Best Practice for Managing Cycling Clothing

[MattTuck]

In the thread on bibs, Louis made the comment that his "good bib drawer is maxed out." Got me thinking about how to best manage the (sometimes large) collection of clothing that a cyclist seems to accumulate. I for one, am bad about getting rid of stuff... this thread may cause me to cull my cycling wardrobe.

Do you guys store stuff in drawers? hanging in a closet? segregate based on quality? season?

Keep a couple of "go to" kits somewhere convenient, and the rest somewhere else?

Do you have a way to track the use of shorts/bibs so that you can discard/demote them?


Inquiring minds want to know.

[Steve in SLO]

I have three drawers of bicycling clothes separated into jerseys, bibs and outerwear/warmers. My wool jerseys hang in the closet.
Even with all these clothes I barely ever dig below the top strata when I am pulling something on to ride...it's usually Rapha bibs and one of several favorite jerseys.

[Gummee]

I had a bunch of old stuff hanging about, but managed to find a few n00b riders that didn't mind semi-wore out stuff to start with

M

[regularguy412]

My shorts n jerseys rarely make it into a drawer. The stuff I use a lot, is either: in the dirty pile, in the wash or hanging on the rack to dry. And I gots a few sets of stuff to wear. For the stuff I only wear on rare occasions (nicer looking stuff), it does make it to the drawer.

So I guess my method, is Ride, Wash, Dry, Repeat.

Mike in AR

[Louis]

I have three levels of bibs/shorts, rated by the quality of the pad: 1) The good ones that I use for rides about 1.5 hours or more, 2) The medium ones that I use for short rides, and 3) The completely worn out shorts that I use on the C2 rower. I keep each of those in different areas, and demote as required.

I also have a pile of junky/cheap/ugly jerseys in a different closet that I only use for super-short rides.

[FlashUNC]

I use one drawer for kits that are in season. Seasonal stuff rotates in and out of the drawer. Warm weather gear replaces cold weather gear in the space bag as needed.

Anything I'm not wearing regularly I sell to make room for new gear, except for bibs. Bibs I wear until they're done. Not selling someone a used chamois.

I've got a separate gear/travel bag with gloves/vests/shoe covers etc that I keep around as well near the bike. Easier to find stuff if its all the accessories are jammed in that bag. Same rule applies. It gets overstuffed, time to get of things.

[MattTuck]

I need some additional drawer space.

It seems that I have ~8-10 jerseys that are totally fine, but only 2 'good bibs', with maybe 5 or 6 bibs/shorts that I prefer not to use.

I think I need to go on a bib acquisition program. As it is, my good bibs are always hanging (drying) on a handlebar or door knob in the bike storage area.

[Dead Man]

I wear stuff till it falls apart... then it goes in the trash, and I buy a new piece.

Super simple!

[weisan]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

I think I need to go on a bib acquisition program. As it is, my good bibs are always hanging (drying) on a handlebar or door knob in the bike storage area.

Matt-pal, you might not want to hear this....
That's how a lot of people started down this road to out of control...trust me, you are doing just fine, you don't need to start on this program. We live in the good O' USA where there's 2-day free shipping and sales all-year round to entice us....you will know when the time comes to replace your well-worn bibs, in the meantime, it's an overkill to overstock.

[eddief]

I recently got rid of 4 shelves of books that I had staring at me in my bedroom for years. I never read or opened any of them. So took them to a used book store and got rid of them. Then had 4 empty shelves which have now become easy storage for many jerseys and shorts. So much easier to just roll them op and throw them on the open shelf. Not as neat as drawers, but way easier than trying to find what you want at the bottom.

[josephr]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

I need some additional drawer space.

It seems that I have ~8-10 jerseys that are totally fine, but only 2 'good bibs', with maybe 5 or 6 bibs/shorts that I prefer not to use.

I think I need to go on a bib acquisition program. As it is, my good bibs are always hanging (drying) on a handlebar or door knob in the bike storage area.

I'm with Weisan --- once you start down that road, there's no turning back.

Our house is older so my wife gets most of the closet and drawer space so I have two plastic storage bins which slide under the bed --- I keep mountain and winter stuff in one, and road shorts/jerseys in the other. Both a pretty full and its time to get rid of some stuff, but I know if I picked up another bin, it'd be full too!

[John H.]

I keep 3-4 sets of kit in rotation.
I toss anything that starts to look tatty.
I wear black kits 99% of the time- I will toss them when I see any fading or obvious wear.
If bibs looks worn on the outside it is a safe bet that the chamois is worn.

[bewheels]

Simple...
The floor.

[chiasticon]

old house with limited storage and lots of kit so no real system to speak of, other than to rotate the winter gear out when its summer and vice-versa. i don't hang anything other than jackets and long sleeve jerseys; well, everything gets hang-dried though... i also generally have two set of bibs for each intended riding condition. because they take a while to air-dry and putting on a wet chamois is gross.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by John H.

I keep 3-4 sets of kit in rotation.

In my system I let them pile up in a laundry basket until I have enough for a full washer load (of cycling stuff only) so I have a few more sets than that.