Silca Ultimate Brake And Drivetrain Cleaner

Silca Ultimate Brake And Drivetrain Cleaner is a very powerful formula that does an excellent job without relying on any nasties – it won't strip good grease from your bike, or damage paint or components, and it's not harmful to your health either. The price might make you faint, though.

Previously, I wrote about Step 4 in Silca's Bicycle Spa Collection: Ultimate Ceramic Waterless Wash. Silca Ultimate Brake And Drivetrain Cleaner is Step 1 in that same process, also known as Detox, and represents the initial clean and degrease of your drivetrain and your disc brake system, before you get on to cleaning the rest of your bike.

Unlike other drivetrain cleaners, which often contain harmful chemicals, Silca's offering is designed to remove the gunk and oils from your drivetrain (and brakes) without harming your bike's frame or components, and, crucially, without stripping the 'good grease' from anywhere on your bike where it's needed. So you don't have to worry about damaging seals or bearings.

It's also water soluble, so when you wash it off there's no residue left behind when you've finished cleaning. This is a good thing when you're applying lube to your chain and you don't want anything getting in the way of it properly sticking.

Spray, wait, rinse

When you spray it on, you need to wait three to five minutes for the liquid to get to work, at which point it encapsulates and lifts off any dirt or grime, which then simply starts to fall off, and is completely removed once you rinse it off. That's the theory, anyway.

While you wait, you can see the product at work – it turns blood red, which indicates it's working. Interestingly, I've seen this same magic occur with a fallout remover which is used for detailing cars, and funnily enough it smells almost identical – rotten egg – although in the Silca's case it's far less offensive.

And I must say, Ultimate Brake and Drivetrain Cleaner is tremendously effective. I tested it on several bikes – a summer bike with only mild dirt, my gravel bike which has seen plenty of winter gravel action, and a friend's old mountain bike which probably got cleaned back in 2010. On both of my bikes, it did exactly what it promised – it removed all the grime and left a sparkling chain.

On the old mountain bike, it did a similarly good job of cleaning the drivetrain, but – unsurprisingly – it wasn't able to remove the several layers of thick winter-weight oil that had accumulated over the years, even after two applications. To me, that highlights how safe the formula is – if it can't remove the sludge of decades-old oil then it's going to be equally kind to protective grease, too.

Value

OK, so here's the tricky bit. At £36, this is about three times as much as I've ever spent on a degreaser. (I actually buy an eco-friendly water-based degreaser in bulk now, which is super cheap.) I can quite confidently say it is a brilliant degreaser, but clearly it's a huge investment.

One of the priciest degreasers we've tested on road.cc, Finish Line Speed Clean Multi-Degreaser, is a rather paltry £13.49 in comparison. Cheaper, but also more toxic, as it contains toluene, which is a pretty nasty chemical both for the environment and for your health (it's found in paint thinners). Personally, I'd steer well clear.

Juice Lube's Dirt Juice Boss In A Can is a better proposition – it's £9.99 and biodegradable, so no nasties to worry about. Dave thought it was pretty effective, but did note that you would burn through the product quite quickly, it being an aerosol. (It's available in a 500ml bottle too, for £14.99.)

Conclusion

While the price is hard to ignore, there's no doubt Silca has created a fantastic product here, and if you're fanatical about keeping your drivetrain shiny (without damaging anything) and you can afford it, it's one to stick on your shopping list.

Verdict

Incredibly effective drivetrain and brake cleaner – and incredibly expensive