Your smelliest cycle item?

DonDaddyD

What's your smelliest cycling item and what do you do about it?

My smelliest item are my Specialized Gloves.

I've only had them a few months, my last gloves in contrast, also Specialized, I had for several years and didn't nearly smell as bad as these. I wore them just as much and wash them far less.

Its an issue when you can smell your hands from a distance and they can quite easily be compared to smelly feet. Such a thing I didn't think possible.

I've washed the gloves, in hot and cold washes, I've soaked them on their own in a combination of soap powders, star drops, conditioner and bleach in the washing machine on the 3hr setting. It took them about 4days to start humming again.

I'm thinking of cutting my losses.

jonginge

4days? :shock:

FWIW I soak my gloves in a solution of Head and Shoulders shampoo. Oh, I also have a load of gloves that I rotate

rhext

+1 on gloves.

Although it used to be rucksack by quite a margin before I invested in panniers.

asprilla

My helmet.

Insert obvious joke here.

I don't think I've ever taken the little padded bits out and washed them, everything else is washed after each day.

greg66_tri_v2.0

DonDaddyD wrote:

What's your smelliest cycling item and what do you do about it?

My smelliest item are my Specialized Gloves.

I've only had them a few months, my last gloves in contrast, also Specialized, I had for several years and didn't nearly smell as bad as these. I wore them just as much and wash them far less.

Its an issue when you can smell your hands from a distance and they can quite easily be compared to smelly feet. Such a thing I didn't think possible.

I've washed the gloves, in hot and cold washes, I've soaked them on their own in a combination of soap powders, star drops, conditioner and bleach in the washing machine on the 3hr setting. It took them about 4days to start humming again.

I'm thinking of cutting my losses.

They've got bacteria in them. You need to use a 90 degree wash. And hope they don't shrink/melt too much.

For me, shoes. When they get rained on, they ming, bigtime. Not so much the insides, even. The outsides more.

It's a really most unpleasant smell.

kurako

Asprilla wrote:

My helmet.

Insert obvious joke here.

I don't think I've ever taken the little padded bits out and washed them, everything else is washed after each day.

I bought replacement padded bits for mine. The problem is that the plastic is really whiffy.

Adding a little white vinegar to the wash tends to get rid of lingering smells on jerseys and the like.

Monkeypump

DonDaddyD wrote:

My smelliest item are my Specialized Gloves.

Hmmm... mine too. Exactly the same gloves, had 'em since last summer. Stitching is also coming undone, so maybe they're not the best.

Also have a old Helly Hanson thermal top that hums after a single ride. Unfortunately it won't be long before i need to wear it again...

SimonAH

ewww,

I don't suffer really from glove stink but I do have an odd thing with shoes that I've never been able to explain.

I've a fair number of shoes and rotate them (I use straps so cycle in anything from deck shoes to steel toecaps depending on the mood) but every now and then a pair of shoes will get 'infected' and no matter if they are trainers that you can run through the washing machine or normal shoes that you can rest for weeks in the airing cupboard they will stink within a few minutes of being worn. Weird thing is that it's not a 'stinky foot' smell, just a, well, nasty smell.

I have never been able to eradicate this no matter what I do to the shoes so once it happens they get relegated to either gardening or the bin no matter how new or how much loved. I wonder if this is the same mechanism as the gloves? What gives?

Monkeypump

Greg66 wrote:

You need to use a 90 degree wash.

:shock:

_Brun_

JonGinge wrote:

4days? :shock:

It's cos he doesn't take them off before scratching his balls.

gbsahne001

gloves for me as well

DonDaddyD

Greg66 wrote:

They've got bacteria in them. You need to use a 90 degree wash. And hope they don't shrink/melt too much.

Great! now I don't want to wear them on the way home for fear that my hands will become zombie hands or something.

ARGH! Now my hands have started to itch....

I don't think my (or any modern day) washing machine goes up to 90degrees.

DonDaddyD

In contrast my shoes don't smell, never done really even when I suffered from athletes foot.

rjsterry

I have the same mitts, and I think they are just smelly gloves. Mine go in the washing machine regularly, which helps keep it under control, but as G66 says, a 90˚C wash is the only thing that will kill off the bacteria. The back of my Crumpler is pretty rank as well - all the buckles make that a bit tricky to put in the washing machine.

SimonAH

Perhaps a nice gamma particle source stored in the gloves overnight would sort out them pesky microbes.

Oh, and your gloves would glow in the dark. Safety feature!

Ah, but what about the possibility of mutation - creating giant baccili with flagellae like horsewhips.

I'm going to lie down now.

