cyccommute 

The lengths that people go washing bicycle clothes is on a par with the elaborate methods they use for cleaning bicycle chains...and as ineffective. No, you don’t need to handwash your bicycle clothes. No, you don’t have to hang dry them. No, they won’t melt in a drier. No, they won’t lose shape in the washer.

Do you handwash your socks and underwear? Both contain the same material that give the fabric stretch as bicycle clothes do. Most people wash their socks and underwear in hot water and dry under relatively high heat. Ever noticed the fabric melting or losing its shape because of that treatment?

I’d even argue that bicycle clothes are made of even tougher material than underwear. Underwear has a bit of stretch in the waist band but the rest of the garment is made of cotton. Cotton is really a rather delicate material. The nylon that is used in bicycle shorts and the polyester used in the jerseys are far stronger materials that can stand up to much more abuse. Both are abrasion resistant and both are heat resistant and shrink resistant. Nothing in a modern (or even 35 year old) washing machine is going to damage the fabric. Modern washing machines are gentle on fabrics compared to old machines.

Back in the days of wool, I would hand or delicate wash shorts and jerseys but the knitted wool fabric was delicate. When I switched to lycra, they went into the washing machine and then into the drier. I’ve been doing that since the early 90s and have never had an issue. It’s even beneficial since lycra needs heat to restore stretch. Lycra is “set” in the fabric by heating it to about 200°C (about 400°F) during manufacturing. No drier can even touch that temperature.

I’ve got shorts and jerseys that are 20+ years old that have been machine washed and dried throughout their whole existence. On rare occasions, I’ve had to handwash bicycle clothes, I have noticed that shorts, especially, have a “flabbiness” to them. Once machine washed and machine dried (I usually use laundromats on tour), the shorts get their stretch back.

The bottom line is machine wash and dry your bicycle clothes. It won’t hurt them and may even be beneficial.

GlennR

Actually I disagree.

As I posted, I wash them on the gentle cycle and hang dry.

Lycra does have elastic in them that is more "delicate" than the elastic in your underwear waste band. Overly agitating them in the washer will cause more wear and unless you need to wear them in an hour, hang drying has no downside and is environmentally friendlier.

Tighty whities can be purchased for $13 for a 9 pack. My last set of Sugoi bibs cot me over $130. I have multiple pairs so i'm not washing them everyday.

I have had bibs "wear out" where the elastic fails and I have large whitish patches where it's failed and there is no longer and "snap" to the fabric. Sure I can still wear them since there's no holes, but that tells me it's time to retire them before I have a wardrobe malfunction and am 30 miles from home.

Bottom line.. wash them anyway yo like. Just as long as they are clean and don't smell like a jock strap.

Troul 

That'd be foul if I did that.
You must not have geese in your area. The amount of geese poop piles is just craptastic. If the same water used for cleaning the bicycle was used while soaking the clothes, it'd smell very "nature" like...

cyccommute 

Lycra doesn’t have elastic in it, it is the elastic. More precisely, it is an elastomer which is a polymer that stretches. Rubber is also an elastomer but rubber’s molecular structure is very different and much more susceptible to degradation through a large variety of means. It is repeating chains of isoprene. The structure can be broken because of exposure to heat and/or light. It’s susceptible to oxidation, especially ozone oxidation. All these ways of degrading the polymer involve cleaving the isoprene molecule. Cleave enough of them and the rubber becomes less stretchy.

Lycra, on the other hand, has a structure that contains both very rigid molecular structures and molecular structures that act a bit like springs. The rigid structures give the lycra strength and the springy structures give it the stretch. Neither structure is particularly susceptible to degradation. The stretchy bits relax after being stretched but they don’t really relax completely. They lose stretch over time. Heat rearranges the structure and recoils the stretch. Hang drying doesn’t accomplish the same thing.

Yes, I’ve had some shorts that eventually broke some of the spandex fibers but it took several years for that to happen. I got a lot of value out of those shorts before they wore out.

GlennR

https://www.sugoi.com/en-US/product-care
6. Do not use excessive heat when washing or drying. For the majority of our apparel, we recommend hand or machine washing on the delicate cycle in cold water (not exceeding 30 °C/86°F). Refer to the care label for recommended washing temperature of your specific garment.

8. Line/air drying is generally the best option.* If you need to use the dryer, be sure to use a low or no heat setting. Do not use dryer sheets. Check on the clothing regularly through the cycle to minimize friction from time in dryer. Always refer to the care label for full drying instruction

Wanderer

I wash mine in cold water, regular cycle, with less soap than detergent mfrs recommend. I line dry them in the basement, and they last for many, many years. Right now, I have about 10-12 sets, so rotation isn't a problem.

When I only had a couple sets, I used to hand wash in cold water, with a little shampoo, hung them to dry overnight, and they were fine.

seaweedsam

cold water, gentle cycle, mild soap, drip dry

cyccommute 

Wash them as you wish. Most of the supposed “delicateness” of Lycra (and other polyurethane based elastomer fabrics) is based on the idea that Lycra is rubber. It isn’t. I wash and dry mine in a machine and have not had any problems in multiple decades of doing so. I don’t have time to hand wash all my bike clothes. This, for example, is two days worth of winter time bike clothes.

