The BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner is a plant-based degreaser that is claimed to be 100% biodegradable and totally free of microplastics, PTFE and petrochemicals. But the product’s prominent eco credentials don’t hold back its performance, as it proved to be very effective. And it’s pretty good value too.
> Buy now: BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner for £8.99 from Windwave
Reviewing a degreaser is a tricky one – in practice, it either works or it doesn’t. But these days there are more to degreasers than just keeping your bike’s drivetrain clean.
The BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner is sold by the Dutch giant – perhaps best known for its well-priced tools parts and accessories – and it’s claimed to be 100% plant-based, and free of all microplastics and PTFE. It’s produced in a 100% CO2-neutral facilities, comes in 100% recycled PET packaging and BBB claims it’s biodegradable within just 28 days
We tested this 500ml spray bottle option, and there are one-litre refill bottles for £14.99 and five-litre bottles for workshop use that cost £64.99.
> How to clean your bike chain
The bottle itself is pretty standard with a two-position spray nozzle – ‘off’ and ‘spray’. And I prefer a spray bottle to an aerosol as I feel that less of your degreaser gets wasted.
I cleaned my bike 10 times over a month – probably more than most of us do – and while not wasteful with the cleaner, I didn’t hold back. And I reckon I’d only used about a quarter of the bottle during that time.
I liberally sprayed the chain, cassette and chainrings, let the degreaser sit for a few minutes to work its magic, then scrubbed it off with a stiff brush and sponge.
It worked as well if not better than pretty much any chain cleaner I’ve ever used. I used it to remove wax-based lubes, oil-based lubes and to clean up a factory chain with its sticky grease – and it handled all of these with ease.
Value
Typical for BBB I think it’s very good value. At £8.99 for 500ml its price is in line with the likes of Oxford’s Mint Chain Cleaner, which is one of the least expensive degreasers we’ve tested – but in contrast to the BBB it’s a solvent-based alcohol.
Personally, the Morgan Blue Professional Chain Cleaner has long been my go-to, and was a staple in the bike shops I used to work in. It’s the benchmark against which I judge other degreasers, and while better value at £11.95 for a litre, it doesn’t have the BBB’s eco credentials.
Both the Silca Ultimate Brake & Drivetrain Cleaner and CeramicSpeed’s UFO Drivetrain Cleaner do have more eco-friendly formulations but they are much, much more expensive, the Silca coming in at £36 and the CeramicSpeed £22.99 for their 500ml offerings. We are told they use “superior” (and more expensive) ingredients, though.
Conclusion
I’ve been very impressed by the BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner. Its performance is up there with the likes of my longstanding favourite Morgan Blue chain cleaner, but while it’s not quite as good value, its green credentials have made it my new go-to degreaser.
Verdict
Highly effective and well-priced plant-based product that massively outperformed expectations
> Buy now: BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner for £8.99 from Windwave
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road.cc test report
Make and model: BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner 500ml
Size tested: 500 ml
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?
BBB says: “BioDrivetrain Cleaner is a plant-based degreaser. Remove effortlessly dirt the most stubborn grease and dirt particles of your frame, chain, and chainrings. BioDrivetrain Cleaner can be used undiluted as long as all parts are carefully rinsed with water afterwards. The 100% biodegradable formula makes sure the degreaser is completely degraded within 28 days. A must-have while cleaning your bike without any chemicals.”
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Specifications
Bottle volume: 500 ml/18 oz
Suitable for weather: All weather
How to use? Ready to use
Plant based? Yes
Biodegradable? Yes
PTFE and Petrochemical free? Yes
Micro plastic free? Yes
Weight: 573g
I found the degreaser worked very well. The spray bottle’s trigger action was good, the nozzle dispensed the degreaser evenly and consistently, and the degreaser itself did a good job of keeping my bike’s drivetrain clean.
