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Crankalicious Mud Honey Bucket Wash review

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Jim Clarkson's picture

Jim Clarkson

Lakes based mostly mountain biking type, with the odd foray into gravel, 'cross and even road. Fuelled by coffee and porridge. Driver of Van. Known to race at times. Happy place being out the door and in the hills - local or further afield, all is good with two wheels in the dirt. 

Product reviews

This snazzy looking bottle of Mud Honey bike cleaning product from Crankalicious is a strong foaming pH-neutral wash designed to be used in a bucket, with ideally warm water - it's great for getting hard baked muck off your bike if you’ve left it for a while.

Cleaning your bike is always a bit of a chore; it's not always possible to do it straight after a ride and hard dried crud is always a pain to get off. The Mud Honey Wash is designed to be a sort of pre-wash and main wash. It suds help muck loosen and soften, although water does the most here, it soaks into the really built up parts and then allow other products to act more efficiently - like chain cleaners or other cleaning products.

I found the Mud Honey to be more than adequate for regular cleaning duties, but no more than a regular squirt of dish detergent - but it didn't leave streaky marks and is also bike specific, so won’t leave unwelcome residue on your discs or shock. The recommendation to use warm water is a bit of a faff, as traipsing through the house with buckets and so on, isn't usually a welcomed act. I suspect the warm water just adds a more effective loosening of the grime and muck. 

It is worth wearing gloves when you use it, it's pretty good at leaving hands dry, and is listed as an irritant - as much as most other bike cleaners, you want to avoid it in your eyes as well. There isn't anything especially fancy listed in the product, and whilst it worked well, I didn't find it much more effective than my usual spray on cleaning products that I then rinse and scrub off with a soft bristle brush.

Its the agitation and softening of the mud that makes it easy to remove, and the Mud Honey does that, but not really beyond anything else. The Mud Honey acts to remove the more stubborn grime and oils. It's a valid option for bike cleaning, and if you often find yourself with a bike that's been left for a day or so before you clean it, its another option in getting your bike nice and clean. Its also not bad value as the bottle I have seems to be lasting forever(okay, not forever, but a little goes a long way).

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