If we lived in a gravel riding utopia, our trails would be dry and dusty year-round and we wouldn't need to spend hours of our lives trying to wash layers of crud off our two-wheeled pride and joy. Bike washing is a necessary part of winter riding for most of us and with water comes the risk of corrosion and damage to the various components on our bikes. For those of us without access to a fully equipped pro-level workshop, Muc-Off's It Blows! air blaster could be the perfect addition to our bike washing arsenal. Simple, easy to use and diminutive in size, should you consider adding the It Blows! to your 'must-have' tools and equipment list?
Despite the fact that it happened more than two decades ago, I can still vividly remember the conversation I once had with a mechanic while standing in a bike shop in Sedona, Arizona. It was my first time visiting the USA so I spent the majority of the time walking (and more importantly, riding) around with my eyes on stalks. Sadly, we’d managed to bring UK-esque weather with us. The mechanic filled us both with shock and with hope. “Oh, we don’t go riding when it rains here” was his opening conversational nugget. My brain completely failed to comprehend this concept. Back home, that would essentially mean not riding for more than half the year. “The good thing though, is that as soon as the rain stops, within a few hours, the trails will be bone dry again.” If you listened carefully at this point, you could hear the sound of a small mental explosion going off inside my head.
But he saved the real conversational dynamite for his last titbit “We don’t use water to wash our bikes here. It’s so rarely wet here that we just use an airline and blast the dirt and dust off them. Water is bad for bikes anyway. It gets in the bearings and washes out all the grease, so we try to avoid using it.” At this point, I nearly fell over in shock. How was it possible for anyone to ride off-road year round and yet not need to wash their bikes afterwards? His view about water being bad for bikes was something that lodged itself in my brain. In the middle of a typical UK winter, where it regularly takes more than 30 minutes for me to wash my bike after a typical ride, the thought of just gently blasting away the dirt and dust seems like a utopian dream.
While Europe-based riders are highly unlikely to be able to clean their bikes using just air power alone, having access to an airline as part of your bike washing arsenal makes really good sense. As long as you’re careful, washing your beloved bike with water and a variety of liquid cleaning products won’t do it any harm, but leaving the components of your bike sitting in a pool of water afterwards certainly won’t do them any favours. It’s why products like GT85 or Muc-Off’s MO94 exist – they penetrate into the different components of your bike after you’ve washed it and help dispel water. The problem with these sprays it that it’s easy for ‘overspray’ to land on components where it shouldn’t (disc rotors for example), even with biodegradable products, there’s an environmental impact from using them and of course, the cost of regularly using sprays will add up in the long term.
If you walk into the majority of bike shop workshops, you will find a high-pressure airline hooked up to a large compressor. The mechanics will use the airline for everything from inflating tyres to cleaning components and they are pretty much essential in a commercial workshop. The problem is that buying an airline and a compressor is expensive and they take up a lot of space. For the average home mechanic, cost and space are pretty high up the list of factors that they would consider before buying a new tool. Something you use irregularly but which will also be expensive and take up a chunk of space (in my experience) isn’t that likely to make it off the ‘wish list’.
The boffins at Muc-Off have obviously been thinking along the same lines, which is why they’ve come up with the It Blows! Precision Air Blaster. They’ve managed to shoehorn the essence of a compressor and an airline into a remarkably svelte, portable and user-friendly air blower, which can replicate most of the functions of a full airline but at a fraction of the cost and with a tiny footprint. Muc-Off’s It Blows! Isn’t aiming to completely replicate a professional airline, but it has a range of features that make it perfectly suited to home (or travel) usage:
- Four speed/power settings for optimal airflow.
- High speed 80W motor delivers touchless drying, reducing the risk of micro-scratching paintwork and corrosion.
- Durable CNC Machined Aluminium construction with anodised finish
- Supplied with additional silicone nose piece for targeted airflow.
- Compact, handheld design with a soft touch on/off button
- USB-C rechargeable battery
- Battery indicator light
The It Blows! has four power settings - Low (40,000 RPM), Mid (60,000 RPM), High (80,000 RPM) and Turbo (100,000 RPM). With a power output of 80W, the It Blows! can’t come close to replicating the 1000+ Watts that a commercial compressor and airline might generate, but in everyday use, 80W feels like it’s exactly enough for what it’s been designed for – to expel water from the drivetrain and other bike components, while not damaging the seals or forcing out the grease that should be lubricating the different bearings.
Muc-Off quote a run time of between 90 minutes on low power and 10 minutes on high power. We used the It Blows! almost exclusively in the turbo mode and the run time of 10 minutes was easily enough to thoroughly dry the drivetrains on two bikes. Muc-Off quote a noise level of 56-81 dB and while the It Blows! is quite loud, it’s not unpleasant. The pitch of the sound is quite high, which seems to make it less intrusive – certainly in comparison to the raft of portable electric tyre inflators that have recently joined the market, the sound of the It Blows! feels less intrusive. The unit is charged using the USB-C port on the base. You get a high-quality USB-C cable included in the box and the unit takes around three hours to recharge from completely flat. We’ve been really impressed with how well the It Blows! holds its charge – as most of us will only use it once or twice a week, it's essential that the unit remains charged and is ready for use when you need it most. Only time will tell what the battery life is like in the long-term, but so far, so good.
In their instructional video, Muc-Off use the It Blows! to dry a complete bike and they recommend starting from the saddle and finishing with the drivetrain. In our testing, we focused mainly on the drivetrain, hubs and pedals, rather than the frame or ancillary components. If you want to try and return your bike to full showroom condition, we can see the logic for drying every part of the bike, but for most home mechanics, we think that focusing on the drivetrain and the moving components probably offers the best return on your time.
There’s no getting around the fact the Muc-Off It Blows! isn’t cheap – the retail price in the UK is £120, which is a serious investment. While you can find cheaper versions on online platforms, the It Blows! feels incredibly well put together and Muc-Off back up the unit with a 12 month warranty. Although the price is high, you have the peace of mind in knowing the battery and the electrical components have been rigorously tested - the It Blows! has received a CE stamp, which means it “complies with all relevant European Union health, safety and environmental protection legislation.”
You can buy the Muc-Off It Blasts! direct from the manufacturer or from many good bike shops. You can find out more information at Muc-Off’s website.
olly townsend
Helps steer the good ship Gravel Union. He can normally be found riding inappropriately challenging trails on a drop bar bike or propping up a coffee shop bar somewhere.