Review Proper Cleaner by Guy Martin (Part 2)

Markymark

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Nov 24, 2018
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Product Image:
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Product name: Proper Cleaner by Guy Martin (Part 2)
Price paid: £13.00
Score (out of 10): 8.5

Review: I finally got a chance to test out the Proper Cleaner on my mud encrusted bike.
You can see in the pictures one of the capsules which is covered on a water soluble film, the spray bottle after adding the capsule and the final one is after shaking the bottle to mix it up.
Using it is much like any of the other cleaners, wet bike, spray on, leave for a while then attack with sponge brushes etc, then rinse off.
It seems to me that it behaves much the same as the Halfords (Bike Hut) cleaner that I already have. I must say though that last time I washed the bike it wasn't as dirty.
While it did the job, I can't help thinking that much the same result could be achieved with a quick squirt of Fairy liquid or what ever brand the wife has bought. Wetting the bike first is always going to loosen
the crud first anyway and then sponging and brushing is going to remove it. I rode over at Swinley and the ground there is very sandy so the muck comes away quite easily anyway.
What I would like to see is a cleaner that actually removes the dirt without scrubbing. I would love a product that you pre-wet, apply then just hose off and all the crud goes with it.
In summery, it does what it advertises and I will probably stick with it as the refill are cheaper but still feel that Fairy would achieve the same result.
I went for a ride yesterday and now it's covered in crud again.
The ultimate holy grail would be a product that prevents crud from sticking to the bike in the first place. :)
Happy riding! Mark
 

Paul Mac

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I agree with this view, I haven't used this "proper cleaner", but have used muck off and other similar products.
I can't honesty say they make any difference to cleaning the bike.
If I just hose with plain water and then scrub, I get the same result as if I had used a product?
 

R120

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Apr 13, 2018
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I have found the the Halfords Cleaner is amazing for giving my car a quick rinse to get the winter muck/road salt off the windows etc.
 

davosaurusrex

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I reckon all these bike cleaners are snake oil TBH, there's no substitute for a brush/ cloth. That said I wouldn't use washing up liquid as it contains salt, or so I've read. I just buy a 5l container of car shampoo from Halfords for under a tenner, lasts me a year or so used for the cars as well. I was using their own brand but they changed the formula to include wax, which obviously you don't want on your brakes, so now buying ultimate wash or some such, green liquid in a clear container anyway. Probably Fairy Liquid!
 

Markymark

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Nov 24, 2018
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I reckon all these bike cleaners are snake oil TBH, there's no substitute for a brush/ cloth. That said I wouldn't use washing up liquid as it contains salt, or so I've read. I just buy a 5l container of car shampoo from Halfords for under a tenner, lasts me a year or so used for the cars as well. I was using their own brand but they changed the formula to include wax, which obviously you don't want on your brakes, so now buying ultimate wash or some such, green liquid in a clear container anyway. Probably Fairy Liquid!
If you rinse the bike, surely that gets rid of any salt in the detergent.
 

davosaurusrex

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Maybe but I'd rather not put it on there in the first place and risk missing any. Car shampoo without wax is cheap enough
 

Markymark

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Maybe but I'd rather not put it on there in the first place and risk missing any. Car shampoo without wax is cheap enough
Hate to be ignorant but what's the problem with salt? I guess it is to do with salt water being bad for the electrics.
 

davosaurusrex

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Salt is corrosive and will damage metals, ruin your disc brakes etc. How significant it is in washing up liquid I don't know but rather not find out. It might be irrelevant but as I said I'm happy to use car shampoo and not risk it
 
Last edited:

Markymark

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Nov 24, 2018
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Salt is corrosive and will damage metals, ruin your down brakes etc. How significant it is in washing up liquid I don't know but rather not find out. It might be irrelevant but as I said I'm happy to use car shampoo and not risk it
None of my old bikes rusted using it. ?
 

davosaurusrex

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Fair enough, I don't doubt it. However you have the two extremes of the bike specific cleaners, which as you say in your review don't do anything amazing and are expensive, or cheap as chips washing up liquid which has the potential to do damage. For me car shampoo is the happy middle ground but each to their own
 

Markymark

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Nov 24, 2018
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Fair enough, I don't doubt it. However you have the two extremes of the bike specific cleaners, which as you say in your review don't do anything amazing and are expensive, or cheap as chips washing up liquid which has the potential to do damage. For me car shampoo is the happy middle ground but each to their own
I'll give some ago.
 

