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Looking at the price of the Bosch one was an eye opener to say the least. So what's out there that works for a lot less cash? Ideally enough capacity for 2 bikes.
The brush from a dustpan and brush set. 👍
Or an old bit of towel.
I got for my birthday the Worx hydroshot. Great bit of kit. Also got the bottle adapter with it, so you can screw in a plastic bottle of water. That was enough to rinse down one muddy bike after a ride. Not perfectly clean but good enough to pop in the van.
Standard battery does take a while to charge. Lasts about 20 mins.
The different settings are useful and a hi and lo pressure setting is good for when washing bikes.
+1 for the Worx Hydroshot, I use a 10l container from go outdoors which is enough to clean 2 bikes quickly or 1 properly ( with a quick spray of muc off or similar). As said above the battery lasts around 20 mins and takes a few hours to charge
If you want to go the budget option, I ordered one on Sunday from ebay, arrived yesterday.£17.
12 volt, plugs into a cigarette lighter socket, I had planned to buy a motorbike battery, wire a socket to it and use it like that but I reckon the car powering it is the best option for me after CX races.
Works pretty well, tried it on the car yesterday, and does the wheels well enough, so should get the mud from a bike easily.
It gets through water quick though, I reckon 10 litres per bike.
Had a cheap eBay one for about a year, worked well enough but diedas I cleaned up after the last Southern Enduro.
Have bitten the bullet and bought a Worx, not used yet but seems a nice bit of kit and will live in my van with a 10ltr jerrycan of water.
Mobi in one if the many crc sales .
Works well enough for 50 squid.
I've borrowed a few off friends and never been that impressed. They would get loose mud and grit off but not a lot else. Borrowed a friends Worx one at a really bad CX race and it was nearly as good as hose pipe. I went out and bought one a day later. Can be found for £100. I got a free water container from a local garage.
I use a cheap eBay pressure washer as above attached to a 25 litre water tub. Easily cleans two bikes, three if you’re quick and only cost £20. Hard to compete at that price point for only a few more fancy details like a battery that then needs recharging. The tub can easily be filled from nearby rivers etc.
Worx: just get the fast charger and a couple of batteries. About an hour to charge.
Hozelock garden sprayer. Been using them for years and work very well.
JeZ
Think I was one of the first on here to buy a Hydroshot. Got some gentle ribbing as to why I wanted or needed one. Three seasons of it been in the camper and has been used all over the UK and Europe to clean the bikes. Mainly after events.
We have used mountain streams, rivers, lakes and ponds with the hose and if all else fails we have enough water on board to use
Can't recomend it highly enough, worth every penny.
Can wash four bikes with one charge.
We have had the Worx one for a couple of years. Works well with the included collapsible bucket and will easily do two bikes on a charge. But spare battery prices are eye-watering.
Word hydroshot
Plus why buy a spare battery when they do other tools
I bought there hedge trimmer for £40 in the Argo sale & uses the same battery
Why would anyone want to clean there bike with a dustpan and brush rubbing all that mud and grit into there pride and joy and I don't know where people live who use a hozelock garden sprayer to clean there bike but I would need to constantly pump it for mass pressure and fill it several times to get bikes clean this time of year or is it just a macho thing to say I clean my bike with a garden rake & spit at it from a 100yards and lube my chain with bull seaman.
Just buy the right tool for the job or don't do it at all is my moto
Had my worx hydroshot a couple of years and always gets comments like it's the second coming but I just tell people the truth I searched this thing that you may or may not of heard of GOOGLE!
Another vote for the Hydroshot here.
Was going to recommend the Nomad v2 that I bought a few years ago but the company seems to have gone now? Can't find anything on the web. Maybe they never solved their supply chain issues (there was a LONG gap between the v1 & the v2 being available which they blamed on this IIRC). Shame as it's a great product. Quite expensive, but has never let me down, plus it uses a Ryobi 18v tool battery so at least I'll still be able to get a spare!
Any portable washer is a luxury item admittedly but they are dead handy and arguably a better use of money than some bling upgrade on the bike 😃
So am I right in thinking that with the Hydroshot you need to carry water is a separate thing, if theirs no other source?
Omg the spelling on this thread...I've gone all twitchy.
For the Hydroshot you will need to have access to water. The pipe that comes with it has a float and filter on it so within reason can be dropped in anywhere. Other than that you will need to have water with you. As a last resort we also have a folding bucket from Aldi and onboard water in the camper
+1 for Worx with 10l water container. Will do x2 bikes easily. It’s a lot easier to clean the bike immediately at the end of a ride than washing the bikes when I get home when the mud is dried on.
