Muc-Off Ultimate Bicycle Cleaning Kit Review

The Muc-Off Ultimate Bicycle Cleaning Kit contains just about every product you’ll need for cleaning, protecting and lubing your bicycle, whether its a road, cyclocross, mountain, cruiser, or the daily commuter. The kit comes in a nice plastic toolbox and includes their Bike Cleaner Spray, Sponge, Soft Brush, Detailing Brush, Two-Prong Brush, Claw Brush, Microfibre Cloth, Drivetrain Cleaner, Bike Protect Spray, and Wet Lube. Its the ideal maintenance kit to get your bike cleaned and protected for its next adventure out in the wild or buzzing around town. The Cleaners and Protective Sprays feature well-engineered and effective Biodegradable formulas and the Brushes are high quality and offer excellent functionality, all of which make for synergistic workmates.

Kit contents:

• NanoTech Bike Cleaner Spray – 1L
• Bio Drivetrain Cleaner – 250ml
• Bike Protect Spray – 500ml
• Expanding Pink Sponge
• Claw Brush
• 2-Prong Brush
• Detailing Brush
• Soft Washing Brush
• Premium Microfiber Polishing Cloth
• Bio Wet Chain Lube

For further information refer to muc-off.com.

The easiest place to clean and work on your bike is with an excellent functional workstand, and you can choose from a bunch of companies that make great products. I happen to use the superb Feedback Sports Pro Elite bike stand, and it’s been my weapon of choice for many years now. Start by placing the dirt covered bike up in the stand in preparation for the initial water rinse.

Initial Rinse

Hook up a garden hose with an appropriate hand sprayer that has an adjustable head so you can set the pressure relatively low and keep the pattern of the nozzle wide enough to protect the bike components from water intrusion. You can use a power washer if you’re careful where you spray it and how far you are away from things; otherwise, you can damage the bike, bearings, etc. with too high of pressure and a sharp spray pattern, so I prefer the safer hose off method for safety reasons. The first step begins by thoroughly rinsing off the bike to remove the easy to get dirt and debris and continuing to spray to loosen and soften up the more stubborn crud.

Cleaning

With the bike still wet from the rinse cycle, grab the Muc-Off Nano Tech Bike Cleaner and spray it all over the bike, making sure to cover every spot, especially those where the dirt and debris are caked over and still showing and let the solution sit on the surfaces for 3-5 minutes to allow the cleaner to do its work.

Their cleanser quickly breaks down dirt and grime on microscopic levels utilizing a unique blend of ingredients and surfactants without any nasty chemicals. It’s biodegradable, free from acids, and solvents, and it’s safe on all surfaces, including disc brake rotors and pads. I liked using the spray cleaner since it did a great job of loosening the dirt from the bikes surfaces, and I didn’t need to get my hands dirty and cold, which is a big deal on chillier days. I didn’t need to resort to the typical soap and water bucket which I have done for years, and although that method works just fine, I thoroughly enjoyed the sort of hands-free design of their cleanser.

If you have any stubborn areas or those that the dirt is still thick, grab the Muc-Off Soft Washing Brush and give those areas a light scrubbing to help remove things. The big brush with its soft bristles did a great job of pulling off any remaining dirt, and it didn’t scratch the finish.

You can also use the Muc-Off 2-Prong Brush and Muc-Off Detailing Brush to get to hard to reach places and awkward to clean locations, and those that have extra stubborn built-up crud. The stiffer bristles of each of these brushes help eat away at crusted over dirt, helping to loosen them for the next rinse off. The Detailing Brush worked great around forks, shocks, and linkages, while the 2-Prong Brush with it’s bendable arms was useful on spokes, hubs, and cranks.

The large Soft Washing Brush features a sintered bristle compound that is designed to clean your bike frame and components while caring for delicate finishes. The small Detailing Brush is ideal for hard to reach areas like hubs and other tight spaces such as suspension mounts or fork crowns, and its stiffer nylon bristles can dislodge stuck-on crud more easily. The Two Prong Brush is also ideal for tough to clean locations like spokes, discs, shocks, cranks, linkages, and pedals, and it’s twin brush heads can even be altered, spread apart and re-positioned to reach even the tightest areas, and the stiff nylon bristles help remove stubborn debris.

If you’re doing a soap and water bucket method of cleaning, the Muc-Off Expanding Pink Sponge is an ideal candidate, plus it’s useful for hard to clean spots like the hubs, etc., even when doing the hands-free method I was using. The soft Microcell sponge is contoured with an ergonomic shape for maximum comfort and ease of use, and the concave dip in the middle of the side is perfect for round shaped areas, such as hubs. The foam is a bit fragile so be careful on rough surfaces and sharp spokes, else the foam can tear and fray.

Drivetrain Cleaning

If your drivetrain is dirty and gunked up, then it’s time to clean it using the Muc-Off Bio Drivetrain Cleaner to help dislodge and loosen stubborn lube, grease, and dirt. You likely don’t want any cleaner overspray getting on the rear brake rotor and pads, so I’d suggest covering them with a rag or ideally using the superb Muc-Off Disc Brake Cover. Spray the cleaner on the cassette, derailleur, chain, and chainrings and let it sit and soak into the built-up crud for about two minutes. If desired you can pour the cleaner into a chain cleaning device for deep chain cleaning, though I just used a shop rag to wipe up the junk from the chains surfaces.

After it’s soaked into things, agitate the old lube, dirt, grease, and oil on the drivetrain components using the Muc-Off Claw Brush. Once done with the cleaning, thoroughly rinse off the drivetrain to remove all the crud, and excess degreaser.

The Bio Drivetrain Cleaner is a functional cleaning solution for your drivetrain that features an effective grease-cutting formula which removes all chain oil, lube and wax residue. The cleaner safely eliminates drive chain contaminants is biodegradable and safe for metal, plastic, rubber, and seals and can be sprayed directly onto chains, chainrings, cassettes, and derailleurs. The solution can also be poured into a chain cleaning device for an ultra-thorough and deep clean.

The Claw Brush boasts a high-quality construction with three brush heads that feature tough nylon bristles and an integral scrapper for mud de-clogging. It’s ideal for cleaning your bike’s chain, cassette, derailleur wheels, sprockets, etc.

Final Rinse

Perform a second and last rinse cycle and thoroughly spray off all the soap and remaining debris and crud, trying to cover every spot on the bike, even doing it twice to get everything removed and all the bike surfaces clean. If the bike is still a bit dirty, repeat the washing with another clean and rinse cycle to get things super clean.

Drying

Grab the Muc-Off Premium Microfibre Polishing Cloth and thoroughly dry the bike, removing as much surface water as possible along with any lingering dirt. The uber soft cloth sucked up water like crazy, making for an easy job of drying the bike, plus it was handy to remove any residual dust and dirt still laying around.

The machine washable Premium Microfibre cloth features a luxuriously thick pile and offers easy cleaning, drying and polishing power using its ‘split-fibre’ technology which helps increase the surface area absorbency to eliminate smears, streaks, and blemishes. The design traps dirt deep in the pile of the cloth, which helps to avoid any chance of swirling, which could cause scratches and damage to the paint and other fragile surfaces.

Let the bike air dry to get rid of any remaining moisture, or use an air compressor and dislodge excess water in the nook and crannies of the frame and components. The bike is now clean and dry and ready for polish and protection cycle.

Protecting and Polishing

The next step involves spraying a liquid protectant and polish on the bike using the Muc-Off Bike Protect. Due to the ingredients in the spray, you need to keep it away from the brake pads and rotors so that they don’t get contaminated. The ideal way to prevent the spray from hitting the brakes is to use the extremely functional Muc-Off Disc Brake Covers, or you can wrap a rag around the brakes to avoid any residual splatter from getting on them. Spray the Bike Protect all over the frame surfaces, wiping away any excess fluids and let the solution air dry. Once the protectant is dry, you now have a shiny and clean bike, all ready for the next adventures in the dirt.

The Bike Protect is the ultimate liquid protection that helps preserve and freshen your bike, and its high-performance formula leaves a dry, sparkling, and non-sticky protective film coating. It’s the ideal all over solution since it acts as an after-wash corrosion inhibitor due to its extremely high oil content, and it’s safe on frames, metal parts, plastics, rubber, paint, and carbon fiber. It prevents dirt adhesion between washes and decreases future maintenance time as well as helping reduce friction, and wear. Also, it acts as a light lubricant coating on moving parts and can be used on chains, cables, shifters, derailleurs, pedals, and cleats (if desired).

Lubing the Chain

Although the kit comes with the Bio Web Lube, I needed something for a drier climate, so I used the Muc-Off C3 Dry Ceramic Chain Lube. After degreasing and cleaning the chain (if needed), apply a thin dribble of lube onto the inside of all the chain links, ideally, letting it sit for 3-4 hours for maximum penetration and coating of the chain.

The lube provides corrosion protection and unparalleled performance in dry, dusty and damp conditions. It features a petroleum-free formula and the nano ceramic particles and synthetic polymers increase drive chain protection, durability and improve performance.

Post Bike Protection Spray Rinsings

The significant part about using the Muc-Off Bike Protect spray is how it’s protective film coating prevents crusted over dirt adhesion. It means less dirt and debris sticks to the frame and components during rides, and the crud that does stick doesn’t adhere very well and is easily rinsed back off.

Just rinse off the Muc-Off Protected frame and debris easily rinses off, returning the bike to it gloried clean state. This rinsing off of a dirty but protected bike lasts around 3-4 cycles before a new cleaning and protection cycle is required.

Bottom Line

The Muc-Off Ultimate Bicycle Cleaning Kit includes almost all of the products you need to clean, protect and lube your bike, and the accompanying toolbox is handy to hold the entire contents of the kit. It might be a bit pricey, but it sure is nice to have everything you need to get your bike in spanking clean shape. I do wish they included a Dry Lube for people that have bikes in drier climates since I rarely need a wet lubricant in the high mountain desert. I was especially fond of the highly functional and Biodegradable NanoTech Bike Cleaner Spray and Bike Protect Spray. The foaming Bike Cleaner did a great job of dislodging and loosening surface dirt and debris to make for a hands-free washing option. The excellent Bike Protect offers liquid frame protection which preserves your bike and leaves a dry, shiny, and non-sticky protective film coating which helps prevent dirt adhesion between washings and rinsings. The Bike Protect coating means that all you have to do is rinse the bike to clean off most of the crud between major cleaning cycles.