancellara’s recent comments.