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Do you hand wash your bike shorts?

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Do you hand wash your bike shorts?

Old 05-05-19, 09:10 PM
  #101  
canklecat
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I always hand wash trolls until they stop bubbling. After a good long soak under a bridge weighted down with cinder blocks I clean 'em, parboil 'em until the skin comes off and tan the hides to make chamois for my shorts. The meat is useful as bait for other troll threads.

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Old 05-05-19, 09:18 PM
  #102  
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Originally Posted by sputniky
Did he just put Assos shorts in a washing machine?

https://youtu.be/JFcWGXbYm8k?t=18
He could have saved the machine and loaded with walnut shells and polished all sorts of stuff with it.

Or he could do as one lady did and stuck his poodle in the machine after washing it!
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Old 05-05-19, 09:34 PM
  #103  
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Originally Posted by sputniky
Did he just put Assos shorts in a washing machine?

https://youtu.be/JFcWGXbYm8k?t=18
I'm not sure which was more of a waste. Making the video or posting it?
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Old 05-06-19, 11:23 AM
  #104  
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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.
I machine wash immediately after completing rides before bacteria has a chance to set. I literally walk in the house, and directly to the laundry room and toss my kit/gloves/socks in, and I run the Hand Wash cycle (one click past the Delicate cycle), and I use Woolite Dark detergent, which doesn't have the brightness enhancer that gives lycra the ugly shiny sheen. I lay everything flat to dry. Modern front loaders are pretty efficient (electricity and water), and my kits are pretty $$$, so I'm not losing sleep about just washing those.

I disagree that bike clothes aren't worn out by washing. I personally think washing causes more wear than wearing them. When I washed and dryed my kits with regular clothes, they only lasted a season. Since using Hand Wash and laying flat to try, they last several years.
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Old 05-06-19, 11:37 AM
  #105  
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Originally Posted by Wooderson
I
I disagree that bike clothes aren't worn out by washing. I personally think washing causes more wear than wearing them. When I washed and dryed my kits with regular clothes, they only lasted a season. Since using Hand Wash and laying flat to try, they last several years.
How? Think about what you put those shorts through on a regular basis. The shorts are rubbing against the saddle 60 to 90 times per minute. Over an hour, the shorts have been rubbed against the saddle 3600 to 5400 times. I have shorts that are 20 years old. I don't wear them every time I go for a ride but I'd say 10 percent of the time. Over that 20 years, I've ridden 63,000 miles so I've ridden each pair of shorts about 6300 miles. At a 12 mph average (which I do measure and is disappointingly consistent), that 525 hours on each pair of shorts or 31,500 minutes. That means the shorts have come in contact with the saddle between 1.8 million and 2.8 million times. A washer doesn't even approach that kind of abrasion. And even after all that contact, my shorts don't appear to be wearing out nor do I expect them to asplode on my next ride.

Bicycle shorts aren't "delicate".
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Old 05-06-19, 12:13 PM
  #106  
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Originally Posted by 257 roberts
same hear...hand washing just isn't that time consuming
I agree. It not the material wear and tear I am concerned about. My wife does laundry maybe every other week, I ride 3 - 4 times a week, I don't have 8 kits!

So I get back from a ride, start the water in shower to get it warm (takes a while), put bike stuff in sink filled with warm water with a little detergent (I keep a small bottle under sink and refill from large bottle in laundry room) then swish it around. After shower I swish it around again, rinse, then hang up to dry outside. Its easily ready for the next day.

This is what I think is most convenient for both me and my wife.
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Old 05-06-19, 12:19 PM
  #107  
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All my cycling clothes get a machine wash. Only the wool items do not get a dryer. The merino wool shorts (with a natural chamois) get a hang dry. The merino wool long sleeve jersey gets a hang dry or in rare cases a cool dry.

The wool shorts are not used regularly, as I usually use looser hiking/fishing type shorts with pockets. None of the shorts are padded.

As for durability, the wool shorts are over 20 years old but I have always used smooth leather topped saddles until the Brooks Cambium of last year.
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Old 05-06-19, 12:27 PM
  #108  
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Front-loader machine wash on the perm-press cycle (medium spin speed); dryer gets set to "low".

Shorts that I've had for at least five years, wearing probably 50-60x/year, still feel as good as day one.

Back in the olden days of a leather chamois (I had one pair of shorts with the leather....and that was enough!) ...that was a whole other kettle o' fish!
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Old 05-06-19, 04:07 PM
  #109  
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I usually just shower while wearing my cycling stuff. Does that count as hand washing?
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Old 05-06-19, 04:48 PM
  #110  
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They go in the dish washer with bottle and helmet.
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Old 05-06-19, 07:38 PM
  #111  
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I just wear the bike shorts right into the shower to wash all the sweat off of them. Then I take them off and wash them with regular soap and water while I'm in the shower. After I finish showering I hang them on a plastic hanger to air dry.
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Old 05-06-19, 08:52 PM
  #112  
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Originally Posted by fietsbob
On bike tours I bring 3 , so as to have a clean dry pair every morning.... wash > dry > wear ...
What? is that how it's done? man, for years I just ran around naked as I washed my clothes and wait for them to dry.
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Old 05-06-19, 09:07 PM
  #113  
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Originally Posted by greatscott
What? is that how it's done? man, for years I just ran around naked as I washed my clothes and wait for them to dry.
That's the proper approach. Pack light. Leave no trace.
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Old 05-07-19, 03:51 AM
  #114  
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All my fitness gear goes in the washing machine. However, I do use the appropriate wash programme and use a liquid detergent designed to clean fitness clothing - it has added anti-bacterial agents that helps kill the bacteria during a cold wash.
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Old 05-09-19, 05:13 AM
  #115  
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Originally Posted by canklecat
I always hand wash trolls until they stop bubbling. After a good long soak under a bridge weighted down with cinder blocks I clean 'em, parboil 'em until the skin comes off and tan the hides to make chamois for my shorts. The meat is useful as bait for other troll threads.
I bet you enjoy hand washing trolls
Do they tip well?
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Old 05-12-19, 06:53 PM
  #116  
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Originally Posted by sputniky
Where do folks get this irrational fear of washing machines?
Not irrational. Washing does wear down textile fibers faster than not washing. But most of us want our kits to be cleaned every now and then, so we accept the normal wear and tear, and accept that all articles of clothing have finite lifespans.

