I was recently sent some samples of the new Redant Precision range of bike cleaners to try out and see what I thought of them. I met Vern from Redant back at the Core Bike Show and found his story of wanting to bring a car detailing approach and quality of product to bike cleaning a compelling one. If you’ve not ever noticed the car detailing market, it’s full of people who take amazing care in the cleaning and presentation of their vehicles, agonising over ingredients and combinations of products for the highest quality finish and clean. It’s way too OCD for me personally, but I admire their focus and dedication and this applies to the products they use as well as the end result.
Redant Carbon Fibre products are work best for painted finishes, carbon, steel or aluminium
The team behind Redant come from a background in chemistry and have taken a similarly focused approach to developing their products, making sure they both clean and protect your two wheeled pride and joy. Many of us have a lot invested in our bikes, so the idea of a top end cleaning system specifically formulated for the materials and paint finishes common to bikes is an interesting one. My bikes are amongst my most prized possessions so products like this are something I was definitely keen to check out. When you think of how many £5k+ or even £10k+ bikes you can buy now – you’ll want to take fantastically good care of them.
Redant have created a cleaner and a finishing agent for matt carbon frames, painted bike frames (carbon, steel or aluminium) and for titanium frames. I’ve been sent a set of each to try. The ingredients are designed to be safe for each type of frame finish, the cleaners are bio-degradable and the cleaners are designed to be sprayed all over your bike including the drivetrain, thanks to a degreasing agent as well. The cleaners are also PH neutral to ensure they’re kind to your frame. The frame protector finishing protects are also designed for each type of bike. For example the carbon/painted frame finish has a shine enhancer for paint finishes, whereas the matt finish one has a UV protector to help protect from the effects of the sun.
I waited until my new NeilPryde (http://girodilento.com/first-look-neilpryde-alizenazare-di2-aero-test-platform/) was built and getting dirty before trying the products out. I’ll also be using the carbon frame version on my painted steel Stoemper Taylör (http://girodilento.com/stoemper-taylor-build-and-first-look/) as Redant say that the carbon frame version of the products work well on any painted finish – including, steel & aluminium. Sadly I don’t have a titanium bike to test the Titanium version on – but two out of three should give me a pretty good perspective.
Redant Matt Finish cleaner & protector
I’ve now used the Matt cleaning system twice on my NeilPryde. The first was a very quick clean in the garden at dusk where I sprayed the cleaner over the bike, left it for 3-4 minutes then hosed it off just with cold water and used a microfiber cloth to clean over the bike with. For a start to finish clean of 6-7 minutes I was really impressed with how easy it was.
Yesterday I did another clean on the same bike. I’d ridden it three times without cleaning for about 190km of riding. The bike definitely looked dirty, if not completely filthy.
Following the instructions, I sprayed the matt finish cleaner reasonably liberally over the bike and then set my phone timer for 5 minutes. With about 45 seconds of the timer left, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and began hosing the bike down with water. Again, I did this while wiping over the bike with a microfiber cloth. Just like the first clean, the dirt came off the bike incredibly easily.
From a first couple of goes with the matt finish cleaner, I’m very impressed. I’ll try out the carbon finish one next.
Yesterday, I also then finished the clean by applying the finishing agent, to protect the finish on my bike. It was also very easy to apply – simply sprayed onto the now clean bike onto all of the carbon parts. The frame protectors have a drying agent, so on a warm day it dryed very quickly. Once again I was wiping on the finish with a clean dry microfiber cloth to make sure it all went on evenly. Again it didn’t take long at all – but my bike looks great.
If you’d like more information, Redant are in the process of building a new website but they do have an active Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Redant-Precision/437463999719759
The products are in bike shops now and are distributed by i-Ride. I’ve checked and they’re in one of my local bike shops already. If you can’t see them in your local shop – just ask them.
Thanks for reading
