Stinky shoes.

tailwindhome

Anyone ever put a pair of DHB MTB shoes through the washing machine?

Mine needs some remedial action.

londonlivvy

No. I have put trainers through the wash successfully though so I would remove the cleat, wash (ideally in an old pillowcase, knotted at the end) and replace.

Alternatively, when I had stinky shoes, friends also supplied the following useful suggestions
1) Anti mould spray from the bathroom. Spray, leave to dry, spray, leave to dry. wear. Didn't work.
2) wash shoes in bucket of washing powder / biotex etc. worked partially
3) put shoes in freezer (apparently kills microbes that are causing the smell). Did for a weekend. Didn't work.
4) buy new shoes. This did work.

essex-commuter

I started a similar thread not too long ago.

I tried:

Cleaning them in a bucket of diluted bleach.
Using sneaker balls inside all the time (when I wasn't wearing them!).
Leaving cat litter in them overnight.
Leaving bicarbonate of soda in them overnight.
Leaving talcum powder in them overnight.

Nothing worked very well, they still stink.

medoramas

I put my old Cannondale spd shoes through the washing machine quite often (every 2 months more less). On gentle cycle, then I treat them with few extra spinning cycles (last time I tried 1400 rpm), without taking the cleats off. The shoes are nice and clean, but it does not kill the smell totally. I will try some antibacterial washing powder (the one you can buy in Mothercare for washing babies nappies) next time.
The shoes did not get damaged at all. And I have to say, they are about 6 years old with plenty of hardcore-mud/water mtb abuse put in them...

king_jeffers

Burn them and get a new pair. :twisted:

rjsterry

londonlivvy wrote:

No. I have put trainers through the wash successfully though so I would remove the cleat, wash (ideally in an old pillowcase, knotted at the end) and replace.

Alternatively, when I had stinky shoes, friends also supplied the following useful suggestions
1) Anti mould spray from the bathroom. Spray, leave to dry, spray, leave to dry. wear. Didn't work.That's basically just bleach - not a good idea to not rinse that off
2) wash shoes in bucket of washing powder / biotex etc. worked partially
3) put shoes in freezer (apparently kills microbes that are causing the smell). Did for a weekend. Didn't work. freezing won't kill microbes, just stops them multiplying, as with food
4) buy new shoes. This did work.

Proper leather shoes never smell as bad as synthetic trainers and cycling shoes so I think the only answer is some lovely Dromarti shoes.

SimonAH

I once had an idea for a short story that involved a company coming out with sneaker balls containing an energetic Alpha particle source to irradiate and kill the bacteria causing the stink.

Unfortunately some gamma source material contaminated a batch of the balls causing the footrot bacterial to mutate into an odour that killed the world. The few surviving post-apocalyptic humans had to have their entire taste and olfactory systems removed to enable them to cope with the vile miasma. It became the first species in the universe where the first action of baby upon being born was to violently puke out it's guts in response to the terrible stench before the reaction could be stemmed by filling it's nostrils with Vicks Vapo-Rub using a caulking gun.

Never did write it :-)

Initialised

Use an anti-athletes foot powder on your shoes, socks and feet for a month or so.

fossyant

Bit late, but try and avoid getting them wet/soaked on a regular basis - good overshoes.

richVSrich

put a couple of dry tea bags in them, absorbs the moisture and smell, and leaves a fragrant english breakfast / jasmine / green tea remnant instead

itboffin

sidi five MTB shoes are on offer still at Wiggle & Merlin .... just saying :roll:

then you have a wet weather honking pair and a nice dry weather pair 8)

thistle_

Similar experience to medoramas here:
I put my Shimano shoes through the washing machine and they survive no problem. I don't even remove the cleat, just make sure you dry them thoroughly so the steel cleat and bolts don't rust.

They come out smelling a bit better, but still pong slightly.

I tend to remove the insoles and soak in water with some bleach, which helps a bit but I find the insoles are harder to get fresh. However they are cheap and easy to replace if you can find some decent quality ones.

I think fossyant's advice is good - sweaty shoes aren't normally as wet as rain soaked shoes so they dry out quicker, and dry kit doesn't smell as much as damp kit.
Water that's been sitting in puddles for a few days is particularly smelly. One of my old commute route used to take me along a rutted farm track that was approx 12" deep in water for most of the year, my colleagues really appreciated it when I took that route into work.

bunter

Febreze

greg66_tri_v2.0

londonlivvy wrote:

No. I have put trainers through the wash successfully though so I would remove the cleat, wash (ideally in an old pillowcase, knotted at the end) and replace.

Alternatively, when I had stinky shoes, friends also supplied the following useful suggestions
1) Anti mould spray from the bathroom. Spray, leave to dry, spray, leave to dry. wear. Didn't work.
2) wash shoes in bucket of washing powder / biotex etc. worked partially
3) put shoes in freezer (apparently kills microbes that are causing the smell). Did for a weekend. Didn't work.
4) buy new shoes. This did work.

This is testament to the hardiness of the bugs lurking between your toes, methinks.

Mine are far worse on the outside than the inside. Too many days of rainwater not drying out fast enough. Now if they get wet on the outside, well, Mother of God you'd better start running. That's the only way to be safe.

bails87

I wash mine in a bucket of detergent, with a bit of disinfectant added. Doesn't seem to have done any harm and certainly reduced the ponginess. They also get used for MTBing, so get properly covered in mud on a regular basis.

itboffin

actually what worked well was leaving my stinkers splayed open and without insoles exposed to the sunlight for a week, they stayed stink free until the next time they got wet then i was back to that sailors cock smell Greg66 was telling me about from his misspent young hanging about the docks.

interesting that cock should be replaced with the word fool