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SEVEN DAY CYCLIST
CYCLING, BUT NOT USUALLY RACING
LATEST UPDATE: OCTOBER 10th
HOW DO WE DECIDE OUR OVERALL RATINGS FOR PRODUCTS WE REVIEW?
MUC-OFF BIO GREASE
Long Term Test (18 months) 180g £10
Muc-Off Bio Grease has been liberally applied across my fleet for the past eighteen months and has stayed put through some pretty harsh conditions. Unlike traditional lithium and PTFE pastes, it seems unaffected by temperature, so enjoys a decent flow - straight from the spout.
It emerges from the tube looking and to some extent, smelling like strawberry jam. Muc-Off have been decidedly tight lipped when it comes to disclosing exact composition but say its fully biodegradable and free of petrochemical based oils.
Being free of petrochemicals, there’s no fear of it doing anything nasty to seals/similar rubberised components, or composites, either. Obviously, no-one in their right mind uses grease as an assembly paste for carbon fibre, but overspill from a freshly greased lower headset race isn’t going induce an attack of the vapours.
I’ve taken sensible precautions, such as washing hands after use but otherwise, discomfort has been a moot point, even with two or three hour maintenance sessions.
Titanium has an unenviable reputation for becoming right royally seized in steel/aluminium alloy hosts. I applied a thin layer bio-grease and largely neglected them until this week. Clamp bolts slackened, stems and seatposts proved fully mobile.
That said; I’ve tended to use a stiffer, polymer paste when dressing my workhorse and winter/training bikes’ bottom bracket and derailleur hanger threads.
Filled to the brim, my ‘cross bike’s Deore/Tiagra cup and cone hubs have run and largely remained, buttery smooth despite regular exposure to wet roads, forest trails and bridle path. Given periodic licks, the elastomer and adjacent bushings on my Cane Creek Thudbuster ST suspension post also seem very happy.
Probably the biggest test was my Univega’s headset. Injected with lashings of the red goo and completely ignored, steering has remained buttery smooth. Full length guards obviously help but while stripping the frame, for a well deserved re-spray, I was impressed by just how much, relatively clean, gloopy red goo remained - especially around the lower race.
Summing up, Muc-Off Bio Grease has performed well compared with some exotica costing twice the ticket price. We would still opt for something stiffer when dressing threaded areas, such as bottom bracket shells on mountain bikes and others in hard, four season’s service. We also wonder just how “green” the ingredients are. Nonetheless, we’d recommend it to any home mechanics looking for a mid-price tool-box staple.
Michael Stenning
Verdict: 4/5 Effective and long lasting alternative to traditional petrochemical greases.
PUBLISHED JANUARY 2017