Cleaning a helmet

[dwayne]

K, my helmet....not a nice place to live at the moment. Any ideas for cleaining it? Making it livable?

[DJ Downunder]

I just put mine upside down in the sun for an hour or so..that should kill any bugs.

Do you have a removable linner?...you could try some soap and water...also in your helmet

DJ

[dwayne]

I just put mine upside down in the sun for an hour or so..that should kill any bugs.

Do you have a removable linner?...you could try some soap and water...also in your helmet

DJ

Damn good idea, thanks. Now if it would only stop raining.

[Boxer]

After camping at a rally for a couple of days just stick your nose inside a pair of dirty shorts and the helmet will smell great afterwards.

[Ryck]

You can freshen the helmet by placing a sheet of fabric softener inside and placing the helmet in a bag for a few hours. For cleaning - you will find various dry compounds made with borax, baking soda and corn meal mentioned on the web. Just sprinkle on and vaccum after a few hours. I use scull caps to prevent the problem. The Under Armour scull cap and one made by Headsweats work very well.

[cricman]

Here's my system. It seams to work pretty good, considering the amount of sweat I generate in the Texas heat:


Scrub all of the fabic interior surfaces with a damp and slightly soapy towel (antimicrobial), followed by several wipes with with a clean damp towel to remove the soap residue.

Let dry in direct sunlight, as DJ suggested, to allow the UV radiation to kill the remaining critters.

Once dry, a spritz of Antimicrobial Fabreze, and more drying time.

Once in June or July, and once after the first frost (or November, whichever might come first in North-Central Texas) usually does the trick for me.

We use the Antimicrobial Fabreze on the training gear that we sweat all over at work, and it does a great job killing human funk!





good luck,

cricman

[KHaynes]

I think most helmets are actually water immersable. I've not tried it but if the helmet became too stinky to wear, I'd soak it in mild detergent and then rinse it thoroughly.

Can someone else confirm this method as being okay or do I have it wrong?

[Smoothrider]

I think most helmets are actually water immersable. I've not tried it but if the helmet became too stinky to wear, I'd soak it in mild detergent and then rinse it thoroughly.

Can someone else confirm this method as being okay or do I have it wrong?

Quite right! Use baby shampoo; soak inside of helmet with the shower then work in the shampoo. Rinse thoroughly then air dry for 2-3 days. This procedure, done about 6 monthly has kept my Arai smelling sweet. Its used almost daily too!

[yjleesvrr]

This was a discussion on this board four years ago. What I posted then is what I've done since then with my Shoei RF900 helmet, which is now 4.5 years old.

I take my helmet into my bath tub and start filling the helmet with warm water with the face shield down so that the helmet holds water. I dump a little bit of laundry detergent in it, swish the water around to distribute the detergent inside the helmet. I press/squeeze the foam lining on the inside of the helmet to make sure I'm getting the sweat and dirt out. I throw in some more detergent as needed. I can tell whether or not I've gotten the foam clean by feeling/seeing how the water coming out of the foam lining feels to my hands. Once I'm satisfied the lining is clean, I rinse it until I'm satisfied that the laundry detergent has been thoroughly rinsed out of the lining.

To dry, I squeeze the water out of the lining, then place the helmet so that it can air dry. Once every fifteen minutes for the first hour, I squeeze the water out of the lining which tends to gravitate toward the lower part of the helmet due to, well, gravity. I let the helmet sit overnight, and then go for a ride the next day to let the flowing air completely dry the helmet.

I find I have to do this twice a year. My Shoei has stood up to this with no problems whatsoever over the past four and a half years.

[CycleRob]

Because my full top male pattern baldness forces the helmet liner into direct contact with skin, I've recently found a great way to extend the time between the necessary HOT-soapy-soak, total dunk-n-wash days I do in an empty 5 gallon driveway sealer bucket.

My solution: A full paper towel sheet - - - or two together if your a prolific generator - - - inserted into the helmet so the edge of the towel matches the top straight of the visor window without being externally visible. You can fold a corner and put 2 offset opposing sheets in diagonally for more coverage. Once you get good at installing it and holding it in place while putting your helmet on, the paper scull cap stays in place for repeated wearings that day. Most importantly, it's very cheap and disposable while absorbing the normal folicle generated sebum that makes the mess in your helmet if you don't catch it first. A huge benefit if you are already overheated before you put your helmet on and have some slow-go before getting summer cooling air. New sheets will also slowly clean out or detox an unclean helmet liner as you wear them if you change them daily. The stored extra paper towel "scull caps" also have unlimited cleaning duties without returning them for laundry day. It's a win-win-win.

Sometimes the best solutions are the simple cheap ones.

[Badger]

Take that shoei and put her in the dish washer on the gentlest cycle. works fine.

[iowabeakster]

I'm gonnna have to try that one Badger.

BTW, Real men dont need helmets, REAL MEN smack their faces on passing buicks.