We’ve spent a lot of this fall in Europe getting muddy testing cross bikes, wheels, tires, and more. And so every weekend we’ve finished with more muddy encrusted gear than we could shake a stick at. On some of the better (worse?) days it has even been quite clear that we spent more time washing things than actually riding them. There are a lot of things that are happy to get hit with a pressure washer, so that tends to be our first weapon against mud. But anything close to bearings, hydraulic brakes, shifters, and most shoes and clothes gets hand washed with either a low-pressure hose or with brushes. While we haven’t tried this one ourselves, the Brush-X looks like it would be a great add-on and would save us a bunch of time on that more gentle cleaning. Come past the break with us for a closer look…
The Brush-X is a stiff, plastic bristled brush with a 6′ (~180cm) hose that connects to a standard garden hose. Water is designed to flow evenly through the bristles for an easy and relatively gentle clean. It gets a region -specific 3/4″ GHT (North America) or 3/4″ BSPP (Europe) connection based on where it is shipped.
While we spend time with a lot of cold weather outside in these cold months, this looks like it will speed up the process and keep our hands drier than the other method of brush in one hand and hose in the other. My only concern of question is how long the polyester brush tips would last getting pushed and scraped against the bike, and how it would deal with getting greased by a dirty chain. But at $25, as long as it lasted a year or two, it would probably be a better option than all of the other brushes we wear through. We’d certainly like to give it a try.
