Did you just accidently touch your clothes while tuning up your bike and now have grease all over your favorite t-short or pants? Don’t worry we have you covered.
Removing grease and making your clothes look just as good as before is possible without the use of harmful chemicals. You can do it using household items like baking powder, vinegar, warm water, etc. Wondering how?
Let’s find out.
Things You’ll Need
To remove the offending oil and grease from your greasy clothes, you will need one or more of the following:
- Baking soda
- Coldwater
- Soap Bar
- Hot Water
- Warm Water
- Laundry Detergent
- Dish Soap
- Lemon Juice
- Talcum Powder
- Wipes and White Vinegar
Ways To Remove Bike Grease From Clothes
Using Cleaning Wipes
The very first option for grease removal is to attack the greasy spot with wipes. This method is particularly convenient for bicycle grease stains discovered in public places; when you can’t take off your clothes and immediately run them under warm or cold water.
Different types of wipes can be effectively used in this kind of situation, e.g. degreaser wipes, heavy-duty wipes, and durable wipes.
Even normal cleaning wipes and wet wipes can be used to remove fresh and light grease stains; although, you may have to use more than one wipe – or additional wipes – before the stain can be sufficiently removed.
The effectiveness of this method depends on the type of clothing material, as non-absorbent fabrics are more likely to be cleaned this way compared to absorbent materials such as wool.
Also, cleaning wipes are most likely to work better and faster when they are used in addition to washing soap or liquid wash.
Using Warm Water And Bar Soap
Light stains can easily be removed by using warm water and bar soaps. When you soak fresh grease stains in warm water, the greased patch on your clothing may begin to dissolve. Grease stains are further removed when you wash them carefully with bar soap until they clear off.
What happens is that the alkalinity of the bar soap breaks down the grease bonds until the stain is completely removed.
Once you’re through with this process, you may go ahead and throw the cloth into the washing machine to remove any leftover grease stains. Warm cycles are recommended here.
Using Laundry Detergent
Laundry detergent works very well for removing any kind of bike grease from your favorite clothes. There are different types of laundry detergents that are suitable for different types of grease stains on different types of fabric, they include; biological detergents and chemical detergents, which may be gentle or harsh.
They may also come in powder or liquid forms. When it comes to the removal of bike grease from clothing, you first have to check the kind of fabric and the level of stain before picking out the type of laundry detergent you should use; so that you won’t damage the fabric.
Using Baking Powder And Clean Water
Baking powder is a good spot remover that can be used with water by itself or in combination with other materials such as cornstarch and talcum powder, which are also good grease removers. Baking soda is usually employed for the removal of tough grease stains, black grease stains, or really old and dry bike grease marks.
To use this method, simply soak the grease spot with clean water and add your baking powder – and cornstarch, if you will – to the moistened patch.
Leave the baking powder on for some minutes and get down to washing away the grease. Once you’re done, you may toss the piece of clothing in the washing machine and run it through a wash cycle to make it completely clean.
Using Vinegar Or Lemon Juice With Warm Water
Vinegar and lemon juice are another group of grease removers regularly used by avid bikers. Vinegar and lemon juice both have high levels of acidity that cut through grease stains, thereby dissolving them.
When you soak a greasy patch with vinegar or lemon juice for a few minutes, before washing and rinsing with warm water, you make it much easier for the grease stain to come off.
However, you have to be careful with this method so that you will not bleach off the colors of your grease-stained garment.
How To Avoid Getting Grease On Your Clothes
While it is important to know how to remove bike grease stains, it is equally important to know how to prevent them from getting on your clothing in the first place.
One of the most common parts of the bicycle where grease is usually found is the bike chain. This part of the bike is often oiled and greased in order to prevent seizing and wearing, and usually, these lubricants tend to find their way onto bikers’ articles of clothing.
Two major ways to prevent this from happening are to:
Keep The Chain Clean
Cleaning the bike chain helps to prevent incidents of staining from bike grease. However, before you clean your bike chain you have to leave the grease on it for a while after application; to facilitate proper lubrication, which prevents the wearing of the bike chain.
Use A Chain Guard
Another way of preventing bike grease from staining your clothing is to install a chain guard after applying grease to your bike chain. You can fix a chain guard by yourself or take your bike into the bike shop for its installation.
What Is Grease
Bike grease is a heavy, waterproof type of lubricant used for bike parts, particularly those ones that are not easily exposed. It is also used in parts of bicycles where there is direct metal-to-metal contact, to prevent them from wearing and seizing up.
Bike grease is made of lubricating oil and lithium or calcium soap, which gives it its stickiness and viscosity; also making it so hard to get out of fabric fibers.
Generally, clothes are made up of different materials (e.g. common fabrics like cotton, delicate fabrics like lace, synthetic fabrics like nylon, heavy fabrics like denim, non-delicate fabrics, and special fabrics).
Unfortunately, however, not one of them is entirely safe from staining upon contact with grease. So, if you’re an avid cyclist – or just someone who managed to get bike grease on their favorite garment – here’s what you need to know about removing it.
First of all, bike grease can stain anywhere on your body and attire, not just your pants. In worst-case scenarios, it can stain an entire garment (usually your pants. Any kind of pants e.g. your favorite pants, your khaki pants, your baggy pants, your cheap pants, and your nice pants).
Bike grease can get on any item of clothing, really, but it does hurt a lot more when fresh grease and oil stain your favorite garment.
Conclusion
Grease stains are a common problem with avid bikers; however, they can be easily fixed and prevented. Some of the most common ways to do this are properly described within this article, with the goal of facilitating more wholesome biking experiences.