_Brun_

DonDaddyD wrote:

I don't think my (or any modern day) washing machine goes up to 90degrees.

Wait till everyone's gone out and stick em in the kettle with some detergent.

ex-pat scot

I thought sticking the offending items in the freezer killed off the bacteria?

My shoes / socks really honk after they get wet. Really really honk. I've not tried freezing them. Yet.

I'd rather freeze kit than wash anything technical at 90 degrees. Socks would stand the abuse but I rather suspect anything with Lycra would get killed.

Anonymous

Helmet straps. They stink - which is annoying given their relative proximity to my nose.

Aidy

ex-pat scot wrote:

I thought sticking the offending items in the freezer killed off the bacteria?

Won't kill them - but will stop further growth.

Didn't you pay attention in GCSE Biology?

itboffin

Greg66 wrote:

For me, shoes. When they get rained on, they ming, bigtime. Not so much the insides, even. The outsides more.

It's a really most unpleasant smell.

Leave them in the kids room, hidden of course :twisted:

Cafewanda

Not a good move ITB. They'll remember that moment when it's time to choose your nursing home, just before they've drained your account dry :twisted:

tailwindhome

I have no sense of smell. It is both a blessing and a curse.

My better half informs me that the cheap cotton teeshirts which I wear as a base layer stink after every ride*, so much so that they are segregated from the rest of the washing.

I'm betting that the smelliest item will be the damp facecloth which has been lying in my locker since July.


*Obv they are washed after every ride. I'm not a total minger. Honest.

rjsterry

Actually, thinking about it, a 60˚C wash would do it, but yes, 60˚C and lycra don't really go. Should be fine for gloves though.

lost_in_thought

Greg66 wrote:

For me, shoes. When they get rained on, they ming, bigtime. Not so much the insides, even. The outsides more.

It's a really most unpleasant smell.

+1, what is the deal with that? You can wear them day in day out and they're fine, one spell of rain and they reek. It goes away, washing the insoles helps, but why only when it rains?

outofbreath2

I think 60 degrees would do it too. Isn't it bacteria pooh reactiing with sweat rather than the bacteria themselves making the smell. But that's pedantic so don't pick me up on it.

Either way you've got to get rid of the blighters. Put them in when you do some tea or bath towels. A washing machine on 60 with a pair of gloves is a little extravagent. Or put them in a pot on the stove with some detergent it. Mind you, you've tried all that.

Talcum powder???

DDD - did you say star drops - my mother would love you, she swears by that.

DCowling

Shoes

here is a tip, I wear work boots a lot and they tend to stink after a couple of months,
It's largely due to bacteria, try spraying the insides with dettol , it works a treat

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

For me, shoes. When they get rained on, they ming, bigtime. Not so much the insides, even. The outsides more.

It's a really most unpleasant smell.

+1, what is the deal with that? You can wear them day in day out and they're fine, one spell of rain and they reek. It goes away, washing the insoles helps, but why only when it rains?

Yeah, ming-tastic. My commute shoes used to be really bad. Since I started the routine of spraying the insides with the boots anti-bac/anti-fungal stuff they've been ok. Even after the downpour on tuesday

itboffin

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

For me, shoes. When they get rained on, they ming, bigtime. Not so much the insides, even. The outsides more.

It's a really most unpleasant smell.

+1, what is the deal with that? You can wear them day in day out and they're fine, one spell of rain and they reek. It goes away, washing the insoles helps, but why only when it rains?

Smelly London rain init!

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

For me, shoes. When they get rained on, they ming, bigtime. Not so much the insides, even. The outsides more.

It's a really most unpleasant smell.

+1, what is the deal with that? You can wear them day in day out and they're fine, one spell of rain and they reek. It goes away, washing the insoles helps, but why only when it rains?

I've worked out what the problem is with my shoes.

You borrowed them and made them smelly.

Not fair. Really, really not fair.

DonDaddyD

Bacteria in the rain, damp smell is in the perfect range of the human nose so you can't avoid it. A little like cat pee. I'm guessing

I'm either going to kettle the gloves or boil them in a pot, vinegar will be used. I really don't want to run vinegar through my washing machine.

It's a puzzle that of all the things that could smell bad on my persons, its my gloves.....

outofbreath2:

Yep my Mum uses stardrops. Tis good stuff.

Buckled_Rims

Aidy wrote:

ex-pat scot wrote:

I thought sticking the offending items in the freezer killed off the bacteria?

Won't kill them - but will stop further growth.

Didn't you pay attention in GCSE Biology?

That's what I thought, doesn't freezing just "hibernate" microbes?

It's my gloves that stink, sweat and snot make a great mixture :shock: Washed with Dettol sorts it out for a while.