It’s
funny, isn’t it.
You wouldn’t dream of wearing the same pair of trousers
for four years without cleaning them, would you? Or the same
jacket? And yet we do it to our leathers the whole time. I
guess we just forget that our protective clothing is also
something we wear next to our skin. Ever ridden in the summer
and had to peel your leathers off because you’re so
hot and sweaty? Well do that a few times and think just how
ripe they must actually be inside. Then add the insect’s
graveyard on the outside, include a few thousand miles of
road grime and city pollution and, frankly, it’s a wonder
that we don’t poison ourselves just by handling our
bike kit.
My trusty Dainese suit was getting, well
pretty rank actually. As well as smelling less than entirely
fresh, the joining zip (it’s a two piece suit) had failed
and the coloured panels were rather closer to being a city
fog colour – that sort of faintly yellow grey –
than the brilliant yellow they were originally. So after just
over four years I decided it was time for a change. Not a
replacement but a thorough clean.
Enter Scrubbers.
Scrubbers is a small business, based in Rochdale,
Lancashire, who specialise in cleaning and rejuvenating motorcycle
clothing. The process is very simple. Wrap your leathers up
and post them off, including your contact details and your
mobile number. When they arrive you will get a text message
telling you they have.
The next stage sees a team of specially selected
virgins carry out a secret and arcane ceremony on your clothing,
coating them with aromatic herbs and oils and cleaning them
by rubbing their naked bodies against the leather until the
dirt lifts off. OK, that’s not true. Or if it is, it’s
extra. But your leathers do get hand cleaned using nothing
but natural cleansing and moisturising agents. They are allowed
to dry naturally, wrapped up and sent back to you. You get
two other things - a text message telling you that they are
on the way and a bill, which you are invited to pay when you
are happy with the work.
And the cost of all this? £10 for postage
and £30 for a full set of leathers to be cleaned. Plus,
of course, your initial postage cost.
The results
were very impressive. I cannot begin to describe (an
the pictures don't truly show) just how filthy my leathers
were after a genuine four years of almost daily use. Sure,
the rain washes some of the worst off, but as I live near
London and ride in town a lot, that rain isn’t exactly
fresh and pure. They weren’t quite the biohazard I described
earlier but they were certainly a state. Plus, as I said,
the centre zip had broken.
When
they came back, the first thing I noticed was the smell. They
smelled faintly of eucalyptus or menthol or something like
that. Not at all unpleasant, that’s for sure. They were
still very slightly sticky, which I understand is an after
effect of the feeding process. No problem, as it went away
after a few hours use. But the biggest thing was how clean
they were. Not totally spotless – I don’t believe
that the level of ingrained crud present was ever going to
go completely – but good enough that I was quite happy
to be seen wearing them and I no longer had a small swarm
of hoverflies waiting to eat the dead things I was carrying
around with me. In fact, they were as clean as they have ever
been since the first few days of wearing them. Oh, and the
centre zip was replaced with a new, very high quality item
while some of the smaller bits of trim which were coming adrift
had been fixed back on. They even replaced the front zip pull
which had fallen off.
For a service that took barely a week, including
the vagaries of the Post Office, cost just £80 including
replacing a large and expensive zip and delivered back a set
of clean, fragrant and fresh feeling leathers I cannot
recommend this service highly enough.
If you need something like this then Scrubbers
Leathers can be found here.
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