Motorex Bike Cleaning Kit

The Motorex Bike Cleaning Kit is an extremely effective and handy one-stop solution, though it's fairly expensive and not quite comprehensive.

The kit contains one 500ml pump bottle of Bike Clean, a 500ml aerosol can of Easy Clean degreaser and 100ml of chain lube for afterwards. You also get a decent sponge that doesn't fall apart, and a chamois-type cloth to stop your bike drying out all streaky. The whole lot generally makes my bike look very shiny even with just drying it in the sun.

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The whole thing comes in a tub with a lid and handle – it works as a bucket if you have no hose, and the rectangular shape is a genuine help for storage over a regular round bucket.

Bike Clean is very good, and so is the spray bottle; it works at any orientation, rather than just while bolt upright. The liquid foams a bit right out of the nozzle, and works straight away on dirt and grease, even on a dry bike.

Wetting the bike does make it easier to spread the stuff around, but the nozzle gives easy coverage anyway. A quick wipe with the sponge takes mud and grease off easily, ready for a quick rinse. It does nothing against the little dots of tar-like spatter all over my frame, but the Easy Clean aerosol does.

The Easy Clean degreaser comes with both a regular nozzle and a straw-type one for more accurate application on chains and sprockets, which it strips of grease instantly.

While the claim that it dries without residue is technically correct, in practice it dries so fast it frequently leaves hazy streaks of the oil it was carrying. I typically clean my drivetrain with the bike upside down (I can't wait to hear why that's terrible), and find Easy Clean will strip old lube out, drip onto my frame and wheels, then evaporate before I can hose it off.

In the end I found it best to spray some onto a paper towel and simply wipe over any streaks. This is not a complaint – it's powerful stuff and works a treat. It just dries almost as quickly as it works. The same gentle wiping removes tar spatter as well, which is impressive, as little else even touches that stuff.

Despite this volatile nature, and the harsh feel of both sprays (I found Bike Clean stings any little cuts around my fingernails, while the Easy Clean seriously dries skin and can easily waft up your nose to your tongue on windy days), they are apparently both biodegradable. The pump-spray stuff is also solvent-free, and available in refill bags.

The Dry Power chain lube is good, if rather thin and easy to over-apply – though the quick-action nozzle is far more convenient than a simple cap – but an all-weather or wet lube would seem more appropriate.

There are also no brushes in this kit; just the sponge and the chamois-type drying cloth.

At £39.99, value seems okay if not amazing – and that's more to do with the core products' effectiveness than the range of what you get. Okay, the Muc-Off Dirt Bucket Kit is a lot more at £64.99, but then it includes a lot more too, such as brushes and both wet and dry lubes.

The Weldtite Dirt Wash Ultimate Bike Care Kit is £10 less at £55, and again features a lot more stuff. Meanwhile, the Fenwick's Complete Cleaning Kit no longer seems to come in a bucket, but it's very good, feels a lot gentler on hands and lungs, and is only £24.99.

The two best bits of the Motorex kit – the sprays – for the record, are together around £27 if you buy them at full price.

> How to clean your bike – from quick lick to full makeover

To sum it up, the Motorex cleaning kit is very good – the two sprays are extremely effective, their delivery methods work very well, and the rest of the kit is pleasing too. Whether it's worth spending £40 (and still needing wet lube), rather than just buying the best parts separately, is entirely up to you.

Verdict

Super-effective cleaner and degreaser in a useful kit, but not quite comprehensive for the money