[Closed] MUC-OFF Alternatives

1L bottle of Fenwicks concentrate from Merlin, made up in an empty Mucoff spray bottle

Screwfix degreaser 5 litre, diluted in old muc off bottle.

Autosmart Smart Wheels 5l drum about £25. It will need diluting.

engine degreaser from your local pound shop variant.

+1 for the Fenwicks concentrate diluted.

Allegedly it is re-packaged caravan cleaner, but as diluted it works out ~£1 a litre it's pretty cheap already.

1L bottle of Fenwicks concentrate from Merlin, made up in an empty Mucoff spray bottle

Dito.

pound land had some in last year, which worked pretty well. hoping they'll get some more in!

these guys sponsored SSUK 14, and the stuff is bloomin marvelous, best cleaner I've used.

[url= http://www.surechemicals.co.uk/suremagic-domestic-range/home/suremagic-muck-muncher ]muck muncher[/url]

A bottle of the chain clean gel from Green Oil dilutes to make a litre of bike clean. Equally as good as muc off (if not better)and much better for the planet.

+1 Fenwicks (5l)

I saw in B&Q the other day that WD40 is now making some bike-specific products.

I might give them a try.

Poundland "No More Dirty Bike", it's even Pink and comes in a Muck-Off style bottle.

Fenwicks. Have used it for years and buying a big 5L container lasts for ages. By comparison, I recently bought some Muc-Off nad it lasted two bike washes – cost circa £7.

Muc-Off nad it lasted two bike washes – cost circa £7.

I have to admit i've had fenwick's before and it was good.

Would this be the same stuff? except cheaper and with free postage?

[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fenwicks-Advanced-Caravan-Motorhome-Care-Cleaner-Concentrate-1-Litre-/351308203989?hash=item51cb99c7d5:g:NEsAAOSwQPlV~LH2 ]ebay link[/url]

Autosmart G101.

Been using Fenwicks (1L concentrate diluted to 10:1) but going to try the Green Oil stuff next. Their chain cleaning gel dilutes, not as much as the fenwicks but interesting to use the gel neat on things too.

Going to put an order in for some of their chain oil too and give that a go. Shame the kickstarter for their slip lube didnt get funded.

I liked the Fenwicks stuff but 5 Litres is over 30 quid. It dilutes at 10%

I then tried this stuff [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPECIAL-OFFER-X2-5L-Professional-Motorcycle-Bike-Bicycle-Chain-Cleaner-Degreaser-/300951048994?hash=item4612149322:g:NT0AAOSwPcVVnoSX ]Ebay Bike Cleaner.[/url]It dilutes at 2% upwards depending on how severe the contamination is, but I've found 2% to be plenty most of the time. It has exactly the same effect as Muc Off & Fenwicks but costs less. There no sign of by bike dissolving yet and the brakes still work. I split the cost of buying 10 litres with a mate. Fag packet arithmetic says 250 litres of bike spray for 12 quid. I won't be changing back again.
D.

I use Rhine Goo, lots of friends use the Dusk smart stuff too.

Both seem to do as equal a job as Muc-off.

great for cleaning alloys on the car too

Does Fenwicks etc cut through chain oil? I generally use car shampoo but by the time I've washed the rear mech and chain rings the brush gets coated with oil that then gets spread round the rest of the bike. Even if I do the mech and chain rings last, it still gets left on the brush for next time. Gunk will take it off but spreads like diesel. I'd like something in between that will remove chain lube but rinse off with no residue

I generally use car shampoo but by the time I've washed the rear mech and chain rings the brush gets coated with oil that then gets spread round the rest of the bike. Even if I do the mech and chain rings last, it still gets left on the brush for next time.

you need more brushes! I've got a brush and sponge for anything non-greasy/oily and one for the drive train.

And fairy for the win - diluted in hot water for the main wash, and neat on the oily brushes. Works a treat.

It's all just Traffic Film Remover, surely?

[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUTOSTAR-TRAFFIC-FILM-REMOVER-NON-CAUSTIC-5-LITRE-TFR-CAR-TRUCK-BUS-CARAVAN-5L-/191840280517?hash=item2caa925fc5:g:PywAAOSwA4dWFqLS ]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUTOSTAR-TRAFFIC-FILM-REMOVER-NON-CAUSTIC-5-LITRE-TFR-CAR-TRUCK-BUS-CARAVAN-5L-/191840280517?hash=item2caa925fc5:g:PywAAOSwA4dWFqLS[/url]

I've ordered that TFR I linked to. For 5 litres for £8 with free postage it seems a bargain, dilutes 100:1, is non caustic, it says caravan cleaner on the front and it even looks like Fenwick's. I'll be able to tell if it's Fenwicks or not by the smell.

