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.