My gloves are ripe!
 

Oh man, I have a pair of gloves I've been using for commuting for the past year and a half, I've washed them maybe once every 2 months or so. These things are reeking.
Any tips for washing the smell out? I've tried everything, baking soda, soaking them in hot water, that febreeze type stuff. The moment they get the least bit damp, they go off like a bomb.

So new gloves or what?

New ones. Next time, wash them every time they get sweaty (run them under water and scrub with some soap), and the smell won't build up.

they have passed the event horizon... :eek: toss them and burn the trash. :p

same prob with mine from the past 3 years. They were awful. And now they are gone. RIP, stinkgloves, RIP.

Firing squad. I wash mine once every two weeks or so.

Did you try oxy-clean, mild bleach, lemon juice or that orange-based cleaner?

Basically anything that will kill bacteria or fungus might work.

Those latex gloves are one-time use only, aren't they?

RFM

You could try giving them a good wash, then soaking them in a baking soda solution. If that doesn't do it, then, as others have stated, it's time to bid farewell and get a new pair.

On one of the other forums someone suggested using one of the enzymatic cleaners pet stores sell for animal stains. Since the enzymes eat up and break down bacteria and other odor causing agents in the end the area no onger smells. I know the stuff works on pet accidents so it might work with gloves. I would soak the gloves in one of the enzymatic cleaners and then run them through a regular wash. I haven't had my bike gloves long enough for it to be an issue, but that is my plan when they start to get a little ripe.

Cheap, white vinegar is a good smell killer. It might smell like vinegar for awhile after you rinse, though, but that is usually better than the stink.

put them in a plastic bag and freeze them for a week. worked for me.

Wait.. hang on a sec.. is the smell from like, the chemicals in the sweat like urea, or is it from bacteria? If it's from bacteria (live bacteria) then technically, the smell should go away once all the bacteria dies right?

The smell is pretty bad, I get knocked back pretty good if I try using the terry cloth...

Well hell, if they smell that bad then find a roadkill carcus and shove them up any exposed orifice for a week, after that they should smell BETTER than previous ;)

OK, now to make a serious response, kinda related to my previous jest.
If I recall correctly, on the molecular level of sweat, what makes it really stink is called "thiols", which is the same stuff in decomposing meat/flesh, skunk spreay, and human crap. Ironically, when water is introduced to this "chemical" it sort of activates it, causing it to multiply and hence making the stench worse.
Back in the country, we'd wash our dogs in a mixture of arm-and-hammer baking soda, drug store hydrogen peroxide, and a little dish soap when they got the bad end of a skunk and it worked like a charm. The chemical reaction of the baking soda and peroxide nutralized the thiols and the dish soap helped to wash the stuff out of the dogs hair.
Give that a shot.

Slvoid with an avatar like that...it's hard to respond without getting banned :D

Ahahahahaha, I'm slow today. I get it now. Way to make fun of me guys. :p

I just throw all my cycling clothes, including the gloves, in with the rest of the dirty laundry. Then the magic elves come and put it back in where it goes, washed, dried, and folded. :D

This one sounds good, so does freezing them. Haven't heard anyone mention just leave 'em in direct sunlight for a couple of hours.

Ah, but the UV light may ruin some of the fancy synthetic fibers.

OK... I had to say good bye to the gloves.
I though about what you all said, I tried the baking soda thing twice already. Then I turned the gloves inside out.. well, there's the usual yellowing on the gray leather on the inside from the oils and whatnot. Then there were these areas of green... and I'm not too comfortable with whatever was growing in there so I junked them as soon as I saw em.

A episode of Myth Busters screened here tried this exact mixture on real skunk stuff... and it worked! Out of all the compounds they tried, including the commercial skunk-off, the country tried and true mix worked.

Borax is another option, so I have been told.

slvoid, how could you possible use the terry cloth to wipe your nose with gloves in that condition? It makes me wretch just thinking about it. Maybe the green on the inside has something to do with *that*. Uggghhhh!

With this new pair, just toss them in the wash every week with your bike gear. Make sure the velcro is done up on them, though!

There was a thread about gloves being the hardest piece of gear to get the smell out...After that , I put them in the washing machine..did not get all the stink out..why gloves...? I find Oxyclean does not remove 100% of it..
My fear..Placing gloves in washing machines..Gloves and stitching - through washing the gloves fall apart is my expereince.

Ahhhh... yes maybe. But I use cold wash for everything. My biking and sailing gloves have stood up pretty well over the years, but your situation may vary. One thing I have noticed is that the stitching on the more expensive gloves comes apart as easily -- if not more so -- than the cheapest brands. Go figure!

I couldn't.. heh. That's what made me toss it.

Sticking them inside a pair of (clean) socks will avoid problems with the velcro snagging other items.