After a ride in dusty conditions, it doesn’t take much to get a dirt bike clean. Spray on whatever cleaner comes to hand, then rinse it down—done. However, when mud is in the mix, and the goop gets baked on a hot engine, it’s not that easy. Fortunately, Muc-Off Nano Tech Motorcycle Cleaner is up to the challenge. That’s not a surprise, as we have many reviews of Muc-Off products and have been repeatedly impressed.
Muc-Off makes several claims about its Nano Tech Motorcycle Cleaner, though none of them matter when the bike comes home covered in mud. Sure, it’s nice that Muc-Off says the pink stuff is biodegradable, but when I want a clean motorcycle, that’s a minor concern. It is safe for disc brakes and carbon fiber—that’s something we care about.
Muc-Off says Nano Technology “breaks down dirt and grime,” and then declares they can’t tell you exactly what it is—trade secret, and all that. Okay, I can’t say that I care, as I just want a clean motorcycle—they can keep how they do it a mystery, if they must.
After a few days of heavy rain in Southern California—atmospheric rivers happen—we were itching to get out on the new 2023 Kawasaki KX250X. Puddles and mud patches littered the trails. Not only does that make riding more fun, but it also provides the materials needed for testing Muc-Off’s boasts about its Nano Technology. We had tried it before on dusty motorcycles. However, as we noted, that’s not much of a trial. The KX250X came home nicely splattered in mud.
Muc-Off instructs us to rinse the motorcycle before applying the Nano Tech cleaner. That’s a double-edged sword for cleaners. Most cleaners are sprayed on and then rinsed off. That makes sense, as the water left over after rinsing will dilute the cleaner. However, rinsing the bike off removes a lot of the dirt. So, the Nano Tech cleaner had to be able to work with the rinse residue to clean off the bike—not necessarily easy.
After a thorough rinsing—a garden hose and a sprayer, not a pressure washer—some mud on the plastic was gone, though none of the crud baked onto the motor. It’s time to spray on the Nano Tech cleaner. Interestingly, it comes out sudsy—not a liquid, like most cleaners. Muc-Off’s instructions tell us to wait three-to-five minutes, so we set a timer for five minutes while we put away our also-muddy Alpinestars riding gear.
The five minutes pass by quickly, and we promptly skip Step 3, which tells us to “agitate any stubborn grime with a brush or sponge.” Muc-Off sells lots of brushes, so there’s that. We ignored that instruction, as we wanted to see what it would do with nothing more than another rinse.
Out again came the hose. We rinsed off the KX250X, and with it came all the mud—even the mud baked onto the motor and muffler. That is impressive.
We used cotton rags for touchup work where we neglected to spray on the Muc-Off Nano Tech cleaner. That was followed up with an application of Muc-Off Motorcycle Protectant. After a day of play in the mud, the 2023 Kawasaki KX250X looked brand new again, and the after-wash protectant will help repel dust, dirt, and mud next time out.
A one-liter bottle with a pump spray top runs $17. You will get a lot of washes out of that, depending on how aggressively you spray and how dirty your bike is. Muc-Off offers a variety of refill packages, including the five-liter bottle that will make 5.3 gallons of sudsy goodness—that’s a lot of cleaning!
It’s not often you get a combination of easy, effective, and inexpensive. However, Muc-Off Nano Tech Motorcycle Cleaner pulls off the trifecta—brilliantly.
Muc-Off Nano Tech Motorcycle Cleaner Review Photo Gallery
