Generally speaking, if you want to clean a motorbike, then you will probably find a pressure washer useful. However – and it’s a big however – sometimes, you need to be careful, particularly around electronics, bearings and suspension components. What you want is a pressure washer that is powerful enough to be useful but not so powerful that it can damage your bike. Enter the Muc-Off washer.
I’ve been using this for more than two years and in that time, it has been used primarily on bikes though it has also turned its hand to cars, the occasional van and even a small HGV, as well as off-road bikes and the farm quad. And it has breezed the lot.
It was designed specifically to clean bikes and motorcycles and as a result, it comes with three different lance fittings; motorcycle, bicycle and adjustable and these are supplied with water at around 70 bar (just over 1000psi).
1. Muc-Off Pressure Washer
1. Muc-Off Pressure Washer
The lances themselves are made of plastic so if you inadvertently clout the bike with on, it won’t take a chunk of the paint off and the 1200W motor means that while there is enough grunt to clean the bike or cycle, it won’t cause damage.
There are various options available to purchase, from the pressure washer alone to bundles including Muc-Off’s excellent cleaning products, brushes – you want it, you can have it. But one of the really useful bits is the snow foam lance.
Once you have dampened the dirt on the bike and then, got rid of the worst of it with the pressure lance, you switch to the snow-foam lance and this applies the bike cleaner to the bike as a layer of foam.
This gets into all the nooks and crannies and you then simply allow it to dwell for a bit, agitate with a brush of a cleaning glove and then, rinse off the foam complete with the dirt.
In the time I’ve used it, I haven’t had any issues, other than a split rubber O-ring on one of the quick-release wand hoses which meant water poured out of the connection. However, a quick rummage around in a box of O-rings in the garage and we were back up to speed. Even when I slammed the hose in the workshop door, it kinked but it didn’t prevent it from working properly.
I initially thought that the Hozelock connector on the back of the washer for the low-pressure water-supply connection looked weak and flimsy but as time has proven, I was mistaken on that. The whole lot comes in a drybag for storage though I ended up using mine so frequently that I re-purposed the drybag and simply tucked the washer away in the corner.
One of the things I like about it is that it has a lock on the handle of the cleaning wand, so that you don’t have to hold the trigger constantly. I know lots of pressure washers have these and it’s a small thing but I have yet to try one where it actually works and the Muc-Off one has never let me down and caused a sore forearm.
Verdict
You may get the impression I like this pressure washer – I do. Not only do I like it, I also respect it. It is a well thought-out and designed piece of kit that works perfectly for the job it was designed for – cleaning bikes and motorcycles but can turn its hand to cleaning virtually anything else as well.
In the time I had the Muc-Off washer, I also had a couple of yellow ones yet I always seem to end up using the pink one.
Pros:
Powerful enough without causing damage
Well-built and withstands abuse
Works on a variety of vehicles
Cons:
None I have come across
