Cleaning dirty clothing

portland_bill

I made my 20 mile rural commute yesterday and on my return journey got caught in some pretty horrible weather. Since it had been such a nice day, I had my good bib shorts and my brand new jersey on both of which are now absolutely baked in crap from the spray from my back wheel (mud guards are to be purchased asap now!).

Is there anything I can do my to shorts and jersey to make sure all the crap comes out before I put them in the washing machine.

I'm just worried because I got a little bit of spray on my shorts a few weeks back and that stained and didn't come out in the wash and I'm now concerned that my nice new jersey that cost me £60 just 3 days ago is ruined.

slowondefy2

Vanish Oxy?

portland_bill

I've got some of that. Is it ok to use with seemingly delicate synthetics like bib shorts and jerseys?

joshr96

Soak them in really hot water for about 30 minutes - an hour to remove most of the dirt. Then stick it in the washing machine with some persil.

Hope this helped. 8)

slowondefy2

Personally I've never had a problem with Oxy and it'll probably work on the older stains as well. I would avoid hot water in general because it will set some stains into the material.

napoleond

Worth a go with oxy as they're ruined if it doesn't come out anyway.

portland_bill

Thanks guys. I know I should have some kind of guards on my bike anyway but it seems odd that clothing specifically designed to be worn on road bikes seems to susceptible to staining. I accept that you get a lot of nasty crap lying on road surfaces, but I get up to the tits in my mountain bike gear and that never struggles to come clean.

slowondefy2

Make sure you're using biological powder as well.

ddraver

A tip from an MTBer is to hose yourself and your kit down while you re washing the bike - Obviously this is easier in Summer or when you re in waterproofs. Secondly it probably won't make any difference the clothes if you use them "stained" so just keep on using them and repeated washed will work the stain out - This is one of the reasons why a lot of my kit is black

sungod

+1 for the hosing down method!

if they're really covered in cack, fill the bath with cold water, hand wash in there first, and a lot of the crud will be rinsed out

as above, avoid hot water, it can set stains into lycra

i've not found any one thing that's good for all cleaning...

vanish oxi stuff, tried the bars, the powder, no better than just washing on most stains

ecover stain remover is completely useless

washing up liquid works very well on some stains, you have to rinse umpteen times to get it all out

dr beckman stain slayer is good on heavy grease marks

blancotex 'grasa' stain remover is superb, even chain oil on white is cleaned off easily, but i've only found it in spain and portugal

fwiw i cold handwash all my stuff (which is non-assos) with assos cleaner, it works really well, it may appear pricey, but you only need a little, so a bottle gives a lot of washes

andrewjoseph

most cycle clothing manufactures state 'nonbio' powders, 'bio' and fabric 'softeners' can effect the wicking apparently. I just stick everything in on a 30 deg wash, non bio, no softeners.

Been doing this for years, mtb and road. But I'm not too bothered by stains, I'm usually going to get muddy in 5 minutes anyway.

griffsters

slowondefy2 wrote:

Make sure you're using biological powder as well.

Not if you want the best out of your expensive clothing!

andrewjoseph wrote:

most cycle clothing manufactures state 'nonbio' powders, 'bio' and fabric 'softeners' can effect the wicking apparently. I just stick everything in on a 30 deg wash, non bio, no softeners.

This.

And some of the suggestions above to get rid of the worst gunk first.

slowondefy2

I stand corrected. Still, it might be worth a go with biological if the clothing is otherwise ruined.

andy46

I handwash in warm water with Ariel Handwash liquid, then rinse in cold water then either gentle spin or drip dry. Only if things are really dirty do they go in the machine at 30 degrees.

woodywmb

This is the answer:
http://www.woolite.us/products.php

Available from Morrisons supermarket and some branches of Tesco - or online at Amazon.

pilot_pete

I recommend rinsing all the crud off before it dries with cold water. I usually hand wash and rinse in cold water in the utility sink. Do this before it dries out. I then spray each mark with a bit of Vanish Pre-wash Stain Remover. Then machine wash immediately on 30* wash. Works a treat, gets everything out so far (apart from tar spots). I think the key is not to let it dry on as this makes it harder to remove.

Cheers

PP

bails87

A bit of dirt and the clothes are "ruined"? :roll:

An overreaction perhaps? You'd rather not have a fading stain left on a jersey or your shorts, but they're perfectly usable still.

MattC59

Persil non-bio liquid on a 30C wash has been fine with my lycra, it's great stuff and has even got that filthy black road grime out.

Don't put lycra on a hot wash as some donut mentioned earlier, it won't do your lycra any good.
Don't use biological washing powder / liquid, it'll f*ck your lycra.

Ouija

Funnily enough, you can use a bike degreaser (typically for chains or disk brake rotors). Much stronger than anything they are going to put into a washing up liquid or washing powder/de-stainer. You can spend hours washing over and over with a de-stainer or washing up liquid, but a five second squirt with a chain degreaser and a rinse under the tap and it tends to just drop off the fabric. In fact, i have a bottle of BikeHut degreaser next to the sink as it gets oil off my hands much quicker than piddling about with a washing up liquid. Couldn't say if it works as well with mud stains, but certainly works with anything 'oily'.

msmancunia

No hot water for anything with merino in either - you'll end up with an outfit that'll only fit a four year old.

DesB3rd

Surely just rinse the lumps off & chuck in the wash as per any other sports gear; most of its very resilient & (with the exception of your waterproofs, which really don't like detergent residues) the chat about certain fabrics having their properties altered is as much to do with reinforcing the product's marketing pitch as it is with any tangible degradation of the wearer experience...

andrewjoseph

DesB3rd wrote:

Surely just rinse the lumps off & chuck in the wash as per any other sports gear; most of its very resilient & (with the exception of your waterproofs, which really don't like detergent residues) the chat about certain fabrics having their properties altered is as much to do with reinforcing the product's marketing pitch as it is with any tangible degradation of the wearer experience...

so you treat 'sports' gear' differently to normal clothes? the sports gear then has different properties to normal clothes, thus making them 'sports gear'. these different properties being things like, stretchability, breathability, wicking, hard wearing, soft touch, water repellent etc.

So they have different properties to normal clothes and you wash them differently, otherwise you would wash them as per normal clothes.

I for one have mistakenly washed some of my cycling gear in normal wash, it took several 'bike' washes to get it back to normal again. It was not wicking away sweat, it felt 'dead' and saturated and kept hold of sweat for a long time before it evaporated.

if you have spent out good money on sports gear, you want to get the best value for that money. Following manufactures care guidelines goes a long way towards that. if you ruin your clothes by not following advice, it is unlikely you will win any warranty claim, but you may not then buy that companies clothes again. Who wins in this situation?

In other words, what do you gain by not following the washing advice?

Peddle Up!

But surely (don't call me Shirley ) all you have to do is drop it on the bedroom floor and wait for it to reappear in the cycle kit drawer? :?

dunkotm

ho ho ho

diamonddog

Peddle Up! wrote:

But surely (don't call me Shirley ) all you have to do is drop it on the bedroom floor and wait for it to reappear in the cycle kit drawer? :?

^^This works at our house.

pilot_pete

Old thread I know, butworth re-emphasising that bio powder on Assos black shorts has made them go a greyish black. I learnt the hard way. They now get real black 'splodges' all over them where sweat has dropped onto the thighs whilst riding. This looks awful, but they still work....

PP