[Closed] bike cleaner

I'm buying the Fenwicks concentrate at the moment, happy enough. Dilute to taste

We use MucOff. Buy it in the big 5l bottles from Ebay Tweeks on BOGOF and then pour it into a garden spray.
Have tried most of the others and find it still the best

Find the juicy lubes lube / cleaners the best combo, currently running juicy wet on one bike, juicy wax on the other and using juicy degreaser / cleaners, works really well & easily!

They always have a 3 for 2 offer on their site.

I’ve still got a gallon or so of Juice lubes Super Gnar which you dilute and it’s as good as the Muc-Off we used to get. Before then we used to buy 5 gallon containers of an MX cleaner on eBay which was ok as well (and much cheaper)

Fenwicks caravan cleaner here, it's a diluteable job that seems to last ages

Fenwick's green for me, diluted into a spray bottle and neat for the chain cleaning device.

Used to buy the mucoff 5l bogof stuff from tweeks too, tried the Guy Martin stuff(discount on members site).It does the job, and like the idea of just the small concentrate pellets been posted.

Fairy Liquid for me and I'm pretty good at cleaning bikes 😉

Aldi cheapo washing-up liquid, diluted in a plant sprayer.

I used to clean bikes as part of my job.

Fairy Liquid for me and I’m pretty good at cleaning bikes 😉

Actually surprised.. thought you used unicorn tears and angels dreams to clean the bikes.
I thought washing up detergent was to salty (well they advise you don’t use it on cars) however if @scotroutes used to use it as part of your job it can’t be all bad!

Cheers all!

Squirt bike wash for me

I just use fresh water gently sprayed with a hose and washing up brushes etc.I don’t use detergent or cleaning products directly on the bike as they tend to remove grease and certainly not washing up liquid as that rusts bearings.

To clean the chain I remove it from the bike and drop it into an old plastic milk bottle with Muck-off to soak while I have a coffee. Then I just shake and rinse it with hot water. It comes out perfect.

Like Tracey I buy the big 5ltr MucOff bottles when it's on offer somewhere. I also dilute it down at a ratio of 10:1 and it works just as well as neat, you just need to spray it on a bit more on really stubborn bits.

certainly not washing up liquid as that rusts bearings.

Sorry, I should have mentioned, I rinse the bike with water afterwards. I assumed all these cleaners were getting rinsed off properly.

Rhino Goo works well. Usually around £25 for 2 x5 l from places like Demon Tweeks.

I should have said too that i just use fresh water on my mountain bike. As it’s so wet and muddy at the moment the hose and brush easily cleans it. In the summer I get lazy and only really clean the drivetrain and fork/shock stanchions.
I tend to use zip wax car shampoo on the road bike as traffic film is much harder to shift than mud. If the road bike rims are bad I do use muck off on them with a brush as the rim brake grime is tough to shift. I wish my road bike had disk brakes but it’s quite old .

Duck smart Earth Mover,
It's a motocross bike cleaner and comes in a nifty spray bottle that spray it as a foam rather than liquid, helps keep the product in tye area you've sprayed rather than just dropping off

Another one for washing up liquid here

Been using it on bikes for years with no issues

Bikes get a good rinse when cleaned so any salt left would be washed away

Salt can corrode bare metal but it's fine on painted and anno parts and is on the bike for less than 5 min when cleaning, road salt from winter riding prob spends longer on my bike and I've seen no damage from it

Shouldn't use washing up liquid on cars as it strips the wax off the paint

Cheapo washing up liquid in an old muc off bottle.

It's all the same stuff

Washing up liquid for me. Works well although I use a proper degreaser on the drivetrain when required.

Fenwicks, a splosh in the bottom of the bucket and fill with warm water then use that to dip the brushes in and scrub it cleam. Tried mucoff in the past but I found once rinsed off there would still be a sheen of mud on the bike.

OH uses cheapo car shampoo and it's utter rubbish but thankfully I've almost completely squashed that out of him!

Frankly, the best thing I ever used was traffic film remover.

Never found it dissolved my bike. Just rinse as normal.

That said, I stopped buying it because I couldn't imagine it was entirely ecologically friendly.

I'm working through a daft crazy buying spree of Muc-Off 5l bottles, reckon I've got another 18 months of that, I hose bike down so it is wet, spray the bike with this stuff and leave it for a minute or so then hose it again...comes out nicely almost entirely. Drivetrain gets a stiff brush sprayed with muc-off and scrubbed and if the wheels are bad they also get the brush.

