What do you use to hand wash your kit?

[mjalder2]

Hi folks,

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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[jmoore]

Regular detergent with borax added to destinkify. Wash on gentle.

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[Johnny P]

Wash with regular laundry but bibs/shorts in a mesh bag.

[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.


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[biker72]

Woolite in the washing machine. "Delicates" setting. Cold water.

[dgauthier]

woolite in the washing machine. "delicates" setting. Cold water.

+1

Or try the manufacturer's care instructions.

[madsciencenow]

I climb in shower w gear on and hand wash and then hang dry. Works pretty well. Every now and again I throw in the washer on delicate and then hang dry. If I get grease on a jersey or bibs I typically use shout and then rinse it really well. Shout needs to be applied before water, otherwise there is often a residual stain. As for detergent I don't know. My wife makes it herself in mass quantity and then stores it.


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[Steve in SLO]

I do similar to madsciencenow, but I just use whatever body wash I have and hang dry in the shower. Kit gets plenty clean and nothing has fallen apart yet.

[moobikes]

7th Generation detergent. Extra attention to the sweaty/ stinky bits, rinse well. A bucket would be better than the sink, if you have that.

[jemoryl]

A splash of whatever regular detergent I have into a bucket before I jump in the shower. Haven't needed to use borax, etc. for odor control. IIRC, Woolite has some ingredient to keep wool from getting stripped of oils, which is not really a consideration when washing the synthetics used in most of our kit.

[Black Dog]

My Assos shorts have had at least 200 washes in a front loading washing machine on regular with regular detergent and they look as good as new. I turn them inside out and toss them in with my other laundry. I do air dry them however.

[FlashUNC]

Ivory Snow. Way better than Woolite.

[bking]

mostly Rapha stuff, regular machine wash, warm/cold, hang dry. No fuss and they look fine years later.

[DRietz]

Dr Bronners, yo. My bibs smell like peppermint :banana:

[Tickdoc]

Well I used hotel shampoo in the sink yesterday, but normally I just throw it in the laundry basket and prof it gets cleaned. Probably should hang dry, but I'm just thankful my wife does the laundry.

[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/B008BL3UFW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T1_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.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PpdlDqlVkx4/VL9NieiCDlI/AAAAAAAAEtM/BsiBQz3INzE/s1600/Titanic%2BWash%2BHoose%2BBand%2B-%2Bwashboard.gif



William

[Mr. Pink]

https://www.campmor.com/c/sport-wash-scent-free-detergent-by-sno-seal-10601

[Bob Ross]

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]

Dr Bronners, yo. My bibs smell like peppermint :banana:

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.

[jmoore]

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.
I switched from hand to machine wash. I can't tell a difference. My son has about 3 zillion dri-fit shirts and we wash those in the regular wash. No issues.

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[duff_duffy]

Cold water and little detergent. Will keep color long time.....

[beeatnik]

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!!!!!

Some kit is delicate; some isn't.

And some guys get month-long rashes on their privates because they don't know the distinction.

Tru story.

[makoti]

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.

Does the lavender serve any purpose other than scent? You do this for all your laundry? And the coke really works? Gotta stop drinking that stuff...

[suissecheese]

Dr Bronners, yo. My bibs smell like peppermint :banana:



Heck yeah! I'm on the citrus one at the moment though. I'm going to shower after a ride anyways, may as well share the water.


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[Seramount]

I used to take my kit in the shower and gently lather it up with whatever shampoo I had purchased at Target. rinsed and air-dried...

now I throw all my cycling gear (jersey, shorts, gloves, head band, gloves, socks) in the washer, use a modicum of scent-free detergent, and set it for 5 min agitation. then air-dry...

no difference in life-span of the gear.

[cmbicycles]

Lavender is just for a little aromatherapy. The coke actually does work to remove oils and brighten whites, just don't add after clothes are in... it needs a little dilution first. The spa my better half used to work at used coke mixed in to wash sheets/towels that got messed up with oils and such and they came out much cleaner than when they skipped it.

[Anarchist]

Does the lavender serve any purpose other than scent? You do this for all your laundry? And the coke really works? Gotta stop drinking that stuff...

Coke makes a good glass cleaner and is astoundingly useful as a paint remover.

Think of that next time you're drinking a can of the stuff.

[hobbanero]

Modern washers have gentle cycles....though a commercial machine in an apartment building may not be very gentle relative to a home front loading machine. Putting the kits in wash bags helps keep it from getting beaten up by the plastic agitators in a top loader.

There are different spin speeds...gentle cycle is usually a low spin. Not sure that matters for the clothing, but it does mean it is less dry when it comes out of the washer.

Line drying is key....dryer heat is really bad for lycra. Once I stopped putting my stuff in the dryer (even on delicate), it stopped wearing out (eg. when bibs get shiny and start being a bit see through).