Muc-Off Pressure Washer review

As a brand that used to base its existence entirely on a pink-coloured bike cleaner, Muc-Off has successfully expanded into other realms such as tubeless sealant, chain lube and personal hygiene as well as car cleaning and other accessories. That now also includes the Muc-Off Pressure Washer, claimed to be the world's first bike-specific jet wash.

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As its first true hard goods product, Muc-Off has gone big. Touting its pressure washer as the first designed entirely for motorised and pedal bikes, it’s fair to say that Muc-Off’s claims are about as bold as they come. World-firsts don't come very often any more.

Muc-Off Pressure Washer and accessories kit specifications and details

What makes this pressure washer bike-specific then?

Well, Muc-Off has designed three specially-engineered lances that should be bearing, suspension and seal-safe — which, in short, means less powerful when compared to your traditional patio-blasting Karcher.

Included in the standard pressure washer package is one bike-safe lance, a slightly higher-pressure motorbike lance and an adjustable-pressure fitting that can be turned up to blast out the most stubborn mud or, if you’re feeling a bit naughty and wish to disobey Muc-Off’s assertion that the washer is only for bikes, be used to clean your car or patio. God forbid!

In the more expensive kit we've got here, you’re also treated to a snow foam lance. This little bad boy is a clean freak's dream come true.

Simply attach a bottle of your favourite bike cleaner with a compatible thread to transform the normally-inert coloured substance into a thick foam, which should help to remove ingrained grime from your pride and joy.

Our package also includes a waterproof carry case bag that’s big enough to fit in the washer and its accessories and fitments.

The washer’s lance is built out of three pieces: the handle, an extender section and a power-specific or snow foam end attachment.

Each section has a twist-lock fitment with release buttons to disassemble them. Attaching the washer to the lance is a thick rubber hose that’s 5 meters long with push-lock fittings at both ends. The in-built electricity cable is also 5 meters long.

There’s a standard hose-lock fitting screwed into the back of the washer for hosepipes to provide the cold water feed.

Using a carbon brush motor that’s rated at 1,200w at maximum flow, Muc-Off claims the pressure washer will blast water out at 6.5 litres per minute at 100 bar. The whole unit has a waterproof rating of IPX5, which means water can be shot at the washer’s body from any angle. It doesn’t have an official rating against dust or dirt ingress though.

The unit weighs around 6kg and is easy to carry whether it’s in its bag or in use.

Included in the £119.99 kit, on top of the additional snow foam lance, you get a 1-litre bottle of Muc-Off wash and 1-litre of concentrated cleaner that dilutes down to 4 litres of cleaner.

Bought separately these will cost £14.99, £9.99 and £19.99 respectively, edging the total for a homemade combo up to £124.96. So you save just under £5 by buying the combo kit.

The full pressure washer package will also be available in the rest of Europe and the USA from October, priced at €139.99 and $174.99 respectively.

Muc-Off Pressure Washer and accessories kit performance

The washer is easy to carry around, transport and store in its bag. No accessory can be left behind thanks to each having its own storage area either attached to the washer itself (in the case of the wands) or in/on the bag itself.

If the washer is wet, the bag will stop water seeping out and creating a soggy mess in your garage, utility room or wherever else you wish to store it. Likewise, if where you keep the washer isn’t bone dry then you don't need to worry about it getting wet from external sources.

Once out of the bag, it's exceptionally easy to assemble. The first time I used the washer I didn’t require any instructions.

Each piece of the wand can only fit in one place and it’s particularly obvious which part goes where. Likewise, for the wand-to-washer line it’s impossible to mistake it for another part.

It is worth reading the instructions to make sure you understand the correct order for turning the jet wash on, though. This is crucial because if it’s on without a water supply it can damage the motor, rendering it useless.

At this point, it is certainly worth noting that the Muc-Off pressure washer isn’t something you’re going to be taking with you to an event or on holiday if you know you aren’t going to have access to 220 to 240-volt electricity. To that end, this is a stay-at-home, garage or shed accessory rather than a travel companion.

As the pressure washer is tethered to an electricity socket, you are limited to a 5-metre radius of that delightful AC current, unless you have an additional extension cable.

The wand’s own hose will extend your range by a further 5 metres but some of that length is needed to move around the bike you’re washing.

The casual observer will struggle to notice a significant difference between outputs from the bike-specific (whether that's motorbike or bicycle) wands.

Squirt them both at mud and grime, and it's removed. Fire them at your hand (please DO NOT try this) and they both hurt at a similar point as your hand gets closer to the jet’s source.

The higher-pressure lance does have a distinguishable difference, though.

The wand’s nozzle can be rotated, adjusting the spray pattern, reducing its focus and therefore intensity and power.

Likewise, the snow foam fitting provides a unique and pretty fun experience, as far as washing your bike goes. And while it does agitate the grime and grit, making it easier to blast off, nothing quite beats the physical removal of dirt with a brush or similar.

It does go through your bottle of Muc-Off cleaner very quickly, however, and if you're a penny-pincher we recommend using the snow foam mode sparingly.

If you’re particularly meticulous about your paint job and can’t bear to touch it with a brush or sponge before it’s as clean as possible, then the combination of the bike-pressure wand and snow foam attachment are going to do the best job out there.

That said, it’s certainly worth pointing out that this sort of washing routine is more akin to how people wash cars that have large, flat, swirl-prone painted surfaces than bikes that are regularly rammed through the grottiest of conditions.

Whether the powered-down wand attachments actually help to improve bearing life or reduce water-ingress when you’re washing your bike is a puzzle that’s quite tough to answer objectively.

Bearing types and location, sealing specifications and washing habits — whether you spray the jet directly at your fork’s seals or pivot’s bearings or not — could well have a much larger effect on how long they’ll last and stand up to the inevitable water ingress.

Equally, if every one of your rides is in the wet and mud, this surely causes the bearings to wear faster.

Anyone who’s ever ridden in the wet will know that water and mud somehow make their way into the most sensitive parts of your bike without the help of a pressure washer.

Muc-Off Pressure Washer and accessories kit bottom line

Putting aside the debate about whether or not you should or shouldn’t use a high-pressure water jet to clean your bike, Muc-Off's pressure washer is a great performing and easy to use bit of kit.

In its barest spec at £79.99, it’s the same price as Karcher’s cheapest K 2 Compact washer and has more fittings. Karcher has a long-standing reputation for reliability that Muc-Off will have to earn over time, given how new the company is to the pressure washer market, but we had no problems during testing.

However, the slightly more expensive washer and accessories kit that we’ve reviewed looks like better value than Karcher’s £139.99 K 2 Full Control Home kit, especially if you’re not interested in cleaning patios.

In short, the Muc-Off washer works brilliantly and cleans bikes exceptionally well to boot. It’ll quite happily clean anything you point it at too, such as cars, clothes, patios, etc — just don’t tell Muc-Off!