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SEVEN DAY CYCLIST
CYCLING, BUT NOT USUALLY RACING
LATEST UPDATE: MAY 16th
HOW DO WE DECIDE OUR OVERALL RATINGS FOR PRODUCTS WE REVIEW?
BLUB Bike Cleaner
1 litre £13.99
BLUB Bike Cleaner is an environmentally-friendly frothy, foaming potion aimed at dust, dirt, and mud on the road.” It’ll do more than that, and I have found it an effective and easy to use cleaner for post ride once overs and deeper cleans.
Pros: friendly to paintwork and components, frothy, biodegradable.
Cons: works best on a dry.
Spec
Biodegradable with a neutral ph, and stated to be friendly to all paintwork and bicycle components, including rubber and plastic, the BLUB Premium Bike Cleaner is targeted primarily at the road-orientated cyclist. The Bub blurb states that it is most effective on “dust, dirt, and mud on the road.” That does not mean that it cannot work on gloop, just that it takes a little longer.
The trigger operated spray produces plenty of foam and froth. BLUB do not give away anything about the contents of the potion, but they do point out that it will irritate the eyes if it comes into contact with them. Be careful when using on windy days and wear gloves if you suffer from skin allergies.
BLUB suggest using the cleaner on helmets and slippers and, presumably, other shoes. I also tried it on panniers and, just for fun, my carpet slippers. They suggest it is good for rubber, plastic and all sorts of paintwork. I have also found it fine on bar tape, but I’d always use a proper leather cleaner and feeder for leather saddles and old-style touring shoes. If you are not sure, just try a little on a spot where the sun don’t shine.
There’s a five-litre version available, too.
Application 3.75/5
Instructions demand a dry bike and suggest you pre-dry it if wet. A touch less than usual with cleaners, most of which demand a pre-clean wash-over. That helps remove larger deposits of mud, such as that accumulated along towpaths, trails, and pot-holed country lanes with a coating of mud, topped off by Daisy and her chums on the way back to the fields after morning milking – and the occasional flood.
The foam produced by each pull on the trigger holds on to the surface making it easy to see the spots you have missed. It slowly disappears as it works into the grime. Use a cloth, sponge, or soft brush to agitate and wipe, before rinsing down with plenty of cold water.
With a heavily soiled bike, I tended to wash it down first with cold water, leave it to dry for a while, go have post-ride refreshment, and wait for the bike to dry. That adds a bit of time, but is not too much of a problem unless one is in a particular rush. You can always dry with a towel, if you wish. Bigger lumps of muck can also be brushed off, but be careful not to scratch the paint job.
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However, the "dry bike" starting point does suggest that this is not the one for trail-head wash downs at the end of a muddy day's off roading.
Performance 4/5
First time up the BLUB Bike Cleaner confronted a heavily soiled commuting bike (cro-moly powder coated) whose usual route to work includes asphalt, but also canal towpath – some of which is coated in leaf mulch and mud. To help, I gave it a good rinse with water to knock off some of the worst lumps of crud. This meant leaving the bike to dry for a while. Not the most convenient thing, but not an issue for the weekly brush-up. Spraying on the Blub, ensuring decent coverage aided by the foam that stays in place, I left it in place for three minutes. The notion is that the foam will slowly work its way into the dirt and lift it. This seemed to work, as things looked pretty clean when rinsed with water poured from a watering can. True, bottom bracket, chain rings and cranks, and those nooks and corners around chain stays and mudguards had a little agitation with a soft brush – as is usual when washing a bike. Overall, I was pretty impressed.
Second time round, with the same commuter, I ditched the pre-wash rinse and stuck to the instructions! Having left the dirt to dry, I was impressed by the way the Blub lifted the dirt after a four minute wait (that is the suggested maximum duration). There was more in the way of agitation required in more places, but post-rinse a clean bike emerged.
So, time to try it on a less soiled touring bike (enamelled gloss finish). OK, there are roads and roads and country lanes little better than farm tracks, but a diet of decent asphalt, even in the wet, produces less in the way of dirt. Frankly, lighter dirt disappeared having been nicely lifted. Left behind was a surface ready to dry and receive a polish.
I’ve used it on Topeak Dry Bag Panniers. A little agitation with a stiff brush on the fabric sections and a wipe with a cloth, both followed by a rinse down, on the rest quickly dismissed accumulated mud.
Effective, with no noticeable ill-effects, on Fizik Bar Tape, rubber ergo grips, plastic Kranx FendR Full Length Mudguards, not to mention my carpet slippers, and HJC Valeco Helmet.
I’ve not been able to try it out on Titanium, but it seems to be fine on carbon. As ever, with matt or particularly fancy paint jobs, just check it out on a spot where the sun don’t shine before going the whole hog.
Value 3.5/5
Without having emptied the bottle, I’m expecting around 12 functional cleans of a well-soiled bike. Bike cleaners come in various strengths. This being on the gentle side, diluting is not something I have tried, as one might with some more stringent potions.
Oxford Mint Bike Wash has a cheaper RRP, requires a pre-clean wash, is safe on similar materials, and has a five-litre option. In my opinion it gives lots of bang for the buck, but I suspect it is not quite as gentle as the BLUB. How sensitive are you and your bicycle?
Weldtite Pure Bike Wash Concentrate makes a litre of cleaner for around £7, and gives the option of mixing your own potions.
For a long while, my go-to cleaner was the adaptable and powerful Rock ‘n’ Roll Miracle Red. This functions as a bucket wash, home-brewed trigger spray, and a spot cleaner, and seems to work on just about any surface (it’s a decent degreaser, too). Bucket washes, such as this and Crankalicious Mud Honey, are best for heavily soiled bikes, but some find them less convenient in a rush than spray-on washes.
Summary
A convenient spray-on cleaner that works gently and is effective with limited agitation, the BLUB Bike Cleaner does not hit the heights of some bucket washes. However, it is easy to use, requires no prep, and is safe on just about all surfaces. There’s a lot to like about BLUB, even in a very competitive field.
