Muc off – is it worth it?

I’ve had a rather slap dash approach to cleaning my bike – after most rides I just hose it down gently – making sure the worst is off and maybe scrub the drivetrain and re-lube. The thought being the more I soap it up the more I’d need to replace grease etc more often.

Not sure what but something got me thinking the other day about whether Muc-off could / would make it cleaner but avoid damaging the important bits.

What experiences has anyone had? Is it worth it? SHould I perhaps progress to Turtle wax?

I can’t see what it does that a quick hose down doesn’t. waste of money imo

It does help dissolve dirt better than just water but ordinary detergent seems to work just as well. I stopped buying it years ago as it also seemed to take the gloss finish off black Rockshox forks 🙂

That’s what I’m thinking but I got blinded by science after being told the stuff contains micro wotsits which dislodge dirt much more than just water.

(I also use pantene because it has Pro-V and Hydra Intensified Supra-Keratin in.)

It does nothing that a hose and a brush won’t do just as easily. It offers absolutely no benefit at all.

If you want to make your shiney bike less shiney and degrade elastomers, then it’s great! I use it very sparingly on oily bits only and make sure it’s rinsed-down thoroughly – better use is getting my car wheels clean! For cleaning bikes, I find hot soapy water just as effective.

This was on the WW forum, looks pretty good.

http://www.noquarterpaint.co.uk/products/

I’ve only cleaned my bike once this year…..

It’s a waste of money in my experience. As above I use a hose and brush for most cleaning. Soapy water every now and then, but not much point getting the bike properly clean at this time of year, apart from the moving bits of course.

Personally I think it is great and works really well. Much much better than soap and water and you don’t get many dirt / water marks. Makes cleaning loads quicker. Spray down bike to get the worst off, spray with kickoff. Quick rub over with fingers or rag and then spray clean. Sparkling clean bike in just a few minutes.

Of course there is always the debate of whether you should clean your bike at all.

Zipwax FTW. About £5 for 5 litres, lasts forever. Gives a bit of shine and means a bit less effort to clean stuff off. Mic Off is a waste of money IMO.

Isn’t it just the same as traffic film remover?

It’s **** marketing genius also.

I think a proper bike cleaner makes a difference, and it’s good value if you buy it in concentrate form, which also allows you to tailor the strength if you’re worried about it damaging parts of your bike. I prefer Fenwicks to MucOff because you apply it to a dry bike rather than having to rinse it first, which is annoying if you’re paying for a washer.

I dont bother with Muc off, but find Traffic film remover much cheaper and just as good, I spray it on a wet bike,let it soak in a while and then wash with a good quality car shampoo.rinse off with plenty of cold water job done

5L of cheap degreaser mixed v. dilute in a spray bottle does the job for me.

I use it on my transmission. It is better than just squirting it with a hose.

It’s just diluted traffic film remover, isn’t it? I’ve used a bottle of it before, but it didn’t seem to offer any improvement over citrus degreaser / a hose.

It’s debatable whether washing bikes is even worth it,let alone mucoff.

If you look at the MSDS for either MucOff or Fenwicks; Nano particles aside you can buy something similar for much much less. Hard surface cleaner with a bit of degreaser thrown in. TFR is different in that it’s made to get rid of dirt that’s already had the water soluble components washed away by months of exposure to the elements.

I’m surprised someone’s not come up with something more ridiculously priced than MucOff. They’re to applauded for selling bottles of mainly water at seven quid a throw. (I wish I’d thought of this)

So, sounds like it’s back to the hose for now

to be fair ive sed some of the other cleaners (the green one, cant remember its name) and its faded the anodizing.

ill stick with muc off as its simple but dont like the companies attitude tbh (after havig issues with their other products (mo94)

My brother buys something similar by the pallet. 200 5 litre containers cost him about £425. He flogs it on at a tenner a container and is very popular at that price. Needs watering down considerably or it fades anodising. Used sparingly its better than just water and is cheaper than washing up liquid to me.
Easy enough to source I was told.

I like it. Don’t think it’s any more damaging to bits than the ‘soap’ in other folks hot soapy water…

Spray everywhere, bar seals and stanchions, hose on sprinkle setting, set of cleaning brushes, don’t let it soak for more than half a minute, rinse and brush, 5 mins. Run chain through Park Tool machine with some chain degreaser, wee scrub on cassette and mechs, rinse all liberally, dry off, back in garage. 10 mins total max. Relube a few hrs later.

I find the green shifter cleaner from CRC works much better than mucoff and is about £3 cheaper.

muc-off is 20% off at the moment. I use fenwicks myself though

What sort of soap? I was told washing up liquid contains loads of salt which can’t be a good thing near bearings and bushes.

