How to Clean and Maintain Your Motorcycle Riding Pants

Last updated: August 2026

Dirty riding gear tells stories of the adventures you have been on. But then do you want to keep wearing riding pants with brown stains on it? Log kya sochenge?

Not cleaning riding gear means you are not taking care of it and it would certainly reduce life of your riding pants. So what would you prefer? Spending money again and again to buy new riding gear or maintain what you have?

We guess, being Indian, you would be opting for second option. After all money doesn’t grow on trees. So now let’s look at how you can clean and maintain your riding pants.

Instructions for storing your Riding Pants & Other Riding Gear:

Air the riding gear thoroughly after every use, even if it is not dirty. After all, you don’t want to smell your sweat at the beginning of next ride.
Do not store riding gear in air tight plastic bags.
Do not store gear in damp areas. It will have fungus in no time.
Do not Stow away your wet/damp riding gear. It will start growing fungus.

Steps for proper cleaning textile / Mesh Riding Pants:

Hand washing riding gear is the preferred way of washing Riding Pants.

1. Remove all liners, if present.

2. Remove knee and hip armour from the riding pants.

3. Check pockets if they contain anything. If yes, remove those items. You don’t want to wash away couple of hundred bucks. Open zips / chains of all pockets.

4. Gently dust off the riding pants with a soft brush / cloth to get rid of dust and dirt.

5. Check areas with bright colours. They would need more attention.

6. Spot clean the gear to remove the excessive dirt with a soft brush and clean water. Gently brush those areas with bristle brush

7. Immerse the Riding Pants in a tub of warm water. Add mild detergent to it. (bleach/ strong detergent / fabric softener should be avoided at all cost) Let the pants soak for one hour. This will help in loosening the dirt.

8. Brush again gently with a soft brush / hand till all dirt washes away.

9. Keep rinsing and changing water (without detergent) till all dirt is washed away and there is no trace of any detergent.

10. Hang the riding pants on a hanger and keep it in the washroom till you can’t see any water dripping.

11. Keep the pants on the hanger till they are complete dry.

12. Do not keep the riding pants in direct sun. Harsh sunlight may fade the colours.

13. Insert all armour back into place and you are now ready to wear it again.

If you're still deciding which pair of riding pants suits your riding style, our guide to choosing the right riding pants covers the types, protection ratings and fit tips worth knowing before you buy.

If you still feel that you don’t want to bother hand washing the garments, here are a few tips for –

Steps for Cleaning Textile / Mesh Riding Pants in a washing machine:

Check the tags to see if your Riding pants are suitable for machine wash.

Remove all liners, if present.
Remove knee and hip armour from the riding pants.
Check pockets if they contain anything. If yes, remove those items. You don’t want to wash away couple of hundred bucks. Open zips / chains of all pockets.
Gently dust off the riding pants with a soft brush / cloth to get rid of dust and dirt.
Spot clean the gear to remove the excessive dirt with a soft brush and clean water. Gently brush those areas with bristle brush that is used for cleaning clothes.
Fill only half the water capacity in washing machine.
Use only mild detergent. (bleach/ strong detergent / fabric softener should be avoided at all cost)
Avoid intensive rinse cycle of automatic washing machines.
DO NOT dry the riding pants in spin dryer of your washing machine.
Hang the riding pants on a hanger and keep it in the washroom till you can’t see any water dripping.
Keep them on the hanger till they dry completely. Some wrongly suggest drying the gear in sun but harsh sunlight may fade the colours.
Insert all armour back into place and you are now ready to wear it again.

Cleaning Riding Pants with breathable membranes:

In case your riding pants are equipped with one of the breathable membranes, they need a different process than washing normal mesh / textile riding pants.

As time goes by, you would be seeing that the waterproof and breathable properties of your riding pants going down. Then it is time to recharge these properties in your riding pants. For these riding pants, we recommend to recharge the waterproof properties during/after each wash / alternate wash.

