Do you hand wash your bike shorts?
 

2 kinds of peeps.
Those who hand wash their bike shorts and those who have better things to do and own appliances.
I try to avoid shaking hands with the former :(
I guess there may also be a third type that hand washes because their shorts are dear to them but mental illness is excusable.

On bike tours I bring 3 , so as to have a clean dry pair every morning.... wash > dry > wear ...

I have a front-loader washing machine with a very gentle delicate cycle. Use it for all my cycling gear, bed linen, underwear and socks. Pull jerseys and shorts inside out and zip everything up. Hang the cycling clothes and socks to dry. Easy. Cycling clothes hold up very well. I also bring cycling clothes often into the shower, rinse, ring gently and hang to dry to get one more use before the wash.

Occasionally I hand wash an item or two because I need it and don't want to waste the water/energy of a full wash. But routinely handwashing shorts? No, not since I had leather chamoised shorts. (Except on tour. See fietsbob's post.)

Ben

I machine wash and line dry. Always fun seeing the bike shorts hanging inside out on the clothes line.

I put them in the washing machine and dryer. You wear out bike shorts by sitting in the saddle, not by washing the sweat and trace amounts of urine and infected prostate discharge out of them too vigorously.

I throw them in laundry bags and wash with the normal stuff in the washer. My crappy shorts get put in the drier as well, but I let the nicer ones air dry. Unless I forget.

I've now got an excellent basement setup: laundry on one side, and some random clotheslines, random bike parts, and the trainer on the other.

I often hand wash. It only takes about 5 minutes.

1. Get home from ride
2. Peel clothes off in the bathroom
3. Plug drain
4. Throw shorts and jersey in sink
5. Run water
6. Squirt Dr. Bronners peppermint
7. squish squish
8. Drain sink
9. squish squish
10. Run water
11. squish squish under running water
12. turn off water
13. squish squish
14. hang to dry
15. Jump in the shower
16. put on something comfortable and get up on that recovery drink!

Works a LOT better in Phoenix, AZ than it did in Western Oregon and Washington. Up there you'd need a fan on them to achieve dry clothing in a reasonable time frame.

One thing to NEVER do: wash tights with any polypropylene content with regular clothes. They'll attract stray fibers and pill up like crazy.

I wear plain old denims, they go in the machine.

Hand washing shorts, jersey 50/50. I put them in the dryer just for a few minutes just so any wrinkles can drop, then hang them while they're moist and warm.They both do. Agitating washing machine are very destructive on fabrics. Tumble wash is much less destructive. Hand washing is best.The worst possible material for cycling. But I suspect you already know that.

Machine wash, hang dry ... as with all my clothes.

Those of us who tour know it takes longer and more effort to wash with a machine than it does to wash them as part of your shower. I try to avoid shaking hands with with people who don't know that.

I don't use bike specific shorts... I use regular athletic compression shorts which I wear under my regular pants. Yes I do wash them by hand after every ride while taking a shower...It seems that some people are so obsessed with sanitation they wouldn't wear anything unless it's over sanitized my a machine and a bunch of chemicals.

I hand wash when I get to work sweaty. Also, on days I don’t have running clothes to throw in and no other light laundry, I hand wash to avoid the otherwise undersized load. Most other times throw into the wash and air dry.

Wash in the machine on a gentle cycle and dry on the lowest heat setting. I guess in a perfect world I would hand wash, but adding time to the equation, this works for me. I have shorts that are almost 4 years old.

I hand wash pots, pans, dishes, glasses, cups, utensils, cars, RV, toilets, floors, windows .... and let the machine wash the clothes, hats, sheets, towels ....

Well said.
Touring would ofc be the exception to the rule :thumb:

I usually wash my shorts when I shower at home, especially when I commute. If I didn't, I would be doing laundry frequently or need more pairs. Not even an extra 5 min. and they are ready for the next day.

Only when doing a multiday and reusing. Otherwise, in the machine like any other thing.

I don't like the stuff to sit around and ferment, so it goes in the washer soon after the ride. Bibs, jersey, socks, gloves, sweat cap. If there is other laundry it all goes in together. Hang dry. Seems as if newer washers don't use enough water to worry about small loads.

No lol
 

Too lazy for that lol

Have always machine washed in delicate all my bike gear then line-dry. No problems.

Gentle cycle with mild soap, hang dry. Never a problem.

The only cycling clothes I've ruined are because of a wreck. I've never had the washer ruin my cycling stuff. I've got a Specialized jersey from the '90s I still like to break out once in a while, always run through the washer.

That someone would care how others wash their cycling shorts and go out of their way to insult others about it is what's really interesting.

Insulting others, treating other human beings like pieces of ****, tearing each other down and humiliating each other never surprises me though.


-Tim-

LOL, no handshake for you, my friend. :D