It has been seen that many motorcycle riders care about their rides and take care of it by cleaning and do the maintenance check. In fact, it is a good hobby that you actually care about your motorcycle. But, ignoring the gear and accessories is not. How come you ignore a dirty motorcycle helmet or smelly jacket? A piece of advice! A motorcycle helmet or rest of gear need cleaning as much as your ride needs. Especially, a motorcycle helmet which is a piece of gear can give you many years of protection, if properly maintained.
It doesn’t matter if you are a new or experienced rider, as long as you are using a helmet while motorcycle riding, it needs proper cleaning inside out. It can clean itself. Right?
Which is why we are here today to help you in cleaning your dirty/smelly motorcycle helmet. Let’s find out why cleaning a motorcycle helmet is important and how we can clean a motorcycle helmet with ease.
Why Cleaning a Motorcycle Helmet is Important?
You can’t deny the fact that nobody wants to ride wearing a smelly dusty helmet. Keeping it fresh is the only option to have a pleasant and safe ride. But, there is a bigger concern here which need to be discussed.
An exterior shell and visor is the important part of a helmet which protects us from exterior dangers. So, you can assume, what would happen if you are riding with a dirty visor which is blocking your vision while riding? We believe you’ve got the clear image of what we have been trying to tell you. Next is, lining and padding of the helmet in the interior area which needs to be removed and washed if possible. Due to excessive sweat and moisture, the padding and liner build up a harmful layer of bacteria which can damage your skin by causing skin irritation.
We are pretty sure, you don’t want that to happen to you.
Now, you know that importance, let’s head to “how to clean your motorcycle helmet?”
First, we would like to inform you that cleansing motorcycle helmet is no big deal as long as you are taking precautions and follow the steps in the chronological order. Cleaning and maintaining don’t require special tool or equipment. On the contrary, you can do this with some basic cleaning items.
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How to Clean Your Motorcycle Helmet?
The steps given below are written on our best practices that we have had success in the cleaning process of several kinds of helmets. Still, we would suggest you consult with your helmet’s owner manual to be more specific.
Just to be clear, our practices will not harm your helmet on any level and won’t void the manufacturer’s warranty.
#1 Collect the Right Materials
Gathering all necessary materials first will help you save some time in cleaning motorcycle helmet. Here, we have mentioned some basic materials which can be replaced by the ones which work best. You can pick the other options since there are certainly many alternatives.
Let’s start with a clean rag. To wash your helmet as well as face shield you don’t need a brand new rag just a clean one. Make sure there aren’t any dust particles in it. Otherwise, you may damage your helmet even more.
Next on the list is a toothbrush which also doesn’t have to be a new one. On the contrary, an old clean toothbrush will do the job and reach places where your microfiber rag cannot.
Keep some baby shampoo with yourself while cleaning the helmet. It is because baby shampoos are usually non-petroleum based and work as a good cleaning agent. And to loosen dirt and dead bugs from your helmet, make sure you have storage of sufficiently warm water to wash without warming it.
#2 Check for Electronic Accessories
Stating the obvious but removing the electronic accessory like Bluetooth communicator units or batteries is important. If you wash your helmet with internal electronic accessory then there is good chance it will be damaged before you finished cleaning. So, make sure, it doesn’t slip your mind. Whether you are working on modular helmets or dirt bike helmets.
#3 Remove the Interior
It is preferable to remove the internal line and cheek pads before washing the helmet. In order to do that first, you can check the owner’s manual to remove liner and pads in a strategic manner.
#4 Cleaning the Exterior
The very first thing to perform is dampening it with water and use the clean rag soaked in warm water and put it on top of the helmet shell and leave for few minutes. Once the helmet is cleaned remove the rug as well as a visor and dip the rug in water once again and wring out the excess.
Use the same rug to wash the exterior. To reach out the small spaces and corners, you can use a toothbrush.
Note: – Don’t use any chemical product on the helmet surface and visor because many chemical products applied over time can seriously damage the surface and weakens its protective properties.
Same goes for car polish and alcohol which you don’t need to rub on the EPS liner. If you do, you may lose the impact absorbing property of the EPS liner.
Next. You can use the same rug to clean the visor and dry both visor and shell with a piece of clean dry cloth.
#5 Cleaning the Interior
It is time to clean the liner and cheek pads which you removed in the first place. For starters, you can wash both in a bucket or hand wash in a sink, or wash with mild soap in a washing machine. Baby shampoo would be the most appropriate choice to not damage the wicking properties of the fabric in washing.
Once you finished washing the interior liner and cheek pads, let it dry in open. We won’t recommend any heating product since exposing them to heat may fabric to shrink.
#6 Re-assemble
Now that you have finished washing, you can reassemble your helmet by attaching all parts which you removed prior to cleaning.
Final Thoughts: –
Washing a motorcycle helmet is no big deal. It just, you have to make sure you don’t overdo it. Use basic stuff and follow the steps mentioned above. As long as you are following the above steps, you don’t have to worry about anything. This is the basic yet effective way to clean and maintain your motorcycle helmet. However, there are few things you must keep in your mind like using any hard solvents or chemical products which certainly harm the protective properties of your motorcycle helmet.
If you still have any questions or would like to add something up then don’t forget to mention in the comment section given below.
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