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review
Cleaning products
Muc-Off Foam Fresh shoe & helmet deodoriser Muc-Off Foam Fresh copy

Muc-Off Foam Fresh shoe & helmet deodoriser

8
by Stu Kerton
UPDATED Thu, Oct 15, 2015 04:24

First Published Dec 15, 2013

2
£7.00

VERDICT:

8
10
Easy to use kit cleaner and deodorizer to avoid those whiffy helmet gags
Weight: 
467g
Contact: 
www.raleigh.co.uk
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Muc-Off Foam Fresh conquers the pong of well-used shoes, gloves and helmet liners.

If you ride in all weathers the constant drying and soaking means your kit is pretty soon going to smell like damp dog. My shoes can practically walk themselves to the cupboard.

Cleaning specialists Muc-Off have this Foam Fresh which is intended to clean and deodorise soft materials, helmet pads, gloves, shoes that kind of thing. As you can probably guess by the name it's a foam in a pressurised can which you literally squirt on the offending item and it gets to work straight away breaking down dirt to be wiped away. If its really grubby I found it useful to give it a bit of a helping hand by massaging in the foam with a couple of fingers.

Those seriously offensive shoes I mentioned earlier took a fair few doses of the Foam Fresh to make a dent in the smell but it was amazing how clean the heel cup and insole came up and the citrus fragrance eventually overpowered that smell of wet canine. Prevention is better than cure though, and I've found I can keep my shoes whiff-free by giving them a squirt of Foam Fresh whenever they get wet, and leave it to soak in as the shoes dry.

It also works well on gloves, especially full fingered winter ones which can cause your hands to sweat if its just a couple of degrees too warm. A quick blast inside is enough to keep them fresh.

Avoiding constant washing of your kit is the real main bonus of using the Foam Fresh which in turn should increase its life. A quick blast of foam to armpits and necks of waterproof jackets or jerseys means you not needing to re-proof them as much thanks to keeping them out of the washing machine.

At £7 for a 400ml can its more expensive than Fabreze but Muc-Off Foam Fresh cleans as well as masking the smell. Even with the initial dousing of those shoes the can still feels at least half full so a quick blast here and there as a preventative measure should see it last for months.

Verdict

Easy to use kit cleaner and deodorizer to avoid those whiffy helmet gags.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Muc-Off Foam Fresh

Size tested: 400ml

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?

Aimed primarily at cyclists with smelly kit but it could be used for any soft fabric that is dirty and needs a good clean. It works well cleaning and leaving a nice citrus scent.

Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

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

It certainly cleans your kit with very little help from you.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The citrus smell is nice.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Admitting your kit stinks and you need it in the first place.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Yes.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 35  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: Ribble Winter Trainer for commuting, Genesis Flyer  My best bike is: Sarto Rovigo

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,

 

Muc-Off Foam Fresh shoe & helmet deodoriser
Muc-Off
Foam Fresh
Stu Kerton

Since writing his first bike review for road.cc back in early 2009 senior product reviewer Stu has tested more than a thousand pieces of kit, and hundreds of bikes.

With an HND in mechanical engineering and previous roles as a CNC programmer/machinist, draughtsman and development engineer (working in new product design) Stu understands what it takes to bring a product to market. A mix of that knowledge combined with his love of road and gravel cycling puts him in the ideal position to put the latest kit through its paces.

He first made the switch to road cycling in 1999, primarily for fitness, but it didn’t take long for his competitive side to take over which led to around ten years as a time triallist and some pretty decent results. These days though riding is more about escapism, keeping the weight off and just enjoying the fact that he gets to ride the latest technology as part of his day job.

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2 comments

Avatar
dottigirl | 10 years ago
0 likes

I was just about to post exactly the same thing about bicarb. I washed my smelling-like-a-cat-had-peed-in-them shoes in it last winter, they're still smell-free.

Avatar
neilmitchuk | 11 years ago
0 likes

Sodium Bicarbonate is a so much cheaper option.

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