Typical household detergents leave behind a water-attractive (hydrophilic) residue which masks the Water Repellency properties of your riding pants. This causes them to absorb water. Therefore, they need to be avoided when cleaning waterproof riding pants with breathable membranes.

Steps for washing Riding Pants with Breathable membrane:

Wash your riding pants as described earlier in either of the two methods.
Let them dry.
Once they are dry, tumble dry the pants for 20 minutes to reactivate the Durable Water-Repellent (DWR) treatment on the outer fabric.
If unable to tumble dry, iron the dry garment on gentle setting (warm, no steam) by placing a towel or cloth between the garment and the iron. This will help reactivate the DWR treatment on your garment’s outer fabric.
When the factory applied treatment can no longer be reactivated, apply a new water-repellent treatment like Nikwax available as a pump-spray or wash-in product to the garment's outer fabric.

“Avoid touching Nikwax or similar products with your naked hands”

How to remove tough stains from riding pants:

Oil, grease and chain lube stains are common on riding pants, and a normal wash cycle often won't shift them completely. Treat the stained area before you run through the hand wash or machine wash steps above.

Dab a small amount of mild dish soap or a pre-wash stain remover directly onto the stain and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Gently work it into the fabric with a soft brush, then rinse with clean water before moving on to the full wash. Avoid scrubbing hard in one direction, as this can push the stain deeper into the fibres instead of lifting it out.

Old, set-in stains may need the spot treatment repeated over a couple of washes. Skip the bleach even on stubborn marks, since it weakens the fabric and can damage the waterproof coating on textile riding pants.

Points to remember:

Why do you need to be so gentle for cleaning all riding gear? Afterall they are designed to be tough and protective. Answer is simple…. The outer portion and armour is tough but not the inner mesh / lining and it may tear off during intensive cleaning.

Please note that these instructions are only for textile garments and not for leather garments.

Cleaning leather riding pants:

Leather riding pants need a completely different approach and should never be washed in water the way textile or mesh pants are. Soaking or machine washing leather strips its natural oils and can leave it stiff, cracked or misshapen.

Instead, wipe off dust and surface dirt with a soft, dry cloth first. For marks or light grime, dampen a cloth slightly with water and a small amount of mild soap, wipe the area gently, then go over it again with a clean damp cloth to remove any soap residue. Let the pants air dry away from direct heat or sunlight, since both can dry out and crack the leather.

Every six months or so, apply a leather conditioner made for garments rather than an automotive or furniture leather care product. This keeps the leather supple and helps it hold up better in a fall.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q1: Can you wash motorcycle jeans?

A1: Yes. Motorcycle jeans reinforced with aramid fibres like Kevlar can be washed the same way as mesh or textile riding pants. Just follow the hand washing or machine washing steps above and remove any armour first.

Q2: Can I put riding pants in the dryer?

A2: Avoid the spin dryer for regular textile or mesh pants, since high heat can damage the fabric and any waterproof coating. The only exception is a short tumble dry cycle used specifically to reactivate the DWR treatment on pants with a breathable membrane, as covered above.

Q3: How often should I clean my riding pants?

A3: Air them out after every ride, and do a proper wash every few weeks depending on how often you ride and how much you sweat. Riding in dusty or muddy conditions means you will need to clean them more often to stop grit from wearing down the fabric.

Q4: How do I get rid of bad odour from riding pants?

A4: Odour usually comes from sweat trapped in the lining. A proper hand or machine wash with mild detergent, followed by full air drying away from direct sun, takes care of most smells. Airing the pants out after every ride, even short ones, stops the smell from building up in the first place.

Q5: Can I use fabric softener on riding pants?

A5: No. Fabric softener leaves a coating on the fibres that can affect the fabric's abrasion resistance and interferes with the water repellent treatment on breathable membranes. Stick to a mild detergent only.

Q6: Not sure which riding pants to buy in the first place?

A6: Have a look at our guide to choosing the right riding pants, which covers the different types, CE protection ratings and how to get the right fit.

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