- What does de-greaser do?
And is it effective?
And if we could see, what would that process look like?
Well I think it is time
for one of my famously underwhelming experiments.
(logo stinging)
Here on the channel, we're very fortunate
to be supported by Muc-Off,
however these comparisons are valid irrespective
of the brand.
The marketplace is awash, if you'll excuse the puns,
with options.
So let's find out a quick fire explanation,
for a quick fire experiment.
What we're going to do is introduce grease
into three different substances.
We have water, which some people might just hose
their bike down with.
We have some bike cleaner which you'd use all over
your frame and other componentry.
And we have some drive train specific
bio-degradable degreaser.
So in this simple experiment,
when I add the grease to the water,
well we know that grease is really good
at resisting moisture, so I imagine it won't break down
and it will remain largely unchanged.
The interesting one for me,
is actually the bike wash.
How effective is it at breaking down stubborn,
well in this case 100% pure grease.
We use it all over on our bike
and I wonder how effective it will be
when compared to the drivetrain specific degreaser,
which I imagine will be a lot stronger.
I think it will be really interesting
to see how a concentrated degreaser,
goes against its complete antibode,
the concentrated grease.
When we look at the results,
we're going to look at the discoloration
of the liquid and whether the grease itself has broken down
into clumps, whether it's melted away to nothing,
or whether it stayed largely intact.
So let's get on with it.
Here we have our grease and it's everything you'd want
an assembly grease to be.
It's hard wearing, waterproof, and bio-degradable.
Now each of these things, all three of them
including the water, believe it or not,
are bio-degradable.
A couple of years ago it didn't seem like
there were that many options for bio-degradable degreaser,
but it's great to see it come to the table.
So I'm going to add a few squirts to each one,
I'm going to go make a bloody strong cup of tea,
enjoy it in another room,
and then come back and we'll see what it looks like.
(jazzy music)
Now time for the halftime stir.
Oh no.
Okay, so time for the results.
Well let's start off with the water.
The water, I mean it looks like a brain suspended in a jar.
It's pretty much unaffected by the water.
It hasn't broken it down at all.
So sometimes when you hose your bike down,
including the drivetrain,
often it will shift large pieces of debris and mud,
but in terms of those grease stains you're left with,
well that'd be why.
I'm actually quite impressed by the bike wash.
You can see and if we give a little stir,
it's largely broken down and I think, I'm going to do it,
the pieces, they break up in your hand now,
which is quite impressive.
I think what's interesting to note between the two,
is because the grease is floating in the bike wash,
it's going to be, you know always be broken down by,
well it's not getting bottle necked at the bottom.
I don't know how much degreaser there is
right in the bottom of that flute there.
So maybe that's worth noticing,
but very, very impressive.
This stuff however, if we give it a stir
hopefully you can see just how much it's broken down.
Like ash in the wind, it's really not much at all.
And I think that's pretty incredible to be honest with you.
And just to think that that's not by,
you know we gave it a stir halfway through,
but that's not agitating the dirt
like you would perhaps do with a small brush
on your drivetrain.
So these two are going to be effective
at breaking down grit and grime
in a way that water could never be.
So there we have it, all wrapped up
from one of my famous underwhelming science experiments.
I hope you enjoyed it.
It was certainly quite interesting for me.
Now if you want to stay with the channel,
click down here for Gee Atherton's drool worthy race bike
from Red Bull Hardline.
It's an absolute beauty.
As always, thank you very much for watching.
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and get in the comments below.
Thank you very much and we'll see you next time.