How do you wash your gear?
 

How do you wash the spongey material on your mountain biking goggles, or the helmet? Both absorb lots of sweat, salt, and goo.

Don't wear goggles but I throw my helmet in the dishwaser once in a while.

Don't own a dish washer and I hand wash my clothes and cycling gear. Not sure I should spin dry my goggles or helmet...

LOL! No Kidding?

Goggles?

You're not originally from Baltimore are you?

Oh, I'll bet you got those Load Bearing Decals on it.

I don't wear goggles. I use an old shaving brush and lather up a mug of shaving soap. I hose down my helmet then brush along the cushion pads and straps of the helmet. I then hose down to rinse and leave on the back porch to dry. I wash my bicycling gloves after I do the dishes and hang them over the sink to dry.
A shaving brush can be had for cheap at any pharmacy and won't scratch up a nice helmet.
Ernest

PS: Some people here just take the helmet with them when they shower and both get clean at the same time.

I wash my glasses by hand with warm water and soap, but . . . they are exposed to kind of a lot of perspiration. The helmet gets a rinse. Let's just say I would never borrow anyone else's glasses or helmet.

Every helmet I've ever owned has had removable pads. I pull them out, wash in the sink, and stick them back in after they're dry. Every now and again I float it in the sink to clean the straps.

Yep. Works well and is a lot less effort after a dirty ride.

Have heard that if you call the helmet company the price is around 5 dollars for new pads, and in some occasions they will send them for free.

I've washed my helmet in the shower and it came out great. The funk it gets inside is the same stuff I wash out of my hair, only more of it - so it made sense to shampoo it out.

I don't remove the pads because either 1) the Velcro eventually tears up the pad backing, or 2) the little Velcro dots glued to the helmet become unglued, peel off, and are rendered useless.

Oh yeah - everything else goes in the laundry. Everything synthetic gets dried on delicate/low heat. If it needs to be babied more than that, it's too impractical for me to consider keeping.

I always wear a Headsweats skullcap and wash it regularly. The helmet stays pretty clean - I rinse it in warm water once in a while to remove the salt. The straps seem to collect the most salt.