Why would you want to use a degreaser regularly on your bike? I use it once in a blue moon to remove old lube and oil off my transmission to replace with fresh, but generally between rides if I do wash my bike it’s just to get the mud off and water does that just fine. Spraying degreaser around will just mean it gets into your bearings and starts to break down any lubrication in your bearings and hubs etc.

Isn’t muc off acidic too?

Speaking of overpriced products from muc-off, anyone used their hydrodynamic lube? I’m fascinated by the idea of £15 for a wee bottle of chainlube- is it really something special? Reviews, and Sky obvs seem to think so…..

ref their chain lube one of my club mates did LEJOG this year on a single application of fancy Muc Off chain lube (the hydrodynamic or C3 or whatever), said he was the only one in his group that didn’t need to re-lube and didn’t have any drivetrain issues.

I used Fenwicks concentrate, and the ~£30 5L tub lasted me years. It’s pointless on properly muddy MTB or CX bikes, but works well on grimey road bikes (esp rim brake cack that covers stays and forks). I haven’t got around to buying any more since I finished the tub, but at the moment I’m at the hosing-kilos-of-mud-off-CX-bike stage.

I was told washing up liquid contains loads of salt which can’t be a good thing near bearings and bushes.

the tiny amounts of salt in the teeny amount that you use on your bike and then wash off pretty much straight way is going to have naff all effect on anything. Put it this way, why would buy something that can’t stand a hose and some fairy liquid pointed at it occasionally?

Having used Mucoff and Fenwicks extensively I would so no.

A bucket of hot soapy water and a sponge works just as well. I use a wax free car shampoo, usually as I have loads of it knocking around after evry christmas. However I was away on a MTB weekend a few weeks back and had no cleaning kit with me, so used some washing up liquid and a dish sponge from the kitchen, worked just as well and any salt in the washing up liquid isn’t a problem as its washed away when you rinse. Think about how muh grit and road salt a bike is exposed to during normal winter use and the salt in washing up liquid becomes insignificant.

The only possible advantage I see of bike cleaners like muc off is that they are slightly more portable, being in a spray bottle, so easily used in a car park after a ride where you might not have a bucket of hot water.

I put a couple of caps full of Karcher car cleaner shampoo into an old Muc-off spray bottle, fill it with water and it works just as well as Muc-off. The Karcher shampoo’s designed to work with cold water so it’s a lot less diluted than other car shampoos. £6.50 a bottle and lasts forever. You can get it in all the usual places. I use Fenwicks degreaser, or whatever’s on offer, in a Park chain cleaning tool to do the chain and sprockets.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/K%C3%A4rcher-Car-Shampoo-Plug-Clean/dp/B00B17M5AY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482313992&sr=8-1&keywords=karcher+car+cleaning+fluid

Rhino Goo ftw.

Agree with philwarren11, best bike cleaner on ther market IMHO. And the Rhino shine is an even better product, apply after washing and your bike will look like new 😀 http://www.rhinogoo.co.uk/

Hot water and fairy liquid with a brush on my chain/Cassette/chain rings.. does the job perfectly and kind on the hands.

The rest of the bike gets hosed down with plain water.
Dried with kitchen towel.
I occasionally polish the frame with autoglym car polish..

I saw a huge improvement moving from muc off to the Green oil cleaner

The whole MucOff/equivalent then spray down process is a really good way of selling MucOff/equivalent. But it often just results on your bike getting wetter than it needed to be and I doubt many people give it the time it needs to soak in properly. Maybe worth doing whrn the bike is already soaked in winter. Otherwise wiping bike down with rags does job with less rust/corrosion inducement. Takes a few mins, but so does a MucOff/equivalent job if done properly.

That said, I did like that Muc Off ‘Bike Spray’ as a general frame protector/water disperser for steel bikes which leaves less residue and seemed to have less grease-removing solvent in it than your standard GT85 etc. But there’s a chance that’s because there isn’t anything substantial in it! Wouldn’t buy it at RRP though.

This stuff diluted at the recommended 2% makes 500 litres, which is 5p a litre. I’ve tried Muc Off and Fenwicks, both good but no better.

I use it on my transmission. It is better than just squirting it with a hose.

Kinky.

I don’t think it’s worth it btw.

Poundland bike cleaner,the dispensers are useless so I usually buy about 10-15 at a time & fill a garden sprayer up with them. It’s like mucoff of old(when it did what it said on the tin) & probably ruins your paint over time, but it gets the crap off… Rocks, gravel & my big flappy feet rubbing against the chainstays ruins the paint long before that will anyways….