My bike washing process is probably about 5 minutes in total per bike - whether still wet or dry...the Muc-Off stuff works well. I've got some Guy Martin tablets but yet to try those as the Muc-Off is still needing used.

I did help do some testing on some secret stuff back in 2011 - the guy (can't recall now) was working for a company who was looking to branch out to other avenues of cleaning stuff. It was absolutely brilliant - didn't need the pre-wash like Muc-Off and it seemed to clean everything without any scrubbing. It really was brilliant, but he was doing it as a side-project and he got moved to another project and it all went quiet. If that stuff did ever get made and sold, I'd love to know what it is called so I can get some.

Fenwicks green, diluted down a bit more than the recommended 1:10 ratio.

None of my bikes have paint and no issues thus far - 1 x ti and 3 x raw aluminium. I do keep them waxed up for some protection though, so that helps prevent mud sticking as badly in the first place.

Another that rinses with water, then Zip Wax in a bucket and sponges/brushes. Very rarely use muc-off as I've seen it dull annodised/coated components - my 90's MTB - the gloss black stem goes matt if muc-off get's on it.

I tend to use it very sparingly, and not leave it on long, I find it a bit aggressive and it removed and waxes on the frame.

That said, the muc-off wash kit I got for Christmas is good, and the big soft brush is great at getting crap off the MTB. Muc-off is good for removing brake debris from road rims though.

I did use the muc-off chain cleaner device - first time ever I've used one. The chain was a right mess after a very wet Gisburn ride. Quick spin of the pedals, couple of squirts of cleaner into the chain device, some more rotations. Quick wipe with a rag, re-oil - nice and shiney.

I then to remove the chain when it's bad and pop it in Screwfix degreaser.

TFR is effective and cheap, but it will strip any waxes straight off the frame. I find a bit of Muc-Off Protect and Shine after a wash, makes washing bikes far easier the next time out.

Regarding using washing up liquid and salt.

From Dr Bob Eden BSc MSc PhD MICorr (Member of the Institute of Corrosion)

“Washing up liquid does contain a ‘salt’ but this is the active ingredient and should not be confused with road salt. There is nothing in a washing-up liquid that will exacerbate corrosion – there’s no sodium chloride salt to worry about. The issue regarding corrosion is the ‘chloride’ bit of the salt. In ‘chloride nests’ at the base of a corrosion pit, the chloride exists as hydrogen chloride, which in damp conditions creates a solution of dilute hydrochloric acid, and it’s this acid that does the damage. You need to avoid ‘chloride’ from any and all sources, e.g. seawater, road grit and fish & chips (but not washing up liquid).

Washing up liquid for me. Works well although I use a proper degreaser on the drivetrain when required.

This for me too.

Pink MucOff for frames/wheels, Yellow Mucoff in a chain cleaning device and Peatys de-greaser for the cassette.

Very occasionally..

Warm water and washing up liquid, followed by a hose off. Repeat every three or four years, whether it needs it or not.

Peaty's range works well for me 👌

I mostly just use washing up liquid & water but have been working through some Muc-off concentrate someone bought me. I think the Muc-off does help the dirt to come off with a bit less elbow grease, but I don't think that's offset by the convenience of just using something thats in the kitchen anyway.

I will use my extensive knowledge of chemistry (BSc (Hons)) to confirm that the 'saltiness' of washing up liquid will have approximately zero (0) effect on corrosion.

Rhino Goo works well.

I'm convinced Rhino Goo is some sort of sorcery. I've tried a few other cleaners - Muc Off and Fenwicks and other than smelling nice they aren't really any better than fairy liquid or a bit of Autoglym car shampoo. Wet the bike, spray on the cleaner, wait a couple of minutes, then brush / scrub off, then rinse.

Rhino goo basically works the same but you don't need to brush or scrub off, the dirt just rinses straight off. I use the concentrate and dilute it to half the strength suggested as it just works.

I won a Fenwicks kit recently and have been impressed with it. Their foaming degreaser and chain sponge are absolutely superb and a million times better than the useless chain cleaning device thing I had before.

Currently using fenwicks but when that runs out will most likely move to slickwhips as the group im part of seems to rate it.

In all honesty i just buy whatever i can get in a concentrate 5 litres at a time.

One thing I noticed with Muck off is that on its own it doesn’t seem to cause rust. When I have accidentally left a chain immersed in it overnight it still seems fine.

Tap water from the hose after a ride in wet conditions seems like it’s starting to cause rust fairly soon. I guess that might be the chlorine in it? Anyway I try to quickly dry and re-lube the chain after hosing the bike.