I've got one of the mobi 15l washers. Used it a good bit and very impressed, well worth £50 👍👍
I bought a 12v eBay pumped washer. It's basically a caravan water pump and a gun that throttles the flow to get the pressure up. My pump is rated to 0.8 bar, but there are 0.6 and 1.0 bar available for the same money. I'd say its not far off my water pressure at home with less flow.
It cost 15 quid. Coupled with some cable ties and a 10l plastic diesel can for another 10 quid, it's better than the Karcher OC3 that my mate has, and better than the mobiwasher (now sold under the Sealy name) my other friend has.
Cons are that it doesn't look super fancy and can't run from a battery.
I am curious about the Worx hydroshot, but I'm not convinced from the comments on here and the YouTube videos that it's anywhere near 3 times better than what I've put together.
+1 for the Worx!
I got one in last years black Friday deals. Also bought a drill and impact driver at Xmas. They have been so good, I bought a strimmer in the spring! So now I have 4 batteries and chargers, so plenty spare. Its bloody brilliant! Far more powerful than anything else I've seen (mobi washers, ebay pumps). I use mine to clean the car too with the foaming soap dispenser. Got a 20ltr water container permanently in the boot of my car which cleans mine well and 1 or possibly 2 others.
Get one and then the other tools to go with!
Given that I only ever use a hose pipe with decent pressure to clean my bikes, I'm thinking the mobi will be more than enough for the post ride pre drive home wash given that the mud will still be wet.
Using the 12v power from the car with the engine running for a few minutes also means the car will be nice and warm by the time you're driving home too 😁
8 quid at Wilko
^^ used a weed sprayer for years, got a hydoworks, like night and day they are very good
+1 for the hydroshot, it’s genuinely good.
I live in a 3rd floor flat, so it’s the only way i can wash my car.
Or bikes.
Right, I bought djflexure's Worx off another thead that I can't find right now, and while it did the bike OK, I'm disappointed that it hasn't got the oomph to do my van.
It didn't come with a detergent bottle though, @martymac or anyone else who car washes with it, does that make a difference?
Like the other correct people here, I’ve a word hydroshot!
Absolutely fantastic bit of kit.. for £7 i got a 25l plastic jerrycan type thing that is permanently strapped in the boot of my car, so cleaning the bikes after a ride (or even when I get back home) is a breeze.
I’d advise having a bike stand too, just to keep it stood up so that you can spin the cranks.
I had a BB mounting one, but recently made a wheel holder stand thing as now most of my bikes don’t fit the BB mount one! (DUB, or road BBs)
DrP
I bought the Bosch washer. Very expensive at over £200 and it broke after two months!!
Currently it is sat in my conservatory waiting to go back to Bosch for warranty inspection! It has been sat there for weeks! They keep saying that they're sending out a courier who can turn up any time between 8 and 5pm who has never shown up.
I've ended up buying a cheap Mobi V15 to fill in until I get this Bosch sent back off because it's going to take ages at this rate and I can't be left without a bike washer for weeks in this muddy country.
As for the Mobis - Very unreliable!
I've gone through six Mobi V17's since 2015!
Always the same problems: they start leaking and flooding your car out.
Then a few months later the battery fails to charge.
The cheaper Mobi V15 might actually be more reliable, it comes as a single unit as opposed to the modular nature of the V15, and it runs off your car's battery instead of coming with it's own.
Yes, my worx came with the detergent bottle, it’s pretty good at whipping up a foam, but you still need to handwash the car really.
It’s not a real pressure washer, 300psi vs 1500psi eh.
I spent a lot of time washing my (white) car when i got it, and i coated it in ceramic wax too, this has made subsequent washes a lot easier and quicker.
Bum. Cheers martymac.
Another happy Mobi V15 user here. They are currently 50 quid at CRC in the Black Friday sale.
The mobi V17 isn't worth it - the worx shytes all over it and is a similar price. The V17 actually works OK for washing the bikes after a ride, but it's not that powerful, the charging point corrodes and the nozzle fittings are very brittle and can crack if you drop it. It does also leak a little if you're transporting it.
V15 for fifty quid sounds OK if you don't want to stretch to the worx.
I used my Mobi v-15 for the first time this weekend. I used it on a bike with dried on mud from a very very sloppy day of riding last weekend. I wasnt expecting much but i was pleasantly surprised. Bit of muc off and some scrubbing with the included brush and the bike is absolutely spotless. Used about half the capacity on the one bike.