Road Cycling - Cleaning white seat and bar tape

The wife had to have white on her bike, and now she complains that it looks dingy. I tried dish soap on the seat and it still has a bit of a yellow tint to it.

Thanks for the input.

Simple Green FTW... use it after every ride or every couple of rides to keep things white.

My son uses "Bleachy White" on his tape and Toupe seat. It seems to please him, as he is pretty serious about his Felt F1.

I use Simple green to. It works pretty well at whitening without actually bleaching. Bleaching of course, would probably really make it yellow from burning, if it was too concentrated. So, be very careful if you try that route.

Get some Oxy Clean powder and a WHITE paper towels. It works well for us.

Try the Mr. Clean magic erasers, too...
They work awesome on anything white.

This is for exotic leathers but works on synthetics too. I use to use it on my daughters white baby shoes and it gets them spotless. I now have a white seat on my bike, this stuff works. You can usually purchase it at a store selling western boots. http://www.bigdweb.com/detail.aspx?id=11063

Try the Mr. Clean magic erasers, too...
They work awesome on anything white.

Have used them with success-- problem is they tear when using them.

Clorox Wipes

Try the Mr. Clean magic erasers, too...
They work awesome on anything white.

Tried it last night for the first time on white bar tape. It started decomposing quickly and really didn't do that great of a job (for me).

At $10 for tape, I don't bother... takes less time to replace it.

At $10 for tape, I don't bother... takes less time to replace it.

yeah I agree with this after I spent probably half an hour to 45 minutes cleaning my tape after not cleaning it for at least a year. I took it off my bars and drenched it in some tide powder and just scrubbed. Cleaned it very well but damn it was a lot of work, not to mention wait for it to dry after you clean it. Maybe if I cleaned it after every ride while it was on the bike it would not be so bad since I wipe down my bike after every ride anyway but I've come to the conclusion that if bar tape is really dirty just ride it out until it disintegrates then buy new tape.

little windex, towel scrub.

little windex, towel scrub.

Put some Windex on.

http://www.papirusz.hu/browser/ism_newswf/images/1112/09n.gif

So let me get this correct...
Tape is cheap...even good tape like Deda...
Some of you guys would rather put chemicals on your bar tape, which is porous, in an effort to make it white again. These chemicals, which likely soak into the porous tape, dry when the tape dries.
You then ride your bike and sweat on the tape, which makes the chemicals drift back to the surface of the tape and onto your hands and gloves.
Do any of you wipe your faces or noses during a ride? You are probably wiping small amounts of chemicals, that aren't good for you, into your nose and eyes and onto your faces...

No thanks...I'll tape my bars....

So let me get this correct...
Tape is cheap...even good tape like Deda...
Some of you guys would rather put chemicals on your bar tape, which is porous, in an effort to make it white again. These chemicals, which likely soak into the porous tape, dry when the tape dries.
You then ride your bike and sweat on the tape, which makes the chemicals drift back to the surface of the tape and onto your hands and gloves.
Do any of you wipe your faces or noses during a ride? You are probably wiping small amounts of chemicals, that aren't good for you, into your nose and eyes and onto your faces...

No thanks...I'll tape my bars....what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.
i also don't wash my water bottle after every ride- oh, the horrors. :eek:

1 part woolite to 6 parts warm water. use a fingernail brush to scrub.

also, If you have a car, it will clean the carpets and leather better than anything you'd imagine.

Costco baby wipes. I wipe down my bar tape after each ride it it keeps them cleaner much longer. After I clean the bar tape I give my frame a quick wipe. Works great.

Yes - I buy baby wipes for my bikes :)

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11071818&whse=BD_827&topnav=bdoff&browse=

So let me get this correct...
Tape is cheap...even good tape like Deda...
Some of you guys would rather put chemicals on your bar tape, which is porous, in an effort to make it white again. These chemicals, which likely soak into the porous tape, dry when the tape dries.
You then ride your bike and sweat on the tape, which makes the chemicals drift back to the surface of the tape and onto your hands and gloves.
Do any of you wipe your faces or noses during a ride? You are probably wiping small amounts of chemicals, that aren't good for you, into your nose and eyes and onto your faces...

No thanks...I'll tape my bars....

Yes. I love me some chemicals. :thumb:

1 part woolite to 6 parts warm water. use a fingernail brush to scrub.

also, If you have a car, it will clean the carpets and leather better than anything you'd imagine.

+1, I got this tip when looking for something to clean the interior of my car with (The woolite won't bleach anything), and it's my favorite cleaning solution.

Liquid tide. Old toothbrush. Rinse. Repeat.

what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.

I think some of the Chernobyl survivors would probably disagree with you.

So let me get this correct...
Tape is cheap...even good tape like Deda...
Some of you guys would rather put chemicals on your bar tape, which is porous, in an effort to make it white again. These chemicals, which likely soak into the porous tape, dry when the tape dries.
You then ride your bike and sweat on the tape, which makes the chemicals drift back to the surface of the tape and onto your hands and gloves.
Do any of you wipe your faces or noses during a ride? You are probably wiping small amounts of chemicals, that aren't good for you, into your nose and eyes and onto your faces...

No thanks...I'll tape my bars....

I wipe my nose with the back of the glove which never touches the bar...or I just blow my nose when I don't want to pull the group any longer. :)

For fun I think this thread and the "Riding Naken" thread need to be combined. Think of the issues.

Costco baby wipes. I wipe down my bar tape after each ride it it keeps them cleaner much longer. After I clean the bar tape I give my frame a quick wipe. Works great.

Yes - I buy baby wipes for my bikes :)

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11071818&whse=BD_827&topnav=bdoff&browse=

Who doesn't?

So let me get this correct...
Tape is cheap...even good tape like Deda...
Some of you guys would rather put chemicals on your bar tape, which is porous, in an effort to make it white again. These chemicals, which likely soak into the porous tape, dry when the tape dries.
You then ride your bike and sweat on the tape, which makes the chemicals drift back to the surface of the tape and onto your hands and gloves.
Do any of you wipe your faces or noses during a ride? You are probably wiping small amounts of chemicals, that aren't good for you, into your nose and eyes and onto your faces...

No thanks...I'll tape my bars....

Well, you're assuming everyone is using the standard cork/foam tape. Some of use tape like Stella Azzurra's Eleganza which is leather like and easily wipes clean.

Geez, 26 posts and nobody even mentions Fizik?

I clean the saddles with leather cleaner / conditioner from Pep Boys. At $7.95 from Nashbar I rarely bother to clean handlebar tape.