2015-01-24 10.24.52 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Most all of it contains lycra and is nylon. I don’t have time to wash shorts, bib tights, a short sleeve jersey (Cool Max), a long sleeve base shirt (with some Lycra in it), a long sleeve jersey (or 2), wool socks (with Lycra) and a nylon outer jacket times perhaps 4 to 5, depending on days that I ride. I particularly don’t have time for line drying between 32 and 40 items per week, especially in winter. None of the clothes in that pile are new and most of them are at least 15 years old.

GlennR

I don't hand wash, as I said I machine wash on gentile and then hang dry. They are dry in 12 hours or less and I have more than one set.

Since I don't have an engineering or chemistry degree, I just follow the manufacturer's instructions.

drlogik 

Machine wash gentle with luke warm water, non-scented detergent (my fave is Tide Free) and about a half cup of Borax. Yes, Borax. It helps cut the funky sweat smell that tends to attach itself to your Spandex garments. Put cycle on extra rinse also. HANG DRY as others have said. That is critical also. I've been doing this for over 20 years and jerseys that are 20 years old are still being worn.

On a side note...I used to work in a textile mill that knitted and dyed Nylon/Lycra fabric. I can tell you that once that fabric is heat-set at the factory, high heat from a clothes dryer will kill the garment.


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tomato coupe

Ironically, they're arguing about disc brakes over on the laundry forum.

cyccommute 

The manufacturers instructions used to say to machine dry.

I have jerseys and shorts that are 20 years old as well...some older. They are always machine washed and dried. They don’t suffer from any kind of abuse.

Who said anything about burning them in a drier? Modern clothes driers...and even ones from 20 years ago...have temperature settings. They don’t just have high, higher, and “surface of the sun”! If I were doing something to damage my bicycle clothes, you’d think I would have noticed something by now. I’ve had 20+ years or more to discover flaws.

ZHVelo

30 degrees, 1200 RPM and just 20 minutes, no softener.

Garfield Cat

Actually there are some geese in Huntington Beach CA. But maybe not as much as your area, Michigan, right? Maybe not Wayne County or Macomb County.

Same water: you might need a little bit of imagination on this one. It's about the sequence of events, the "when" the soaking is done and then the use of those rags I use to wipe down the bike. Those rags are immersed in the detergent water but never put back into the water with the clothing. But I sense that you already thought that one out already.

GlennR

I guess each has their own instructions.

20 years... I don't think I have any cloths that are 20 years old that I wear regularly.

Pratt

And, gentle cycling means they are less sweaty

cyccommute 

Heck, I have tee shirts that are from the 80s that I still wear I think I have some over-the-knee wool socks from the 90s that I use for winter riding and for spring wading (fly fishing). I’ve got shirts from Mervyn’s and they went out of business in 2008. The shirts weren’t new when Mervyn’s closed.

I did find something from a post in 2009 on Lycra care. The link in the post no longer works but here’s the quote from the article.

The site also had information for Dupont

As I noted in the post, bicycle shorts and bicycle jerseys tend to be mostly nylon or polyester. Neither of those fabrics are delicate (as evidenced by the 20 year old polyester blend shirt from Mervyn’s). The Lycra doesn’t dictate delicate handling.

fietsbob

Wash By Hand, in the sink. line dry in your hotel room bathroom ?

Ogsarg

I do this on all the bike kit (including gloves) as well as any other moisture wicking tee shirts, shorts, etc. that need washing.

1. Zip all zippers
2. turn inside out
3. Use "ultra-handwash" setting on front load washer with extra rinse
4. Hang to dry

This has worked really well for me. Have not seen a need to do any hand washing or placing things in bags.

79pmooney

I simply use the delicate cycle on my front loader. Mix cycling with underwear, socks and shirts. Hang dry the cycling clothes. Easy.

Front loader saves so much drying time (both dryer and hung) that is is a big time and energy saver over any (top-loading) washer I ever used before.

Ben

tomato coupe

Front loaders are the schnizz. Clothes are almost dry when they come out of the washer.

MntnMan62

I just follow the care instructions on the label. Which typically means cold water cycle. And I hang them up to dry on the line. No dryer for most of my clothes. Dryers are probably the single worst thing for clothes if you care about your clothing lasting.

thehammerdog

wear in shower as you clean up.
hang up to dry.
works well.

cyccommute 

How much longer do my clothes need to last? I’ve already got cycling clothes that are washed and dried by machine that are 20+ years old. They aren’t showing signs of wearing out so do you think I can get 50, 60, 70 years out of them if I handwash and hang dry? What’s the point?

I have kept statistics on my bicycle riding since 1988. I have consistently ridden about 50% of the year which is 182 days a year over that time frame. I have about 25 pairs of bike shorts so each one gets laundered 45 times per year. As I said, I have some that are at least 20 years old so the shorts have been washed almost 1000 times. If I were doing something, I’d think it would have shown up by now.

I’m a big proponent of doing things the easiest way possible. If something goes wrong with the way that I do things, I’m fully willing to admit to having made a mistake. But if something is easy to do and give the same results as more elaborate methods, I’m not going to do something by the more elaborate way.

Ogsarg

I don't claim to be a math genius but something there doesn't add up. With 25 pairs of bike shorts in use 182 times that works up to less than 8 washings a year.