It's true, soft bags get pretty grungy. Just did 4000 miles in Mexico ... LOTS of road construction and LOTS of water trucks. All my off road riding was dry, so just a bit of dust. But on the highway ... massive construction projects, some going for 60 miles.
You might consider using inner bags inside your soft bags. My soft panniers stay ON THE BIKE, never come off. I simply unzip pannier, lift out my inner bag and I'm away. No dirty panniers in room or tent. Loading in just as easy/quick.
I did spray off my bags one time on my trip. Used a hose in a Pemex station. Took all of about 3 minutes, got about 80% of the mud grunge off the bags and bike. Easy.
That Calcium Cloride is a BITCH ... it can also damage fabric and Aluminum.
I try to wash it off daily if possible.
One other thing ... dirt and mud affected the Zippers on my panniers. But washing them off helped. I used silicone spray polish once back home to get them zipping good as new.
Once home, I made a warm solution of Tide and soaked the bags a while, then did a quick scrub. Rinse it all off really well. Clean as new.
Last edited by mollydog; 10 Dec 2014 at 19:50.
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