cyclezealot

We are told water is a finite resource. Conserve. OK. So, I ride as much as 5-7 times a week. I use my bike for commuting purposes and general errands , besides my recreation.. That is a lot of smelly clothes. Stored all those smelly cycling clothes in the hamper, my wife would make me quit cycling. Others have commented, that incomplete washing expensive cycling clothes have resulted in permament stink. I have a sensitive nose. If washing is incomplete, I hate it.
... So, some suggest showering with your clothes on. Still stinks, I think. Same so with a bucket and drenching your clothes is soapy water. .. What I have started , on days when no household washing is required; I jump in the tub with my bike clothes on and drench myself in bath water with a little tropic wood bath gel. Works great. A quick hose down of the clothes aftewards and the soaps all gone.
.. I think this hardly takes more water than when I shower. Other ideas on how to get the stink out of bike clothes and not use excessive amounts of water.?.. And on days when I do an all day ride, a warm bath feels great on the muscles.

bizzz111

https://www.treehugger.com/files/2005...lectricity.php

or get one of those new fangled washing machines that use steam.

weirdest/funniest thread of the day btw.

cyclezealot

Interesting machine. It saves electricity. 25 liter capaicty . Would it save water. ?.. And , it has a gentle cycle for bike clothes. Ever had a hamper full of smelly bike clothes. Women react negatively.

Hobartlemagne 

Dry Cleaning

No water

cyclezealot

Scrubbing down in the shower in your bike gear , or the quick bucket dip. My experience, the stink remains. A couple bucket rinses and you have the equivilant of a full tub bath.

JoelS

Just wash 'em. I don't buy the "water is a finite resource" argument, that's a political issue not a true conservation issue (unless the area you are currently in is in drought). Sure, it turns to steam or vapor or ice, but it's still water. It may be moved by the atmosphere from one place to another (a desert changes, or a rainforest dries out a bit), but it's still there.

Garfield Cat

Cleaning bike clothes is easiest right after a ride when its still sweaty. I happen to clean the clothes and do a bike wipe down at the same time.

I get a 2 gallon bucket from Home Depot. I fill it up about 75% and add liquid laundry detergent. When I get back home from a ride (assuming I start the ride from home), I quickly change and dump the clothes in that bucket to let it soak.

While its soaking I wipe down the bike with a shop towel using that same laundry water. It takes maybe 10 minutes to wipe down. After that I clean off the sunglasses with the same water in the bucket. I use a hose and rinse off the glasses and wipe dry.

The soaking might have been 15 minutes and that's plenty of time. I agitate a little bit and maybe concentrate on the arm pit areas of the jersey. Using the garden hose, I rinse off the detergent, then let dry on a patio folding chair outside in the sunshine. This works as long as you don't allow the clothes to stink up.

If the jersey really stinks, using the "smell the armpit area" of the jersey, then the soaking has to take place overnight or even longer. I have experimented with gloves and had to do repeat cycles of soak, sun dry, soak, sun dry, a few times. Eventually it will work.

Since I live near the beach I am tempted to take a really smelly jersey and take it for surfing and let the salty ocean water do its thing. The beach has outdoor showers for surfers to get sand off, and I would do that and let sun dry. Ocean water is pretty tough and a natural cleansing agent. That way, you can save a lot of water.

cyclezealot

I like your optimism Joel and I see you are from Calif. I have read cities in Colorado are so water short, they take the water out of rivers downstream; repump sewage upstream , letting it aerate and re-using it as many of seven times before the re-cycled sewage makes its way to Nebraska. ..................
Garfield. Maybe I should use different detergents. Or maybe its the ozidizing ability of sunshine. / One problem I might have. often I might be taking a secondary ride for general errands, so its not uncommon I wear cyclewear for an hour or so about the house; knowing I'll be on the bike again. Anyway, bucket rinses I've used on my bike clothes, often the arm pit area remains gross.

JoelS

Exactly. There are places where water is scarce, and places where water is plentiful. But there is a relatively static amount of water on the planet. So it isn't a finite resource. Depends on where you are located as to whether there is a lot or a little.

There isn't a good way to remove the smells without washing. Get a washboard and do it by hand, or just use the washing machine and put 'em in with your regular laundry (which is what I do).

Machka 

1. Remove clothes

2. Hang clothes outside or in a room with an open window or fan

3. Wear clothes again the next day

4. Do laundry once a week

Tabagas_Ru

A bit of febreeze, turn them inside out and you are ready to go.

Works with underwear too.

cyclezealot

Usually we do a household washing - maybe three days a week. No problem then. But some weeks, i've even been out all seven days. I smell up my clothes something awful. I'd hate to have my club gear permamently stunk up. Just putting your bike clothes in the machine alone, seems something conservationist , Charlize Theron ' would lecture us about. Probably the reason my nose tells me, I don't always get the stink out : are those days I take the Second ride and set about in my bike clothes an hour or two longer than I would otherwise.

Machka 

That's why I just hang mine to air out between rides. No sense washing if you don't have a full load.

spinnaker

Oh yeah that is environmentally friendly.

spinnaker

Why not just buy more bike clothes? When you have a full load, wash them.

cyclezealot

I recall threads here at BF's. Some have suggested, once the smell sits in without getting it out fairly quickly, it can become permament.

Machka 

I've never known that to happen.

What kind of clothing are you cycling in, and are you washing with borax?

cyclezealot

Once in awhile baggies, but mostly regular lycra jerseys and shorts. No, I'll try Borax. I think most of the smell is because of my inherited, super sensitive -sense of smell. But, it is there. It just seems silly to wear a second set of bike gear, when I know I'll be on the bike in less than 90 minute.

Machka 

What's the problem with wearing cycling gear that has a bit of an odor to it ... like the same cycling gear two or three times in a row? It's not like you're going to a party or something. You're outside in the fresh air. No one will notice.

And ... what's your diet like?

DieselDan

Just wash the damn things. Use some color safe bleach and a dryer sheet to help the smell. You're making a mountain out of a molehill. You can wash bike stuff with your other colored laundry. After 15 minutes your jersey will smell the same as usual.

Blue Roads

It ain't cheap, but a couple of the benefits of the modern wool apparel -- better temperature regulation and I'd estimate 90% less stink:

https://www.ibexwear.com/shop/Product...40&Gender=Mens

These aren't cycling specific, but with cycling liner shorts they work great and are on sale from $140 down to $79 (some folks have commented they're too restrictive, but I don't find that so):

https://www.ibexwear.com/shop/Product...h-Hybrid-Tight

Cyclaholic

Ride naked

c_m_shooter

Wear wool. It can go a week between washings.

CommuterRun

Throw it in with everything else using the appropriate water level for the size of the load. Line dry everything.

cyclezealot

Next time we'll buy a washing machine that has a selector switch to control the amount of water used. At present , ours does not. Looks ridicilious to run the washing machine with just four items in it. Lets see, some weeks my riding generates 7 pairs of shorts, seven jerseys, socks , maybe a jacket.. . That is a load in intself. Some days when the jersey stink is too bad, it just add throw rugs, etc to make the load look fuller, even if they did not need to be washed.