Tacx defends Shiva water bottle

Tacx defends Shiva water bottle

Dutch firm Tacx says pros want bottles that don't leak


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.