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Do you hand wash your bike shorts?

Old 05-01-19, 08:38 AM
  #26  
LesterOfPuppets
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Originally Posted by TimothyH
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-

I think its largely tongue in cheek. But the underlying non tongue in cheek part is kinda surprising.

"Why do I machine was my kit? Meh, it's easy, it's just what I do with clothes."

"Why do people hand wash their kit? Y'all crazy!!!"
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Old 05-01-19, 08:43 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by shelbyfv
...Seems as if newer washers don't use enough water to worry about small loads.
Well there's still the electricity needed to shake and spin that drum for 45 minutes.

My washer has a 35 min cycle, would be nice if a slightly shorter one was available
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Old 05-01-19, 08:46 AM
  #28  
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Kinda

If I barely break a sweat they get washed in the shower with me then hung to dry. Heavier sweat they go in the wash with a load of laundry.
I don't hand wash 2x in a row though.
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Old 05-01-19, 08:48 AM
  #29  
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Yes, I hand wash jerseys too.
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Old 05-01-19, 08:52 AM
  #30  
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My front loader has a cycle called "Ultra Handwash" Do all my bike gear in there and even gloves. Hang to dry, nothing goes in the dryer. Have yet to see any negative affects of this method.
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Old 05-01-19, 09:03 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by TimothyH
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-
No handshake for you!
I’m confused though. Has anyone in this thread expressed humiliation? I must have missed it.
If not, you must be referencing yourself and based upon what I know about you from your posts I would have thought that you weren’t insecure. I apologize.
Do your thing and don’t care about what anyone else thinks bro
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Old 05-01-19, 09:22 AM
  #32  
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No. I wash them on normal cycle and let shorts air dry. Jerseys... normal cycle and low heat on dryer.
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Old 05-01-19, 09:26 AM
  #33  
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Machine wash, delicate setting, cold/cold. Tumble dry, lowest setting, no softener sheet.
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Old 05-01-19, 09:32 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by downhillmaster
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.


Actually, the third kind of peeps are by far the majority--don't own bike shorts and never will.

I'm in that group unless you count cargo shorts as "bike shorts", and I definitely machine wash those.
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Old 05-01-19, 09:53 AM
  #35  
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My method:
Toss bike shorts, tights and, jerseys, base layer into washing machine with other clothes. Wash on 'Normal' cycle, warm water. When done toss in dryer, dry using 'Normal' cycle, med heat until dry.
My wife's method:
Separate bike cloths from normal clothes. Wash on 'gentle' cycle using cold water. Remove from dryer, sort into pieces that go into dryer and pieces that air dry.(I can't tell the difference). Put dryer stuff in dryer on 'low' for ten minutes. Dry until mostly dry, still damp. remove from dryer and hang all over the house next to the still damp no-dryer stuff.

Why put stuff in the DRYER, if you don't want them dry? And if you do want them dry, then let the DRYER do it's job.

I notice no difference in the end result between the two methods.
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Old 05-01-19, 10:12 AM
  #36  
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I turn jerseys inside out and zip them up. I turn bib shorts inside out. I wash with sports detergent cold water in the hand wash cycle. I let it all air dry.
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Old 05-01-19, 10:57 AM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by downhillmaster
No handshake for you!
I’m confused though. Has anyone in this thread expressed humiliation? I must have missed it.
If not, you must be referencing yourself and based upon what I know about you from your posts I would have thought that you weren’t insecure. I apologize.
Do your thing and don’t care about what anyone else thinks bro
Got say, it gives me a good laugh to see somebody put 'words in your mouth' in your own pointless thread.

Maybe your reputation is larger than this single thread ... I'm not sayin', just sayin'
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Old 05-01-19, 11:00 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by caloso
Machine wash, delicate setting, cold/cold. Tumble dry, lowest setting, no softener sheet.


Same. Some washing of shorts in the shower after indoor or short workout.

I would no more use a dryer sheet (chemical fragrance) than season my food with OMS. /rant/
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Old 05-01-19, 11:06 AM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Hypno Toad
Got say, it gives me a good laugh to see somebody put 'words in your mouth' in your own pointless thread.

