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I sweat really bad and between that, the road grime and liquid meals the shoes feel and smell bad. I have Sidi's and had thought about just hosing them out, but thought I would ask the experts before potentially ruining a perfectly good pair of shoes.
Larry
Don't be afraid to ride too long or too hard. That's what cell phones are for. Rich Strauss
I have a pair of Sidi's with 2k mile on them , I just dry towel ,the dust off and use a leather oil to keep the front end from drying out , pull out the sole liner and shake in some baking soda with news paper stuffed in over night , I don't use any hot water or strong soaps.
My bike shoes used to smell horrible. I sweat a lot and often used them on the trainer. My bike seat smelled just as bad. Then I started spraying them all with Lysol after each ride. It has almost eliminated the smell and I doubt it hurts anything. The key is to have the Lysol handy so you'll use it.
Mild soap, cold water, scrubbing brush. Scrub inside and out and insoles. Take the insoles out and dry them after each use. Wearing socks will help. Glue that is used in shoes is heat activated. They begin to soften at about 140F so be careful drying them. Most of the leather is plastic coated on new shoes these days so it won't dry out. On old school cycling shoes made of real leather, use Nikwax waterproofing, or Lexol. Don't use neatsfoot oil, sno-seal or other oil based products. I was a cobbler in a former life and saw many shoes ruined by heat or oil.
After CDA the smell of my Sidi's was so bad that I thought I would have to throw them out. I put them in the washing machine on warm with some towls. Worked great, no smell and no damage.
Dave
Put them in a plastic bag and freeze them. No joke, the freezing kills all the odor causing bacteria.