I'm frightened.

Seriously though, sterilising fluid. For baby bottles? Works a treat on stinky camelbaks and gloves and my running shoes ov evil, should work just fine on a bag. Make it nice and strong and immerse the whole damn thing for a couple of hours.

I heard this method is good for getting stinkies out of thingies...

Has anybody tried Dr. Bronner's soap for this? I'm thinking aboot using it on my gloves (now THAT'S stinky).

Dr. Bronner's soap is good stuff. Non-harmful to you or the environment. Theoretically, you just need to kill any and all bacteria that is causing the stank. I think if you were to soap up your bag and leave it for a few hours, that could work, too. Thing about just using soap in this way, however, is that if you don't get all of the bacteria, then the soap keeps the bag wet, and then you've created a nice environment for the bacteria that is left to re-populate. That's why soapy garments that aren't dried out after washing can get nice and mildewy. If you soak the thing in vinegar, then use the soap, then rinse with a little vinegar/hot water solution, then dry the whole thing out really well, that should help. You could soak in water and soap for a while, but then you'd left with a soapy residue, which can be hard to completely remove with a water rinse. So then you'd want to use a vinegar and water rinse. Vinegar and soap, by the way, are perfect complements for each other (acid-base). That's why vinegar makes such a nice rinse after cleaning things.

My gloves get the hot water & soap treatment in the sink when they get to be too much. It's astonishing (and more than just a little stomach turning) to see all the brown filth that rinses out of them. It takes a LONG time and sometimes a few sinks of water before they're clean.

So did you put the pad in the vinegar and wash it this time too? My name is also Jason..

-Jason

How about rubbing Alcohol... I use that to clean my sneaker and it work,, no more sinky smell.. Just pour or rub it on, it evaporate out after a while. 1Litre bottle about $1.....at walgreen.
-Puck

Stink can be caused by chemicals as well as bacteria...urea in sweat would definitely cause a lot of stink and can be very difficult to remove (you can't kill it, it's already dead). I imagine vinegar would get rid of the urea though...

Urea is basic and vinegar is acidic, so it should neutralize the urea.

As for alcohol, that will kill the bacteria that cause the stink, but not the yummy grub upon which they're feasting. In not too long, they should be back as bad as before. You want to kill them as well as flush out all the crap.

I indeed soaked the strap pad this time too. It proved to be, er, bouyant, meaning pretty much impossible to submerge completely b/c the padding acted like a life raft. But I think the fabric was sufficiently wet for the vinegar to do it's job.

A front-loader washing machine with vinegar & baking soda in the "pre-soak" slot and vinegar & baking soda combined with a "gentle" clothing detergent like phosphate free, fragrant free stuff already mentioned (arm & hammer, ivory snow) in the "main cycle" slot should take care of anything in even the most wretched bag. Warm/Warm. Drip dry, hang it upside down and open or with the back of a chair inside the bag keeping it open & upside down, front flap on the backside of chair.

This will do the trick on any bag made primarily of nylon. If your bag has an outer of polyester or a blend....I have no idea, maybe lighter fluid...and a match.

i have this stuff called nilodor that works, you don't even have to use very much of it, just a few drops.
stanky bags stank.

Peripatetic, you are my new favorite bikeforums member. Now I get the green text. Rock on!