What do you use to hand wash your kit?

[hobbanero]

Penguin Sport Wash. A lot like the Rapha and Assos detergents with much less markup. Comes in an orange bottle with several different brand names. REI used to carry it but seems to have stopped, so now I just get it from Amazon.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B008BL3U..._hBknzb6BGQSPM

[Jere]

Biokleen sport laundry Liquid
And half a cup of Vingar if it's really bad

What kind of soap do you use for hand washing cycling kit?

It's been a rainy, busy racing season so far this "summer", so I'm looking for soap recs to clean jerseys and bibs in the sink.

Thanks!


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[11.4]

Woolite, Ivory flakes, and the like were all good for old wool clothing, but fabrics have changed. Regular detergents aren't good for cycling clothing or for your chamois; the components of modern kit are really pretty fragile and regular detergents are pretty caustic to make them clean well. Assos makes a superb cleaner but it's ridiculously pricey. What I've found is basically the same stuff as Assos is Nikwax Tech Wash, a nonionic cleaner for technical clothing. This cleans chamois' remarkably well, and it protects all the synthetics, including their sublimation and some of the ultralight meshes and so on you get in summer clothing. And in heavier stuff like winter jackets, it keeps them clean and odor-free.

[tkbike]

Not sure what a "kit" is, but my better half and I rode 65 miles yesterday and washed our clothes in 'All free and clear' and it seemed to work OK! We both wear our MTB gear on the road...it really messes with the roadies!!!!!

[jmoore]

These threads always crack me up. Some people take great care to wash their kits just so, and others just throw them in with the rest of the wash

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[Anarchist]

I am surprised at the lack of the obvious answer ...... my hands.

[cmbicycles]

I have some cycling gear, cycling accessories, cycling socks, cycling clothes, but nothing called kit. I use the same stuff for washing all fabrics.

Gallon container... 3/4 cup borax, 3/4 cup washing soda, 3/4 cup blue dawn dish soap, some lavender essential oil for flavor.
Mix the powders with very hot tap water until disolved, then fill the rest of the container almost to the top and mix again. Then add the dawn, and top off with hot water (gently to not make suds) 15 +/- drops of lavender. Swish container before using, and add a 1/4 cup +/- to each load of laundry... In truth I don't measure anymore, just pour in what seems like the right amount. Works well for all our clothes (or kit, if you prefer) and is dirt cheap. Would work for hand washing too, just use less.

If we need brighten whites, add a can of coke to the wash cycle while its filling and mix around before adding clothes, it's good at getting out oils and yellowing... and tasty too.

[Black Dog]

The amount of effort that folks are taking to wash synthetic fabrics is amazing. Bordering on alchemy.

[William]

Eh. Scrub, wring, roll, hang, done. I quit using rocks years ago.





William

[Mr. Pink]

https://www.campmor.com/c/sport-wash...sno-seal-10601

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by mjalder2

What about hand washing? I can't really use a regular washing machine every time I ride living in an apartment building with shared laundry.

I live in an apartment building with a shared laundry. I throw all my kit into a dedicated bike clothes laundry hamper after each ride and then once a week I take it all down to the basement laundry room and do a dedicated load of bike clothes only. Cold water only ("Bright Colors" setting), all bibs go in their own mesh bag, anything with velcro goes into a separate mesh bag.

I use Penguin Sport Wash (by Nathan Industries) or WIN detergent.

Everything gets air dried on hangers or a drying rack.

Life's too short to wash clothes by hand!

[jemoryl]

I just give them to mom:

[daker13]

I have a Vintage Velo jersey and it includes some pretty draconian instructions for washing (for wool), and they recommend Ecover gentle wash liquid detergent, which I use when I'm in the mood (but I often just use regular detergent). They talk about Woolite as if it were battery acid. I wash bike clothes/exercise clothes separately.

[eippo1]

Originally Posted by DRietz

Dr Bronners, yo. My bibs smell like peppermint

Yeah, this. Just keep 'em on in the shower and then take 'em off and use some more soap on the chamois.

[notsew]

Has anyone gone from hand washing to machine washing and noticed a difference? It all seems pretty resilient to me.

I just throw it in the laundry and wash it with the rest of my crap. Do try to hang dry it though.