When I first tested this warm-air dryer from Metrovac, it was selling at £150 and I came to the conclusion that, for that kind of money, I would stick with a chamois leather or a microfibre cloth. However, you can now get it for less than £100, so does this make it more useful to the average motorcyclists or is it still an expensive luxury?
First things first; does it do the job it is intended for? Absolutely it does. Drying a bike once you have washed it, so you can carry on to the next stage whether that’s polishing, waxing, spraying with anti-corrosion products or simply putting it away, is essential.
Traditionally, you would do this with a chamois leather or a microfibre cloth but the issue here is that on a motorcycle, much more so than say a car, there are stacks of nooks and crannies where water can lurk and at best, leave marks and worst, begin attacking the bike’s finishes.
1. Metrovac Blaster Sidekick
1. Metrovac Blaster Sidekick
What the Blaster does is chase any water that is left over on the surface of the bike or deep in nooks and crannies away so that you can either progress to the next step of your maintenance program or put it away clean and dry – think the last process in a drive-through car wash. It is a hefty bit of kit with a powerful motor powering a fan as well as a heating element to generate a huge flowrate of warm air to get rid of the water.
It is a hand-held blower – as opposed to one that uses a large main motor and fan unit and a flexible hose to the outlet nozzle – and despite it’s hefty weight, isn’t ungainly to use. It sits fairly well in the hand though it does have a fair kick to it when you thumb the activation switch and it does start to get heavy after a while.
It comes with a couple of soft nozzles – so you don’t damage the bike if you happen to catch it with the nozzle – with one offering a wider spread and the other, a more narrow but concentrated blast of air. It was this one that I used to chase the water away from several test bikes.
It works well on flat surfaces, such as screens, tanks and body fairings though inevitably you need to swing it from side to side to chase the larger droplets away. The high-volume, high-pressure air pushes the water away and breaks it up into smaller droplets that also evaporate in the air flow.
However, drying a flat-ish surface isn’t that difficult with a microfibre cloth. Where this really excels is getting rid of water from areas where you would not be able to get to using a cloth. For example, the cooling fins of an air-cooled motor or the inner areas of the engine and transmission.
Related: Best motorbike kit cleaning products
Blasting the brakes, wheel hubs or spokes of a bike using spoked wheels would all be near-on impossible with a cloth. Also drying around rear suspension components or under the bike can all be achieved without getting on your hands and knees.
Verdict
This warm-air dryer does exactly what is says on the tin; it helps to quickly and effectively dry both the accessible but more importantly, the difficult-to-reach bits of your bike so you can move on to the next stage of your regime or just put it away.
The question is; is it worth buying? If you ask me if it is worth the money, then yes, it is. It is well built and does the job it is supposed to do. The answer to the question - Should I buy one? - can only be answered by you. However, since the price has now dropped by 33%, it is a question that is a lot easier to answer now than before.
Pros:
Dries tricky-to-reach
Feels well made
Powerful motor
Cons:
May not be essential
More motorcycle cleaning products:
3. Muc-Off Disc Brake Cleaner
4. Muc-Off Pressure Washer
Description
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