The chemical man I spoke to described all the bike cleaners as "Hard surface cleaners" Can't tell you any more. TFR diluted incorrectly is horrible stuff. Traffic film is hard to remove because all the water soluble stuff has been washed away by the rain. So most car shampoo's won't shift it, hence TFR. I don't know if it's the same thing.

Another vote for Fenwicks FS1 here. Dilute for general cleaning purposes and used neat for chain cleaning.

Only takes a couple of minutes to clean a chain so it looks like new.

I used to strip my chains using undiluted fenwick's but i realised it's not a good idea because you're just removing the factory coating that comes on it.

Wd40 and fairy washing up liquid. Spray the wd40 all over give it a scrub spray some more let it soak then wash down with diluted warm fairy water. Cheap as chips and works a treat and doesn't destroy the paint

Stardrops

Bomber, that factory coating (cosmoline?) is just there to prevent corrosion during storage, not to work as a lubricant. Sophisticated lubes usually recommend this is cleaned off first. It is good at making crap stick to your chain, if that's a plus.

Great to see a couple of shouts for Green Oil here. It's what we use on our hire fleet and customer bikes, and it works at least as well as the big names. It's by far the most environmentally-friendly option we've found, despite the claims made by just about every cleaner out there.

It's a good bit cheaper than Muc Off but obviously not quite as cheap as some of the other options mentioned.

Elbow Grease at £1 courtesy of Semi Chem cleans anything (including oily clothes) as well as and better than most things I have used in forty years of cleaning motor and pedal cycles but is a bit dearer than some of the dilutables mentioned.

Aldi - Caravan cleaner

50% diluted flash liquid.. Spray on an soak for 5 mins... Then a cheap salt free car shampoo with hot water.

Fenwicks here.
Neat TFR takes anodising off, if your'e interested.

Drovercycles - how are you finding the green oil chain lube? Met the owner at a show in London last month and really like his attitude towards materials, especially the way they use old coke bottle tops on the bottles.

Would be great if all bike shops stocked it in bulk to refill like you can Ecover at some places (like our post office in the village).

Muk junkie.. from eBay 🙂

72 baby wipes for 50p at T**co.

+1 for fenwicks

Best one I've tried was Hope Shifter (that's used with a Mobi washer).

So far, I'm loving my Muc Off chain degreaser with their chain cleaner, as well as the x4 concentrated 1l general cleaner. Going to last me ages! 8)

Aldi caravan cleaner or Screwfix ultimate citrus degreaser .

http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668

Ive been using DEB Janitol Plus for years. Dilute right down for general cleaning and stronger in Park chain cleaner. I bet 5 litres last a year at least. I have it in a 7 litre garden pressure sprayer from Clas Ohlsen, quick spray over and leave a couple of mins then hose down. None of my bikes have dissolved yet. Its pink like Muc off too.

http://www.astleys.co.uk/Product/deb-janitol-plus.html

Bomber, that factory coating (cosmoline?) is just there to prevent corrosion during storage, not to work as a lubricant. Sophisticated lubes usually recommend this is cleaned off first. It is good at making crap stick to your chain, if that's a plus.

I'm sorry but that's not correct. It is an anti corrosion which is why your chain will rust if you strip it off with powerful degreasers. Unless you are going to lube it after each ride and wash. Try and preserve it and lubricate over the top of it and you'll have a silky smooth chain that doesn't rust. But it's also a great (the best?) lubricant you can have on your chain as it covers every part of it. Once you flush it out it's very hard to get good quality lube back into those tiny spaces. I've never put a new chain on and though "bloody heck this new chain is rough!".

Sophisticated lubes probably know that if you strip it back to bare you're going to have to use a lot more of their product more often.

What I have noticed is that if you do strip the factory coating off, the links move around more freely....but it's not a nice feeling. More of a harsh and gritty one. This is because the spaces between the links now contain air, water and dirt, whereas before there was a lovely/perfect/ high pressure grease keeping all the mud and water out.

So never, ever touch your chain with any degreasers or anything like WD40 which will dissolve the factory coating, unless you want it to be rust-prone and high maintenance.

Or buy a deep fat fryer and boil your chains in chain wax for total coverage of the important parts?.