£8.99 for a 500ml bottle of degreaser is pretty good value.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
It did what it was meant to do and did it very well.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The product’s eco credentials – plant-based, biodegradable, free of environment-harming microplastics and petrochemicals and produced in CO2-neutral facilities.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
£8.99 for 500ml of chain cleaner in a spray bottle is pretty decent value. Other brands at a similar price offer aerosol spray bottles, which will typically run out a bit quicker, and more premium brands such as Silca or CeramicSpeed are charging three or four times this for the same volume.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
Good value chain cleaner that does a great job and with some very good eco credentials, in a category that’s previously been dominated by harmful chemicals.
About the tester
Age: 28 Height: 175cm Weight: 67kg
I usually ride: Road (Tarmac SL7) My best bike is:
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: road racing, time trialling, cyclo cross, commuting, mtb, Occasional Ultra Racing
9 thoughts on “BBB BioDrivetrain Chain Cleaner 500ml”
It would be useful to know:
It would be useful to know: how the cleanliness of the treated chain was measured; how greasy the chain was to start with; how the cleaner and the grease it removed were removed once the chemical degreasing was completed; how much dirt remains after degreasing or whether the process entirely removes that too; any other facts/factors that provide a more objective estimation of the effectiveness of this cleaner.
There are far too many “reviews” that boil down to nothing more than an opinion, formed from a vague impression rather than from any definitive data. There might actually be some definitive data informing such opinions but it rarely gets a mention, if so. Please measure such data then relate it in these product reviews.
How do you measure the
How do you measure the cleanliness of your chain and how much dirt remains after cleaning? It’s going to be quite hard to provide objective data that’s usefully applicable to a range of readers who may ride in very different conditions, and who will then only have to form their own opinion in using it.
quiff wrote:
One way to measure if a chain has dirt left in it after an intital degrease is to degrease it again. If the second “wash” shows black coloured and/or grit in it, rather than still-clear degreaser, the first wash wasn’t enough.
It isn’t the grease on a chain that’s the reason for cleaning it but the dirt/grit suspended in that grease. There is a case for removing (clean) factory grease as it’s a rust preventer rather than a lubricant but a degreaser used as a means to clean a used chain prior to relubing it must be able to wash out the dirt with the grease.
On the other hand, many chain-cleaning & relubing processes still require a cleaning operation after a degreasing process, using a different method & goo than that used to degrease. But this BBB product is advertised as a (presumaly one-step) “cleaner”.
Is there a benchmark degreaser/cleaner to compare others to? The closest I’ve found to one that’ll effectively remove dirt with the grease & oil is Silca’s – although that’s been applied to chains lubed with Silca’s own lubricants, which are used in a minimal fashion so tend to hold far less dirt than the sticky lubes “splashed on all over”.
It is a difficult matter to know if a process has genuinely cleaned a chain. But what’s the point in publishing mere impressions of a goo if there’s no real evidence that the chain has been freed of grit and dirt along wth the grease?
The ZFC bloke has tried to devise means of objectively testing chain wear with various goos. Perhaps a similar exhaustive process is needed to test for degree of chain cleanliness after degreasers and cleaners have been applied?
But if the product on review
But if the product on review just isn’t very good, maybe that second flush was never going to release anything else, giving a false impression of cleanliness? Do you need to use a control product for the second flush?
I’ll confess I’m horrible at drivetrain cleaning, so maybe I just don’t get it. Just seems quite hard work to devise a system that will meaningful to readers with all the other variables at play (measure volume, how many links in your chain, choose your agitator, water softness etc).
quiff wrote:
Weigh everything.
That might lead me to
That might lead me to conclude that hydrochloric acid is a good degreaser.
quiff wrote:
The numbers don’t lie!
Muc Off Insane Chain Cleaner
Muc Off Insane Chain Cleaner HCl – we left a factory chain to soak for a few days and reduced its weight by a massive 85%!
Let me be the one to just say
Let me be the one to just say what everyone’s probably thinking: you are way overthinking this,
This is not a peer reviewed research published in a scientific magazine. It’s just a reviewer giving his impressions and findings. You are expecting way too much of it.
The product is 9 pound. Just give it a go and do your own testing – as thorough as you like.