Maybe your reputation is larger than this single thread ... I'm not sayin', just sayin'
Who are you? My own weird stalker?
pointless TWO page thread, thanks!
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Old 05-01-19, 11:12 AM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by downhillmaster
Who are you? My own weird stalker?
pointless TWO page thread, thanks!
Dang! You must really impressive yourself to think anybody cared enough to stalk you!

You've posted over 500 times in a year, you (& your troll-adjacent post) are kinda hard to miss on BF.
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Old 05-01-19, 11:14 AM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by indyfabz
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.
Speak for yourself. I machine wash and dry bike clothes because I have better things to do than laundry.
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Old 05-01-19, 11:17 AM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
Speak for yourself. I machine wash and dry bike clothes because I have better things to do than laundry.
Kinda this.
But I do get the on the road thing also.
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Old 05-01-19, 11:25 AM
  #43  
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My mom always does my shorts.
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Old 05-01-19, 11:29 AM
  #44  
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There is a misconception out there that bike clothes are some how “delicate”. The materials used to make modern bicycles clothes...polyesters, nylon and Lycra...aren’t “delicate”. They are tough materials that aren’t harmed by normal washing and normal drying. Ask yourselves, do you wash your socks as delicates? Do you wash underwear as “delicate”? Would you wash a jacket as “delicate”? All of them are materials you’ll find in bicycle clothes.

Lycra, in fact, benefits from the heat of the dryer. The heat resets the stretch of the molecule. Lycra is even “set” at the point of manufacture by high heat...about 200°C (over 390°F). A home dryer doesn’t even get close to that temperature.

I’ve been machine washing and drying synthetic bicycle clothes for about as long as I’ve been wearing synthetic bicycle clothes. I have bike shorts and bike jerseys that are as old as 20 years that aren’t worn out or stretched out. Bicycle clothes are much tougher than people think.
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Old 05-01-19, 11:33 AM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by wgscott
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.
don't forget the brown streaks
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Old 05-01-19, 01:40 PM
  #46  
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
There is a misconception out there that bike clothes are some how “delicate”. The materials used to make modern bicycles clothes...polyesters, nylon and Lycra...aren’t “delicate”. They are tough materials that aren’t harmed by normal washing and normal drying. Ask yourselves, do you wash your socks as delicates? Do you wash underwear as “delicate”? Would you wash a jacket as “delicate”? All of them are materials you’ll find in bicycle clothes.

Lycra, in fact, benefits from the heat of the dryer. The heat resets the stretch of the molecule. Lycra is even “set” at the point of manufacture by high heat...about 200°C (over 390°F). A home dryer doesn’t even get close to that temperature.

I’ve been machine washing and drying synthetic bicycle clothes for about as long as I’ve been wearing synthetic bicycle clothes. I have bike shorts and bike jerseys that are as old as 20 years that aren’t worn out or stretched out. Bicycle clothes are much tougher than people think.
Mostly true. However, the dryer is rough on some gripper materials and shorts that have elastic. I have some Tyr shorts that have gotten a lot of dryer time and their grippers are deteriorating, leaving black marks on my legs.

I'd still avoid running Lycra in high heat. And DEFINITELY avoid hanging Lycra to dry in direct sun.
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Old 05-01-19, 02:00 PM
  #47  
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I have literally not washed a single garment since I got married over 20 years ago.
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Old 05-01-19, 02:18 PM
  #48  
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Years ago, I lived (and raced) down in Mexico, and i used a local laundromat, which was kind of a PITA. And since I lived in the friggin' Yucatan jungle, my clothes were always soaked through with sweat, so i was going to at least give them a rinse in the shower, rather than let them sit like that till laundry day.
So, I eventually got in the habit of putting a shot laundry detergent in a 5-gal bucket, and hand washing them while I was in the shower. It was a pretty quick and simple system, and I got the clothes right back into the rotation. Win/win.
Now back in the states for several years, I still often wash them the exact same way, though I will also just toss them in the machine with a load of regular clothes, if I'm about to do a load already.
So my answer is........BOTH.
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Old 05-01-19, 05:46 PM
  #49  
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I wash my cycling stuff separate on gentle and hang dry. Never had an issue
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Old 05-01-19, 08:57 PM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by Hypno Toad
Dang! You must really impressive yourself to think anybody cared enough to stalk you!

You've posted over 500 times in a year, you (& your troll-adjacent post) are kinda hard to miss on BF.
Bottom line stalker.
Do you hand wash your shorts?
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