Bikers use urinal cakes for hygiene

[snopes]

Comment: This is a possible urban/rural legend that I heard from my uncle
when I was about 13 or 14. My uncle is an auto mechanic in Fulda
Minnesota and my family would visit in the summer. In the mid-west in the
Summer Sturgis bike rally is a big happening. Once when talking with him
about it he told myself and my family that he had heard the following:
That bikers on the road for several continuous days would take urinal
cakes and put them in their pockets to stay fresh. They would rub them on
their armpits and other places to freshen up. Furthermore the hardcore
bikers would not get new urinal cakes but take urinal cakes from
bathrooms, wash them off, and then take them on the road.
I live in Virginia and don't know any bikers. I am wondering if this is a
biker or midwest legend or if it actually happens.

[DrRocket]

Originally Posted by snopes

They would rub them on
their armpits and other places to freshen up. Furthermore the hardcore
bikers would not get new urinal cakes but take urinal cakes from
bathrooms, wash them off, and then take them on the road.

Well, I don't know if it's true, but all I can say is..........



Eeew!

[remarkgullabull]

I am wondering if this is a
biker or midwest legend or if it actually happens.

Yep, it's true because in Minnesota, there are signs over the urinals that state, "Don't eat the big white mint".

[Seburiel]

having been a biker for many years, I can say that, while my observations do not explain everything, I have never seen this, not once in 10 straight years of motoring to Sturgis. As I've said, I haven't seen it happen, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen

[FloridaGirl]

I was a biker, my dad still is, and this is the first time I have heard this. Bikers do have a sense of hygiene, despite their reputation.

[Grand Illusion]

As Snopes might say if he wrote a main webside page on this, this UL draws from the paranoia that bikers are at the same time prone to criminal activity and unhygienic. Since urinal cakes are more expensive and less commercially available than deodorant, the implication is that they steal the cakes from restrooms.

Let's apply some statistics here: The biker-to-urinal ratio is pretty high in a place like Sturgis (or anywhere else that bikers hang out). A few of them would be able to snag the cakes, but there are too few urinals out there for it to become a widespread habit. I've heard stories about various people stealing urinal cakes, or even taking a bite out of them (on a dare), so it's possible that a friend of a friend could have witnessed one solitary biker using a cake for personal hygiene.

[Cervus]

Most of the bikers I know are cleaner than most of the hippies I know.

[Banrion]

IF this was even a moderately used technique, we would hear about it on a slow news day. The primary active ingredient in urinal cakes is Paradichlorobenzene, the same as mothballs.

From the MSDS:

SECTION VI - Health Hazard Data
Route of Entry: Skin YES
Route of Entry: Ingestion N/K
Route of Entry: Inhalation YES
Health Hazards - Acute and Chronic INGESTION AS ROUTE OF ENTRY IS UNLIKELY. INHALATION OR INGESTION OF PARADICHLOROBENZENE AT CONCENTRATIONS WELL ABOVE PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE LIMITS CAN CAUSE DEPRESSION OF COMMON NERVOUS SYSTEM, VAPOR MAY CAUSE IRRITATION OF SKIN OR EYES & HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CAUSE LIVER DAMAGE IN RATS & RABBITS
Carcinogenity: NTP NO
Carcinogenity: IARC NO
Carcinogenity: OSHA NO
Explanation of Carcinogenity N/K
Symptoms of Overexposure HEADACHE, DIZZINESS, EYES, NOSE & THROAT IRRITATION, NAUSEA, FEELING OF DRUNKENESS & CARDIAC SENSITIZATION MAY BE EXPERIENCED BY SOME INDIVIDUALS WHERE THE CONCENTRATION OF PARA IS WELL ABOVE THE TLV IN CONFINED, POORLY VENTILATED AREAS
Medical Cond. Aggrevated by Exposure N/K
Emergency/First Aid Procedures EYES:FLUSH WITH PLENTY OF WATER FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES. SKIN:WASH AFFECTED AREA WITH SOAP & WATER. INHALED:REMOVE TO FRESH AIR. IF SWALLOWED:RINSE MOUTH. DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING. GIVE LOTS OF WATER OR MILK. IN ALL CASES WHERE PAIN IN AN AFFECTED AREA PERSISTS, CALL A PHYSICIAN

MSDS in full

Bolding mine.

I certainly wouldn't want anyone on the road in that condition, and there would likely be multiple fatalities a year due to accidents on the road if this were a common practice

Oh puleeze! Being a biker, I can tell you there are just as many slobs in every walk of life, there's no preponderance of poor hygiene because someone rides a motorcycle. Never seen that happen, never heard of it happening, I highly doubt it. That's like saying truckers use those little pine tree air fresheners for deodorant. I don't buy it for a second. Besides, there are lots of places to shower anywhere you go, and if you're camping, most of the time it's near a lake or river. Sounds like a total myth to me.

[charlie23]

Well, I'm a biker and I haven't showered yet today...but you try it first and let me know how it works
I don't have a cite for it, but I'm almost certain this was first written in a piece of humorous fiction published in Easyriders magazine back in the early 80's.

Originally Posted by Cervus

Most of the bikers I know are cleaner than most of the hippies I know.

Just to add
Most of the bikers I know are cleaner than most "straight" (straight as in lifestyle) people I know. Usually theyre clean their kids are clean & usually the most well mannered kids i meet (they better damn well be j/k)
and their homes are usually immaculate.

Originally Posted by Banrion

IF this was even a moderately used technique, we would hear about it on a slow news day. The primary active ingredient in urinal cakes is Paradichlorobenzene, the same as mothballs.

From the MSDS:


MSDS in full

Holy Crap
I've worked for several cleaning businesses over the years & handled urinal cakes(putting in the new ones) makes me wish now I had worn full military chemical gear.

[Banrion]

Originally Posted by thedukeofmuskoka

Holy Crap
I've worked for several cleaning businesses over the years & handled urinal cakes(putting in the new ones) makes me wish now I had worn full military chemical gear.

I used to handle keeping the MSDS books up to date for a movie theatre I worked in. Industrial cleaners are no laughing matter, and I am frankly surprised that respirators or at least a mask aren't required for people who spend all day everyday using these products.

[Debunker]

You all are forgetting that bikers are so tough that the active ingredients in urinal cakes won't affect them at all.

Get it?

[Tarquin Farquart]

Why not just use the liquid soap to freshen up?

Originally Posted by Debunker

You all are forgetting that bikers are so tough that the active ingredients in urinal cakes won't affect them at all.

that's what I thought.

"We're so tough, we use urinal cakes as breath mints...".

I'm not sure anyone, even a "stereotypical dirty biker", would want to smell like a urinal cake.

And remarkgullabull, for the Minnesota comment!

-Tim

[remarkgullabull]

Originally Posted by Rehcsif

I'm not sure anyone, even a "stereotypical dirty biker", would want to smell like a urinal cake.

And remarkgullabull, for the Minnesota comment!

-Tim

Pssst, I used to be one of you. Oh wait, not again....

Remark "former Minneapolis/St. Paul resident" gullabull