I honestly believe that if you bought three identical kits that were subjected to identical rides, but washed one on the most aggressive cycle (it's called "cottons / heavies" on my machine), and put them in the dryer, you washed the second in the most delicate cycle (it's called "hand wash" on mine) and air dried them, and gently hand washed the third (literal hand wash), you'd see three distinctly different lifespans from those garments.
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Old 05-12-19, 07:11 PM
  #117  
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Originally Posted by Wooderson
Not irrational.


This thread is full of irrational fear of washing machines. Read it again?
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Old 05-12-19, 10:25 PM
  #118  
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Originally Posted by Wooderson
Not irrational. Washing does wear down textile fibers faster than not washing. But most of us want our kits to be cleaned every now and then, so we accept the normal wear and tear, and accept that all articles of clothing have finite lifespans.

I honestly believe that if you bought three identical kits that were subjected to identical rides, but washed one on the most aggressive cycle (it's called "cottons / heavies" on my machine), and put them in the dryer, you washed the second in the most delicate cycle (it's called "hand wash" on mine) and air dried them, and gently hand washed the third (literal hand wash), you'd see three distinctly different lifespans from those garments.
I would hope so. Unless you live out in the woods...alone.
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Old 05-13-19, 09:03 AM
  #119  
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Originally Posted by Wooderson
Not irrational. Washing does wear down textile fibers faster than not washing. But most of us want our kits to be cleaned every now and then, so we accept the normal wear and tear, and accept that all articles of clothing have finite lifespans.

I honestly believe that if you bought three identical kits that were subjected to identical rides, but washed one on the most aggressive cycle (it's called "cottons / heavies" on my machine), and put them in the dryer, you washed the second in the most delicate cycle (it's called "hand wash" on mine) and air dried them, and gently hand washed the third (literal hand wash), you'd see three distinctly different lifespans from those garments.
Ride damage (saddle wear) and wrecks have retired nearly all my kits. Kits that haven't gone down in a wreck, I still have and use when I want to look 'retro'. Two photos of the Toad to make a point:

This jersey is from the late 80's or early 90's - always washed in the machine:


photo credit Lisa (AKA wife)

This is the kinda racing I end up doing at least once a year. Years on the harshest wash-cycle is much gentler than a few hours of these conditions:


photo credit - https://markmanoutdoorphotography.com/
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Old 05-13-19, 03:34 PM
  #120  
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I live in an apartment and laundry is a once per month carried to the corner laundromat affair. Since I ride daily that means hand washing, which is basically tossing it in the shower, stomp on it for a minute or so when I get in, wring it out a bit, toss it over the sink/toilet to dry, wring the lower edges a second time after the shower. The detergent soak happens once per week. Fairly simple.
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Old 05-15-19, 03:29 PM
  #121  
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Why do you even care...unless you are the type that follows people around with Petri dishes and submits to laboratory exams daily ???

Does you wife ****** daily....or are you somehow not squeamish about that ???
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Old 05-15-19, 04:10 PM
  #122  
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When I take my biking shorts off, I toss them down the laundry chute. A couple of days later, they reappear in my dresser drawer. I'm not sure what happens to them in between, and don't particularly care as long as I don't have to be involved.
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Old 05-15-19, 07:20 PM
  #123  
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Originally Posted by nebraskan57
Why do you even care...unless you are the type that follows people around with Petri dishes and submits to laboratory exams daily ???

Does you wife ****** daily....or are you somehow not squeamish about that ???
Go to any manufacturer's website and they can tell you the longevity, durability, wearability, care. etc. of their product. Three guesses on how they know that?
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Old 05-16-19, 02:54 PM
  #124  
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Originally Posted by KraneXL
Go to any manufacturer's website and they can tell you the longevity, durability, wearability, care. etc. of their product. Three guesses on how they know that?
Mechanical devices that S t r e c h things...
Have "Mikey" wear them (until he refuses) , after leaving item out in the weather, on Funk and Wagnalls back porch....
Inspector # 18 Hanes underwear...she is a tough old Bird !
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Old 05-16-19, 03:47 PM
  #125  
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I left a response about 8 hours ago but I don't see it, so I will retype it. Wearing clothes of any kind wears them out way faster than machine washing them; so I don't really understand all this anti machine washing mentality business.
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