Altura Pro Gel shorts care?

[rrarider]

After many years, nearly all my shorts containing a real chamois crotch linining have now worn out and I have had to replace them with those containing a synthetic material. I had always washed my shorts in soap flakes and occasionally treated them with chamois cream, which I believe was mainly lanolin, which softened the goatskin.

The shorts I have now bought, came with no washing instructions or reference to keeping the pad soft. What would forum members recommend for washing and post wash care?

 

[Blue Hills]

Keep using the soap flakes, wash at 30 degrees low spin speed, dry/drip dry in the air.
Pretty straightforward.
Wilco do a decent liquid soap for washing stuff.
Not sure by what you mean by post-wash care.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

I just throw mine in the wash with everything else. No special treatment. Not sure what wifey uses - Persil I think.
Chamois, or whatever it is nowadays, hasn't suffered at all.

What do the washing instructions say?

 

[Blue Hills]

I just throw mine in the wash with everything else. No special treatment. Not sure what wifey uses - Persil I think.
Chamois, or whatever it is nowadays, hasn't suffered at all.

I wouldn't put lycra and general cycling togs in with everything else at all - do a full wash of lycra stuff together.
I'd check what the wife is using - what that "persil" is - you need to use non bio stuff - many washing powders/liquids have stuff in them in that is bad for waterproof/water resistant/breathable stuff.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Oh dear. I fear I'm going to die.

 

[rrarider]

What do the washing instructions say?

The shorts I have now bought, came with no washing instructions

Not sure by what you mean by post-wash care.

For post-wash care, I meant : "is there an equivalent to chamois cream for synthetic material, or doesn't it need any?"

 

[vickster]

Nope, if you need cream, you apply to your skin

 

[Mo1959]

I quite like washing all my exercise gear in a 30 wash on it's own using the Halo sports wash. Kills any lingering odours and smells nice.

 

[Blue Hills]

Oh dear. I fear I'm going to die.

you'll be fine, your kit won't be if washed in stuff with softeners though - and in your parts you need all the protection from rain you can get.
(tho maybe you don't use kit like that - I have no idea what sort of cycling you do)

 

[vickster]

My cycling stuff goes in with other darks really, usually 40, non bio liquid, no fabric softener. Dry inside or out depending on weather

 

[Reynard]

+1 for the Wilko liquid soap flakes.

I use the stuff for hand washing things I don't quite want to trust to the machine, such as sports bras. Otherwise Tesco's own brand non-bio powder in a quick wash cycle.

Post-wash care? None required with the synthetic stuff. It's wash-and-go pretty well much.

 

[ianrauk]

All goes in the same wash with everything else and hang to dry. Been doing this for gawd know how many years. Its never a problem and have bibs that are near 10 years old looking just as good now as when bought.

 

[PaulSB]

If the shorts came with no care instructions, very surprising, check the manufacturer's website.

I wash my kit separately at 30⁰C and drip dry although I do have some kit which specifies low heat spin dry to reproof the garment. This has worked so far. If I need the kit the next day I'll put in an extra spin.

I have a couple of expensive winter jackets. If these get oil or lots of road splash I'll treat this by hand, sometimes using a citrus degreaser as a spot treatment, before machine washing. No issues to date.

I wear Assos shorts and never had a problem with pad care using the above methods.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

As many have said already, I wash my cycling gear with everything else. Same soap, same everything, no special treatment.

Only difference (for now) is I don't put my cycling gear in the tumble dryer. But I may experiment with tumble drying some old stuff and see how they come out.

 

[vickster]

I wouldn’t tumble dry anything made of lycra. It’s not necessary, cycling clothes dry well within 24 hours inside and very quickly outside