TESTED: Tru-Tension Bike Care and Cleaning Products

Tru-Tension are a new brand of bike cleaning and maintenance products that have recently landed in Australia, hailing from the United Kingdom. With expertise in motorbike and go kart maintenance, Tru-Tension also make a thorough range of cleaning and maintenance products for bikes. And given how grubby things get in the UK, you can be pretty sure they know what they're doing. I was sent out Tru-Tension's Deluxe Cycle Bundle, Grime Guard and Graphene Bike Detailer to use and review while looking after my bikes through the tail end of summer.

Tru-Tension Deluxe Cycle Bundle: $99.95

This pack is an all in one, with the banana flavoured Monkey Juice cleaner, a gel refill sachet of the same cleaner, drivetrain cleaner (degreaser), chain brush, cycle maintenance spray, brake cleaner, and the Tungsten Wet Weather lube and Tungsten All-Weather lube. While this bundle doesn't include a bucket like some brands do, chances are you already have the basics like a bucket and sponge. 

The degreaser is an aerosol spray, and was really effective on a fairly dirty drivetrain, especially around the jockey wheels and chain ring, where excess lubricant tends to gather. After leaving it on for a minute, I did find it worthwhile to use a brush (one is included) to scrub the chain ring and jockey wheels, to get the set grime off. Tru-Tension recommend another spray of the degreaser, to then wipe it off while wet. This works pretty well on the surfaces, but I mostly relied on it getting into the chain to degrease it. I washed it off with a light hose, which was also prep over the rest of the bike for the bike cleaner.

The bike cleaner is called a gel and I get why, it sprays on and doesn't just run off right away, which is really handy! The banana flavour is part of their branding but it's a nice change I guess! With spray on cleaners like this, I tend to feel after letting them sit for the recommended few minutes, you may as well scrub the grubby bits and wipe it all with a wet sponge as well. Once I hosed it off, it showed it was worthwhile, the bike was really clean. Being biodegradeable, it's not going to kill your lawn when you wash it off either.

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Tru-Tension's Cycle Maintenance Spray is essentially a very light spray lubricant. The aerosol means it is easy to use on derailleurs, pedals and other moving parts. It helps repel moisture, so it's ideal to use after washing. I found that wiping it off with a clean rag also added a lot of shine to the bike, and took off any last bits of trail grime.

The Tru Tension brake cleaner was next up, and I used it through the caliper and on the rotors after washing. This helps clear off any soap that may have been sitting in there. The best practice would be to remove your wheels and pads, and express the pistons a little before cleaning them with the brake cleaner, a new rag and even a cut down toothbrush. My spray and wipe is the fast option that lends itself to use the aerosol brake cleaner. It's fast and very effective, but unlikely to sort out sticky pistons. You need to get the wheel and pads out for that.

With two chain lubricants supplied, I opted for the Tungsten All-Weather chain lube. It's a drip feed, and needs to be applied to a clean chain – like any chain lube. It sets and you wipe off the excess. This has proven to run really clean. The conditions during in testing were hot and dry, and it had about 16 hours use before the bike needed another clean anyway. The drivetrain wasn't very dirty, and still ran well. It's a very impressive chain lube – but stay tuned for a long term test on this one and the Wet Weather lubricant. They also make eMTB specific chain lubes 

Tru-Tension Grim Guard: $28.99

When I first saw these, I thought they were a bit much. Did you really need one? But using the Tru-Tension Grime Guard is a bit like using the aerosol brake cleaner. It's not the only way to do things, but it's one of the fastest and neatest. The sheeting opens up to sit in behind your cassette, and it completely shields your disc and caliper from any degreaser or spray lubricant over spray.

The section at the bottom catches it all very neatly, so you can dispose of it properly. The only downside is if you don't make sure it's sitting flush, it can catch on your spokes. So back pedalling is fine to clean your drivetrain and lubricate it, but if you pedal through the gears it will catch and up end the liquid that has been caught! So check it won't catch – or remove it before checking your shifting.

Tru-Tension Graphene Bike Detailer: $23.99

While this one doesn't come in the bundle either, it's a good addition for anyone wanting to look after their bike. This is a spray on polish that helps build a protective coating over your frame. In simple terms, at provides a gloss finish that can help make cleaning your bike easier in the long run.

With enough uses, the detailer builds up a hydrophobic coating that makes it harder for dust and mud to stick to. I've found these really don't last very long, asrepeated bike washing tends to break them all down. But there is no denying that spraying the Graphene Bike Detailer on and buffing it off leaves a high gloss, fantastic finish to your bike. You don't use much each time, but it does make an impact when use don your frame, fork, rims and bars. Just keep it off things like your brakes!

Our take

The Tru-Tension products offer a very thorough range. They all worked extremely well, and I like the fact that there are gel refills for the Bike Cleaner. Tru-Tension are one of many companies that use an aerosol for a few of their products, and increasingly I think brands need to move away from that. The products are great, but I'd love to see them move to a pump pack in the future, to match the reduced packaging that their gel refill sachets offer.

From: FEsports.com.au

Hits:

• All the cleaning products you need
• Refill sachet for cleaner
• High quality chain lubes included

Misses:

• BYO bucket and sponges
• Aerosols are a single use product