Unpopular opinion: kit care is a lie. I've disregarded instructions for years and it's perfectly fine

I hang dry overnight my good kits but in dryer on occasion has never caused issues. But I ride 3-4 times a week and have multiple kits so not crazy high use

I take all clothes from dirty basket to washer and then to dryer. I just use the normal wash/normal dry settings. If the clothes can’t be maintained within that system then I don’t want them anyway!
I’ve yet to have a problem other than pactimo bibs losing the little logo. That’s fine by me, I don’t really like paying for clothes and then being forced into advertising for the brand anyway.

Are you also a pack per day smoker? Eat loads of junk food? Spend all day in the sun without sunscreen (more of a deep southern hemisphere thing I guess :joy:) ? Never brush your teeth?

Some things have irreversible damage that can’t be seen because of gradual changes. Or maybe you’ll be completely fine until youre not.

What if I ride 2x a week vs 6? Own 2 bibs vs 8? Ride 100hours vs 1000hours a year?

Edit to add:
At tours we use dryers to dry our kit, but for training I’m blessed to have always lived where it’s not humid so my kit can still dry in less than a day, or in hours in the summer. Never had a dryer, and even if I did with multiple kit washes per week the $$$ of convenience for quick dried kit doesn’t stack

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I’m pretty sure the best solution is to wear your kit 3-4 times before washing…

(Shifty eyes)

(Slowly backs out of the thread)

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You are washing your hands of the mess. But are you drying them? :wink:

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That is the system I used in college and it worked well for me :+1: However it seems I married into a different system, one taught to my children at an early age:

My interpretation of that chart is that it shows reds, colors, denim, and dark clothes can be combined into a single load! Just like college! Wife is like :scream: wtf can’t you read?!!

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I also have a fan pointed at my drying rack that runs while my kit is air drying. Dries 2-3x as fast.

I have One pair of bib shorts that are 4 years old :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: they’re still comfortable for indoor rides.
I usually wash with cold water and hang dry but sometimes use warm water to wash.

My cycling kit is the most expensive clothing I own, so its getting special treatment. I hang it up in the laundry room and its dry within a few hours.

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Same.

I had a crappy washer/dryer for awhile that gave me pause (even then, no issues with my pricey Castelli bibs and jerseys), but now I have these nice new Samsung ones with good temperature control and wouldn’t think twice about throwing any kit in the dryer.

My dryer also has a removable stationary rack the snaps in place if I want the airflow but not the tumble. The drum spins around the rack.

I’m gonna go ahead and continue to air dry my riding kits. My experience with drying tech clothing isn’t good.

Let’s just talk about how absolutely gross it is to post, buy, even consider another person’s used chamois. No, just no. This thread is case and point.

I’ve never seen anybody trying to sell used bibs. But what I have seen in the triathlon community is a very active market in used wetsuits. GROSS!!! There’s even a cottage industry for wetsuit rentals! :scream:

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You guys use laundry detergents when you put your bibs in the washing machine right? So it’s clean?

Hang dry bib short guy here. Machine wash delicate on tap cold. Although I do wear them like 3-5 times before washing. I have 4 pairs of the same that I cycle around.
From what I understand, the heat can degrade the elasticity.

I’ll wear them til they’re dead so I wouldn’t pay to experiment w my own gear and don’t need them dry right away anyhow

Do you live in the rain forrest? North Texas is very humid, not Houston humid but pretty humid and my bibs hang dry in less than 24 hours in the summer and winter.

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Your interpretation is correct. In 30+ years of doing my own laundry I’ve never had a single issue mixing all laundry. Thankfully my wife has no issues with that either. We have very few items which we hang dry.

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I decided my marriage is more important than my laundry belief system :joy:

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As long as you don’t use high heat in the dryer, I haven’t seen any long term difference with dryer vs hang dry.

However, I have damaged a few thing by accidentally drying them with a combination of high heat and other heavy wet clothes (e.g. Towels or sweat shirts) such that the dryer ran for a long time thus “over exposing” them to high temps.

High heat drying will shorten the life of most tech fabrics that get used in cycling kit but, absent really baking them (se above), its slow enough that its going to be a race with overall wear as to what sends the piece of kit to the trash. This stuff is delicate enough and gets used hard enough that it won’t last for ever.

The best laundry strategy is bigger loads of kit laundry! If you have enough kit that you are only wearing, and washing and drying, a piece of kit once a week or so, it will rather miraculously last longer :wink:

My laundry belief system is to do whatever my wife says to do. We do mix loads though based on your wifes chart.

Only exception for us is a brand new RED item gets washed only with reds.

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:fist_right: :fist_left:

smart man!