Nothing brings out the cynical grump in me more than the miraculous promises made by bike cleaning products and the instructions on Muc-Off’s Chain Cleaner set my snake-oil-ometer pinging all the way up to 11.

"Shake can vigorously and apply to chain and transmission.Now either wipe off excess with a dry cloth and allow to dry or wash off with clean water. Your chain is now clean and ready for lubrication." It sounds simple, easy and far too good to be true. Well, the truth is that while the spray does a pretty good job of cutting through grime, grot and accumulated filth, you still have to work hard to actually remove it from your chain. Muc-Off also sells the cleaner with the Chain Doc clip-on chain-bath, which runs brushes through the chain as you spray it with solution.

I only had the cleaner, so I took the chain off, dropped it in a plastic tub and attacked it with an old toothbrush. Not quite the effortless spray’n’rinse that the packaging promises, but if you accept that no cleaning product is ever quite as effective as the marketing blurb, and nothing is going to simply magic away grit, then it does a decent enough job. It’s fully bio-degradable too, which makes it better environmentally than traditional solvents like white spirit or petrol.

Verdict

The formula works, but if you want to get the best out of it then you’ll need to remove the chain and go at it with a toothbrush or run it through a chain cleaning machine.

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Muc-Off Chain Cleaner

Size tested: 400ml

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Did you enjoy using the product? Sadly it doesn’t succeed in making chain cleaning a pleasure.

Would you consider buying the product? Probably, but only with the Chain-Doc clip-on

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes, but with the same caveat

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 40  Height: 5′ 8  Weight: er….86kg

I usually ride: GT Rave – singlespeed conversion  My best bike is: Guess SC1 scandium

I’ve been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed,