Caring for Cycling Clothes

MannyLove said:

i am new to cycling and have many questions but one important question that i have for now is how to wash my cycling clothes. I bought myself a nice Polyester bib shorts with matching jacket and on the care tab it says not wash it in the washer. I have some other same fabric garments and those say to wash by hand or in the gentle cycle in the washer. i have heard from many that you are not suppose to use any fabric softner and others tell me that all cycling clothes need to be washed by hand. i would like to know what to do? Can I wash them in the washer in the gentle cycle or will i need to wash them by hand everytime i use them??? thank you for your help.😕

I've always washed my cycling clothes in the washer, just on a short cycle usually. I've never even checked the label...but so far, nothing has fallen apart or split the seams.

Believe any well-made cycling clothes should stand up to machine washing without a problem. I wash mine on regular speed, cold water only, "light soil" timing, and "extra spin" to extract as much water as possible so they can hang dry.

Avoiding hot water and dryer heat is key to keeping the stretch in the lycra.

MannyLove said:

i am new to cycling and have many questions but one important question that i have for now is how to wash my cycling clothes. I bought myself a nice Polyester bib shorts with matching jacket and on the care tab it says not wash it in the washer. I have some other same fabric garments and those say to wash by hand or in the gentle cycle in the washer. i have heard from many that you are not suppose to use any fabric softner and others tell me that all cycling clothes need to be washed by hand. i would like to know what to do? Can I wash them in the washer in the gentle cycle or will i need to wash them by hand everytime i use them??? thank you for your help.😕

Fabric softener can reduce the waterproofness (is that a word?) of coated fabrics.

I wash all of my cycling clothes in a front-load type washing machine and they seem to hold up fine. I ride nearly everyday either in commuting or training and have no time to spend hand washing my workout clothes. Basically the manufacturers don't want you to blame them if something happens to your $100 cycling shorts.

Front loaders are much gentler on clothes, as my wife would insist... So we bought one. 🙄

Now in the warmer weather I just strip my top and shorts off at the back door and with my mitts I rinse them in cold water and throw them on the deck. Later I hang them to out to dry and usually use them again the next day.

In colder weather when they have road grit etc on them they go in the cold cycle wash and get hung out to dry.
A lot of washing powder will make the chamois hard and crusty = not nice for riding in!
So far my cycling shorts(don't know about the tops as I have a number, but only three shorts) have lasted 3 years and about 22 000 kms. 🙂

We have a front loading washer and I wash all our cycling gear in warm water on the gentle setting. I use a liquid detergent that does not contain fabric softener.

If you have a top loading washer, then you might want to put your bibs in a lingerie bag, just to avoid the risk of excessive stretching (which can happen if they wrap themselves around the agitator)

MannyLove said:

Can I wash them in the washer in the gentle cycle or will i need to wash them by hand everytime i use them??? thank you for your help.😕

Yep, you can machine wash most cycling clothing. Just be sure and hang the clothing up to dry by air. Don't put them in the drier.

nightfend said:

Yep, you can machine wash most cycling clothing. Just be sure and hang the clothing up to dry by air. Don't put them in the drier.

do you know if its ok to put them in with my other clothes that i put fabric softner on??

MannyLove said:

do you know if its ok to put them in with my other clothes that i put fabric softner on??

I wash my bike clothing seperately from my regular clothing and don't use softener. I do this mostly so I don't accidently throw my bike shorts in the dryer and shrink them.

nightfend said:

I wash my bike clothing seperately from my regular clothing and don't use softener. I do this mostly so I don't accidently throw my bike shorts in the dryer and shrink them.

sounds good ....thanks alot to everyone for the advice. i was getting tired of washing my clothes by hand every night after riding. well now i am going to throw them in the washer and see what happens 🙂

MannyLove said:

do you know if its ok to put them in with my other clothes that i put fabric softner on??

The softener won't hurt the lycra and other fabrics. The issue is that liquid fabric softener can reduce the water repellancy of the coated fabrics used in jackets and the like. Liquid detergents are also not recommended by some fleece product manufacturers but I wash fleece in liquid tide all of the time with no problems. I wash cycling clothes with the rest of the wash and hang dry rather than machine dry.

There is only one item of cycling clothing that I would not wash in the machine - any type of shorts containing either a synthetic or natural chamois. Everything else goes in on a cold setting using a special liquid for delicate fabrics.

The reason I do not put shorts in is because of the spin cycle. It seems to me that the suppleness of the chamois was affected after going through the spin cycle. It didn't seem to like being spun around hundreds of times a minute.

Has anybody else found this to be true?

One way around the problem would be to set the machine to a 'hold' setting that does not spin - only soaks the clothes in the water. That way you can then select 'drain', remove the shorts and dry them naturally, but keep the rest of your clothes in on a 'spin' setting to remove excess water.

sergen said:

The reason I do not put shorts in is because of the spin cycle. It seems to me that the suppleness of the chamois was affected after going through the spin cycle. It didn't seem to like being spun around hundreds of times a minute.

Has anybody else found this to be true?

Never noticed a problem to be honest, my front loader spins at 900rpm on the delicates cycle, which is what I use for my cycling gear.

Being in the cycling industry I am realizing more and more lately that the majority of cyclists are really just a bunch of freaking whiney babies. "We" just look for things to question, or to be picky about. I throw my [censored], all of it in the dang washer, and dryer on normal wash with all of my other regular clothes. I take the important clothing, by important I mean VERY expensive clothing to the dry cleaners. cycling bibs and jerseys are sporting clothes and should be treated as such. Use them and wash them. If they wear out in a year instead of 2 years who cares.