Muc-Off and Finish Line bike cleaning products are almost synonymous with “bike care products” when someone asks what do you recommend to clean your bike? A few months ago I tested Crankalicious cleaning products and they performed brilliantly. After the review I tried to source more of their products from Chain Reaction Cycles but they always seemed to be out of stock, so hopefully people are supporting the boutique brand. But here in Australia, we have our own cleaning product and I thought it was about time to give it “a fair dinkum go”.
Krush is an Australian company based out of the “high country” in Victoria Australia. They support Australian mountain biking events such as the Cannonball Downhill competition at Thredbo, the EWS in Derby, the Ignition Festival at Bright, and the opening of Maydena Bike Park in Tasmania. So these guys have seen a dirty mountain bike or two, and know the value of high performance at low cost. In order to best compare them to Muc-Off, once again I got their core range of Foaming Rapid Wash, Ultra Drivetrain Degreaser Spray, and their brand new Platinum Chain Lube.
For Krush to compete against Muc-Off and Crankalicious, we once again need some dirty bikes and once they are cleaned they need to perform well. To test how well it cleans dual suspension and hard tails, Titan and Warpath will serve as the main test bikes since fat tyres deserve to be ridden in mud and loam. So how does Australia stack up to England? No time for cricket, it’s time to wash some bikes!
Before Krush cleaning. Clay like mud on the seat tube and down tube.
After Krush cleaning. Removes majority of the grime and doesn’t discolour the frame after washing. Tyres are still caked in some clay mud.
Before Krush cleaning. Bottom bracket and seat tube area are the main concern, with the cross bar on the chain stay being twice as thick thanks to the build up of mud.
After Krush cleaning. The products worked really well overall, with the drive train and seat post being the main highlights for myself.
Green, Lemon Lime Smell, Is This Limon Velo?
And this isn’t an insult, it’s a compliment having another great drive train cleaning solution that has a suitable spray nozzle. Directions are simple to hose off major mud and gunk, spray onto drive train and cassette, use it in your favourite cleaning whip, and after agitating the mixture simply rinse off with water and dry clean. And it does a pretty good job. The mixture foams up well which allows it to be dispersed easily on the cassette and on the derailleur, and it works well in the Muc-Off chain whip that I used for the Crankalicious review. It has the fresh lemon/lime smell and it leaves the drive train looking pretty darn good. During the cleaning, I did note a bit more of a “bubble and hiss” as if the solution has some acidic properties as well. While it isn’t the “as good as new” gleam like Crankalicious had, I found for a single drive train degreaser that costs significantly less, it does an exceptional job. Coming in the larger 1L bottle and only costing $25 AUS for it, this is the best value for money. There is a lot going for the green degreaser, and I am quite pleased with how it performed. I strongly recommend this drive train cleaning spray.
Blue Lightning
The rapid bike wash is good as well. It doesn’t break ground and somehow removes scuffs from a weathered frame, but like Muc-Offs Bike Wash Spray and Crankalicious Pineapple Express, it is a foaming bike spray that is easily sprayed on, agitated with a brush and after minimal time is rinsed off and leaves the frame gleaming and clean. It doesn’t leave the oily sheen that Pineapple Express did on Warpath, but it does most stubborn mud quite well and doesn’t leave smears. The foaming nozzle is a tight spread, so in order to cover a wide area you need to aim from a bit of a distance when compared to Muc-Off and Crankalicious. For $25 AUS for the 1L bottle and nozzle, this is another value for money cleaner. But to make things better, you can buy the Premium Concentrate which is sold for $20 and combining one part to four parts water (200mL bike spray concentrate to 800mL water), you can keep refilling the Krush Bike Spray. Anyway to reduce the environmental impact due to plastic wastage is always a plus in my books!
Wax On, Wax Off
As previously discussed in the last cleaning product review, the lubricant you use is entirely up to personal preference and how you want your drive train to best perform. What Krush offers is the Platinum Chain Lube which is a wax based chain lubricant to be used in conjunction with their cleaning products. While it isn’t as difficult to apply as regular chain wax, this thick liquid solution looks like any other lube you have come across. It needs a fair angle to be tipped at in order to flow out of the nozzle, and after coating the chain and rotating 4-5 times over you simply wipe off the excess and it’s good to go instantly. The bold claim for Platinum is that it improves your chain while riding and after every consecutive wash. This is intriguing…
For the first ride on both bikes nothing seemed to be different from using Smoove lube, and the creak of the chain occurred sooner on Titan than using Science Friction. But getting up to the fourth clean, my chain seemed to make less noise for longer and it seemed to be looking “good as new” with less effort. I’m not sure where I yet stand on wax lubricants as a whole compared to ceramic or traditional silicon based lubricants, but Platinum is a great lube and seems to be doing what it says on the bottle. Costing $20 AUS for a bottle that is larger than Science Friction and Smoove, the value for money is there and if you love a good wax lubricant without having to brew your own home batch chain wax, I recommend you give this a shot?
Bio-Degradable?
Another bike care product that claims to be bio-degradable yet there are no resources to state how to dispose of the used product, or information pertaining to how to treat chemical exposure. Sure there is the usual “if sprayed in eyes please rinse with cold running water and seek emergency medicine”, but considering that Crankalcious had full PDFs explaining the chemicals used in the products, how to safely dispose of them, and everything you could ask from a legal document; it’s hard to give this an easy pass. Trying to look up Australian guidelines for what makes a cleaning product biodegradable is again near impossible since nearly every Google search leads you to a blog or company website saying to wash your carpets with vinegar and lemon rind. I believe that Krush imply that their cleaning products will degrade if they are over-sprayed and have not interacted with oils and grime, but as always please dispose of waste water responsibly and avoid contact with cleaning products as you should?
Conclusion
I am incredibly pleased with the Krush cleaning and maintenance products I have tested. They clean well, the application nozzles do a fair job, there are no offensive smells, they are affordable in Australia, and my bikes perform well on the trail after cleaning with these products. I will praise the drive train cleaning solution for working exceptionally as a spray and a whip fluid, the bike spray for having the option to refill with a concentrate at a fraction of the cost, and the Platinum lube for slowly delivering on its promise. If you are an Australian resident, I highly recommend seeking this stuff out and trying it for yourself, and if you are from overseas have a try at different cleaning products when you can to see if something honestly does a better job for less? Great work Krush for making three awesome cleaning products! Just need to try the After Bike Spray and Rotor Cleaner I suppose? Until next time.
Through an amateur's eyes 