Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Velofresh Grease and Grime Remover

7
£2.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Good cleaning capabilities at the side of the road if you don't mind carrying the whole pack with you
Weight: 
72g

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

What the road.cc scores mean

Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.

  • Exceptional
  • Excellent
  • Very Good
  • Good
  • Quite good
  • Average
  • Not so good
  • Poor
  • Bad
  • Appalling

These Grease and Grime Remover wipes are the first product to come from Velofresh and they are a good portable option for cleaning up after a roadside mechanical.

I've cleaned my oily hands on many things over the years after an impromptu stop mid-ride to fettle with a greasy component: the grass verge, muddy puddles, my shorts, or the jersey of an unsuspecting ride buddy...

> Buy these online here

Velofresh aims to put a stop to these shenanigans with the pocket sized pack of its 'Power' wipes, which use a combination of alcohol and citric acid among many other ingredients that I can't pronounce to bring your hands up clean and shiny with ease. I say pocket sized as they will fit in a jersey pocket, but you have to carry the entire pack which is quite bulky.

They actually work very well, removing all traces of grubby chain oil from your fingers and bike quickly – much better than baby wipes, for example. The fact that these Velofresh ones are quite dry too means you aren't just smearing grime around, they actually lift it straight off your skin.

Value-wise this pack of 15 wipes works out at 20p each. Most other industrial style wipes designed to work on the same contaminants work out at around 9p each, as does a pair of latex workshop gloves – which is something else a lot of riders carry in their saddle bag. Admittedly, these are normally sold in bulk packs of 100s, whereas the Velofresh pack is a much smaller scale, which obviously incurs costs.

> Read more road.cc reviews of skincare products here

As far as other cycling-specific wipes go, Velopac's smaller packs of RideClean Wipes are a similar price (£4 for 20; £2.50 for 10), but you can also buy those in bigger packs which reduces the price (a pack of 50 works out at 15p each). Each of the Velopacs comes individually wrapped too, which means buying them in bulk makes sense as you can just carry a couple at a time with you rather than an entire packet like the Velofresh. (I haven't tested the Velopacs, so don't know how they compare in terms of cleaning prowess.)

I suppose it all comes down to how often you have a mechanical as to whether peace of mind outweighs the cost.

Verdict

Good cleaning capabilities at the side of the road if you don't mind carrying the whole pack with you

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Velofresh Grease and Grime Remover

Size tested: 15 wipes

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Velofresh says: "If you've ever had a mechanical and ended up with greasy oily hands, or had a hard day on the trail and got covered in mud and grime, then you need Velofresh Grease & Grime Remover Power Wipes. Conveniently packaged in pocket sized packets of 15 wipes, our power wipes will help you to stay clean and fresh whilst enjoying your passion for cycling."

They work better than baby wipes but are a lot more pricey.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Ingredients:

Aqua

Alcohol denat.

Parfum

Cetrimonium Bromide

Phenoyethanol

Chlorphenesin

Citric acid

Limonene

Citral

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

They do get oil and grease off your hands quite quickly.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Their performance at grime removal.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Could be seen as pricey against some generic options.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? No

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your score

They work well at removing grease and grime from your hands, but there are cheaper and more user-friendly options available.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 38  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: This month's test bike  My best bike is: Kinesis Aithein

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed

As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!

Add new comment

16 comments

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
1 like

Update: 200 miles in to my trip and it is with deep regret that I must announce the use of two wipes.

Wipe one was yesterday after about 80 miles... I made a total hash of opening one of those newfangled gel things and had to clean my hand or risk sticky white bar tape.
Wipe two was tonight and was deployed after some ineffective hotel soap to some truly rotten armpits.

My maintenance skills truly suck.

Avatar
nniff replied to Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
1 like
Jack Osbourne snr wrote:

Wipe two was tonight and was deployed after some ineffective hotel soap to some truly rotten armpits. My maintenance skills truly suck.

 

You suck your armpits to clean them?  No wonder that's not going well for you ;o)

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr replied to nniff | 6 years ago
0 likes
nniff wrote:
Jack Osbourne snr wrote:

Wipe two was tonight and was deployed after some ineffective hotel soap to some truly rotten armpits. My maintenance skills truly suck.

 

You suck your armpits to clean them?  No wonder that's not going well for you ;o)

Lol... That would probably have worked better than the soap!

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
2 likes

I just do what cyclists did before they invented MAMILS.

Avatar
Twowheelsaregreat | 6 years ago
2 likes

Helping triathletes at the roadside and riding 250 miles. Jack you are my hero heart

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
2 likes

Most people I know who carry wipes and/or gloves do so as a precaution, not because they lack maintenance skills.

I carry them both on longer rides because you simply can't predict what might happen, from a chain snapping to a simple puncture... to needing a crap when 5 miles in any direction to the nearest toilet.

I also frequently stop to help out other cyclists if they need it. For example, last week I stopped (in the rain) to help a young triathlete who was struggling to fix a puncture... I ended up covered in road grime from their back wheel. Had I not had some wipes, I'd have been replacing my white bar tape after one ride.

 

 

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
0 likes
Jack Osbourne snr wrote:

Most people I know who carry wipes and/or gloves do so as a precaution, not because they lack maintenance skills.

I carry them both on longer rides because you simply can't predict what might happen, from a chain snapping to a simple puncture... to needing a crap when 5 miles in any direction to the nearest toilet.

I also frequently stop to help out other cyclists if they need it. For example, last week I stopped (in the rain) to help a young triathlete who was struggling to fix a puncture... I ended up covered in road grime from their back wheel. Had I not had some wipes, I'd have been replacing my white bar tape after one ride.

 

 

Brilliant.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
0 likes

[?

Avatar
kitkat | 6 years ago
0 likes

I find adding 'wetness' (water/wipes) to oil makes the situation worse. I carry nitrile gloves and a couple sheets of kitchen roll so you can dry wipe off oil and tidy up at the end of the ride

Avatar
kev-s | 6 years ago
0 likes

If you having that many mechanical problems whilst riding that you need to carry some wipes with you on every ride then save your money and fix your bike properly

 

Apart from bad luck (riding through glass, stick/stone flicking up etc...) most mechanical issues are related to poor maintaince

 

The only other reason to carry some baby wipes is if you get caught short miles from a toilet, personally i carry some toilet roll in a sandwich bag when on mtb rides (you can pop the used bog roll back in the bag and dispose of it in the first bin you find)

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
1 like

Becuase there's not enough shit that needs to be disposed of at the moment.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
8 likes

Cycling seems to be plagued with expensie solutions to problems that have already been cheaply solved. 

Avatar
StraelGuy replied to Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
2 likes
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Cycling seems to be plagued with expensie solutions to problems that have already been cheaply solved. 

Brilliant! Couldn't have put it better myself. Put a cycling brand name on the unnecessarily fancy packaging and hike the price by 500%.

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
0 likes

Superdrug do packs of 12 wipes for pennies.

I have a couple of them and 3 pairs of nitryl gloves in my saddlebag for this weekend's 250-miler. Hopefully, I'll still have 24 wipes and 6 gloves in unused condition when I finish.

Avatar
dottigirl | 6 years ago
4 likes

Individually wrapped? Single use wipes are wasteful enough without making them more so!

I have a sandwich bag with a few of the stronger baby wipes in my saddle bag. They stay damp enough. I just refill the bag when needed.

Avatar
cdamian | 6 years ago
0 likes

I use baby wipes at home to give the bike a quick clean or clean oily hands.

Just choose one with not too much oil or alcohol and your favourite scent.

I guess for the road beauty/face wipes may work, but my jersey pockets are usually too full already.

Latest Comments