Dax

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If I just hose with plain water and then scrub, I get the same result as if I had used a product?

I’ve only used muc off (it was free), but I’ve found its far more effective to use it as part of a wash than to just use water. When you wash/brush without detergent, I always seem to end up with a fine layer of muc over the bike, using detergent brings back the shine.
 

All Mountain Coaching

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Oct 3, 2018
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I agree with the first two comments, I just use washing up liquid. Have done for all my bikes over the years. Never caused any harm and no different from any of the expensive cleaning products I've been brought.
 

Northumbrian

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Sep 3, 2018
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Can’t really understand why you would want to use any specialist product on a muddy bike, water ( bit of mild detergent)and brush is enough surely.... however, I find “Muc off” is awesome to use on my motorcycle if it’s covered in road dirt from heavy rain. It just seems to dissolve the grime leaving it clean straight after rinsing.
 

Gary

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That said I wouldn't use washing up liquid as it contains salt, or so I've read.

Where exactly have you read this Dave?
It's not listed in the ingredients on any washing up liquid I've ever used.

"“Washing up liquid does contain a 'salt' but this is the active ingredient and should not be confused with road salt. There is nothing in a washing-up liquid that will exacerbate corrosion – there's no sodium chloride salt to worry about. "

Take Fairy liquid for example. It contains Sodium laureth sulphate. Perhaps you or whoever you are reading your advice from read these tthree words and confused them with sodium chloride. I don't know. SLS is actually a corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel against certain acids and not the same thing as the Sodium Chloride we're all perfectly happy to ingest on our chips.

Plus. Even if you could find washing up liquid which for some reason DID contain common table salt. How much damage could it possibly do when 5ml of neat washing up liquid is diluted in a 5l bucket of how water, sponged onto a pushbike and rinsed off straight after with clean water?
 

Dax

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I assume the 'washing up liquid contains salt' story is one of those old wives tails that everyone knows. I remember hearing it from a mate when I got my first car.
 

Markymark

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Nov 24, 2018
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It's funny I just looked at my bottle of Fairy Platinum and there was no salt listed. So I Googled it and found the article Gary has quoted from.
 

AllmtnBurks

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Jan 19, 2019
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Product Image: View attachment 8521
View attachment 8522
View attachment 8523

Product name: Proper Cleaner by Guy Martin (Part 2)
Price paid: £13.00
Score (out of 10): 8.5

Review: I finally got a chance to test out the Proper Cleaner on my mud encrusted bike.
You can see in the pictures one of the capsules which is covered on a water soluble film, the spray bottle after adding the capsule and the final one is after shaking the bottle to mix it up.
Using it is much like any of the other cleaners, wet bike, spray on, leave for a while then attack with sponge brushes etc, then rinse off.
It seems to me that it behaves much the same as the Halfords (Bike Hut) cleaner that I already have. I must say though that last time I washed the bike it wasn't as dirty.
While it did the job, I can't help thinking that much the same result could be achieved with a quick squirt of Fairy liquid or what ever brand the wife has bought. Wetting the bike first is always going to loosen
the crud first anyway and then sponging and brushing is going to remove it. I rode over at Swinley and the ground there is very sandy so the muck comes away quite easily anyway.
What I would like to see is a cleaner that actually removes the dirt without scrubbing. I would love a product that you pre-wet, apply then just hose off and all the crud goes with it.
In summery, it does what it advertises and I will probably stick with it as the refill are cheaper but still feel that Fairy would achieve the same result.
I went for a ride yesterday and now it's covered in crud again.
The ultimate holy grail would be a product that prevents crud from sticking to the bike in the first place. :)
Happy riding! Mark

Best way to stop crud sticking is ceramic coatings.
With a brand new or thoroughly clean bike you can apply a ceramic coating the same as you would a car. . . Which unless your also into car detailing is an expense probably not worth it just for a bike.

But now many car detailer sprays also come with active Si02 content mixed into them. . .Which last 3 months with a single application. (I used a 50ml sample bottle and used less than a quarter)

When my bike was new I wiped it over with CARBON COLLECTIVE-speciale. . .with this on mud doesn't stick like it usually would, but for a proper clean agitation is always a must especially in crevices etc. . With a soft detailing brush.?
 

hiro

New Member
Jan 7, 2019
49
36
South Yorkshire
I seem to remember in the dim and distant past being told that they used to put salt into cheap washing up liquid as it allowed the suds to be more frothy in hard water areas, giving the impression that it was better quality and you could use less of it
 

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