Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Specter]

Hello everyone:
Reaching out here for some help.

Long story short, I left my bike at the dealers for them to do warranty work on it.  Was promised they'd keep it inside, they didn't.
End result.  My leather Racing Gauntlets are all fucking moldy, mildew, soggy wet, nasty inside and outside.
They look horrible.

Normally I would NOT leave stuff with a bike at the shop, but was not expecting to have to leave the bike AT the shop to begin with, so was not thinking until well after I got on the road back home on the 170 mile trip one way, that oh shit, I left my gloves and tire inflator in the saddle bags, called them and they said oh we'll keep it inside bla bla.

so the gloves are growing.  is there ANYthing that can be done to save them?  Can I dry clean them, are they salvageable or are they pretty much ruined?  Yes I know it's leather, which is pretty tough, but to be left stewing in mildew for weeks, not good.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I really do not want to spend that kind of money again on a new set of gloves.  These are the Dainese Full Metal Titanium gloves
and no those are not decorations on them that is the mold / mildew  they are growing just as nasty inside too.

Aaron

[jotjotde]

I highly recommend drying as first step with lukewarm air, e.g. hair dryer on lowest setting. Another method would be to stuff them with newspaper, let them sit for a few hours and repeat until at least most of the moisture is gone. Then hang them in a warm dry place.

There are also gadgets available which should do the work - try googling 'glove dryer'.

The mould outside is just surfacial and a good leather cleaner applied  e.g. with a soft toothbrush should remove that easily (Dainese's cleaner/conditioner set is good, but pricey). Remaining mould spores inside shouldn't be a (health) problem.

After drying the leather will be stiff but generous application of leather care and then kneading them they should be as good as new.


In the end, leather can be professionally cleaned (not dry cleaning - look for a shop specialising in leather cleaning) - that should be the easiest way to save your gloves. Then you should be safe regarding any lingering mould spores as well. Setback of professional cleaning could be scratches on the metal parts. After cleaning the stiffened leather is usually tumbled to make it supple again - that's not so good for the metal parts.


In case you don't trust this info, phone the next Dainese flagship store and ask for help there. They are not forced to sell you something so their recommendations should be trustworthy.

[Specter]

I called the Dainese store and they were pretty clueless actually.  They offered to disinfect it via their UV machine and take it to a cleaners.  I talked to a few cleaners and found one that says they specialize in leather so left it with them.  They been around 20 years so hopefully they are decent, I didn't see a lot of bitching about them on the normal places so keeping fingers crossed.  He DID warn me that there is a possibility they may come back stiff, like they were when brand new, and that as you said, kneading nutrients into them, or wearing them to break them back in may be necessary..  He also marked it not to use corrosives so it didn't tear up the metal knuckles, slider plates etc so lets just see what happens with them.

As a general warning to all

Euro Cycles of Orlando, is a shit show, avoid these jack wagons at all costs.  It'll cost me a day and twice the money but Ill take the bike to the carolina's if I need work on them from this point moving forward.  That seems to be the next closest dealer.  unless the one in miami is NON affiliated with this clown group.

Aaron

[Demoni]

Soaking the gloves in a chemical designed to kill mold spores would be my suggestion.

The least aggressive option would be soaking them in white vinegar and water.

Second option that comes to mind is bleach, however this option may cause color loss and or damage to the leather.
Fill a bucket with a gallon of water and mix in a cup of bleach.

Another option that might be gentler on the leather is a bath in a biocide solution. There are commercially available products that can be diluted in water that should "nuke" the mold. Just dispose of the soak water per the instructions, biocides are super strong.

After the soak rinse them repetitively in water to dilute any remaining chemicals. Drain them to get out as much water as possible. Then stuff rags/towels inside and squeeze them to pull even more water out. Once mostly dry put them in a well ventilated place. I have previously rigged up 80mm computer fans to blow air into wet gloves with good success.

Once the gloves are dry treat them with a commercial leather conditioner to replace any natural oils the soak removed.

[Specter]

Bleach for the Disinfection aspect?  There are other disinfectants that might work, I'd think, bleach would tear up the leather Id be afraid, even a cup to a gallon is a LOT.

What about an Oxygen based bleach?  Might that be milder?  (No not peroxide, that'd be a mess)

I have some of the soap / conditioner I think it is that Dainese sells so Ill probably give them a good workup with that when I get them back from the cleaners just to make sure.

I have a UV disinfectant unit here, which ill use after to make sure they are disinfected.

The main thing I am worried about is.  Running a hard day on the track and your leathers are wet / sweaty etc, you take them home and immediately clean them / dry them out.  You DON'T leave them stewing in a damp container for a month to grow.  Im hoping that the mold and mildew growth itself didn't damage the leather.

I KNOW they had to see the gloves too, because some of the stuff they took off my bike when they worked on it, they put in the saddle bag for storage, along with me TELLING them, I got stuff in the bags.  This is just more ignorance from the Orlando clowns.

Ill get them back on Monday from the cleaners so we'll see what happens from there. 

thanks for your inputs.

Aaron

[Demoni]

Bleach for the Disinfection aspect?  There are other disinfectants that might work, I'd think, bleach would tear up the leather Id be afraid, even a cup to a gallon is a LOT.

I only suggested bleach as it is a radially available chemical that can kill both bacteria and mold spores. To minimize the chance at damaging the leather try a weaker solution, dry the gloves and if it did not work repeat with a higher concentration. 

What about an Oxygen based bleach?  Might that be milder?  (No not peroxide, that'd be a mess)

I suspect it would work similarly to chlorine based bleach.

I have some of the soap / conditioner I think it is that Dainese sells so Ill probably give them a good workup with that when I get them back from the cleaners just to make sure.

Their kit works great at getting dirt, grime and bug guts off leather gear. I don't think the cleaner is strong enough to kill mold. Also this will do little to kill anything growing on the inner cloth liner.

I have a UV disinfectant unit here, which ill use after to make sure they are disinfected.

Probably not a good idea as UV exposure is really bad for leather. If you go this route make sure you apply conditioner before and after treatment to prevent the leather from drying out.

[Specter]

thank you Demoni, i was not thinking about the UV and the leather. just kind of assumed it wouldn't 'too' bad since we wear leather daily ie work gloves, our riding suits and it don't seem to bother them too bad.  Well shit, im not too worried about the mold and bacteria tbh, it is what it is, and your hands are normally terrible if you look at them under a microscope anyways. 

my biggest concern was the prolonged sitting there moldy rotting the leather, and what the chems from the dryclean would do to them.
They came back in really good condition but a bit stiff so ive been wearing them for my normal riding to soften them up a bit and it seems to be working well.  One thing I noticed is I got one hand bigger than the other, so one is tight the other a bit looser, too bad you can't buy gloves L hand L  R hand XL .


Maybe a quick spray with alcohol inside will do the trick, since it's cloth mainly and not leather and then let them dry under a fan for a bit to get the nice and dry inside.

Aaron