Unless you’ve been locked in the basement on the trainer, Matt Kelly style, you’ve probably realized it’s holiday season. But with cyclocross training and racing still filling your calendar, when is there time to find gifts for your cycling friends and family? We’ve got you covered with great Christmas, Hanukkah or any holiday gift ideas for the cyclocrosser, gravel rider or cyclist in your life (or perhaps help you provide a subtle hint to your loved ones as to what they can get you).
Instead of dumping one giant, unwieldy gift guide slideshow on you this year, we’re spreading out our annual gift ideas over 12 Days of Crossmas, and going a bit more in-depth in each product. Need something fast? A digital subscription to Cyclocross Magazine or a subscription combined with our latest issue are two quick, easy options to get something in the lucky recipient’s hands.
(As always, we’re never paid to feature such items, and so you can trust someone on the CXM Pit Crew likes these products).
Clean Up Their Act, Save Them Time
Today’s gift ideas feature two great stocking stuffer options for any cyclist to clean up their act. Both are innovative, hose-connected brushes that help make the tedious job of bike cleaning a bit faster, easier, and safer for bearings.
Anytime you can reduce water pressure when cleaning your bike, you’ve got a better chance to protect your bearings in your hubs, bottom bracket, headset, pedals and pulleys. The easiest way to do that is avoiding a high-pressure spray or power washer, and just brush away the dirt and grime with a bit of water (saving water is good for the planet too). The Brush-X and Brush Hero take two different approaches to this task.
Brush-X Cleans Tight Spots, Protects Frames
The $24.99 Brush-X is novel cleaning product sold by a small two-man operation, and actually makes its return to our gift guide after a one-year hiatus. It’s a simple, long-bristled brush that connects to your garden hose. With the aid of water, the brush makes cleaning wheels, tires, and inside your cassette a breeze.
The Brush-X: Finally a brush for bike-cleaning cyclocrossers. © Cyclocross Magazine
The bristles are quite soft—protecting the precious mirror finish on a titanium frame or the fine threads of a silk tubular—but perhaps too gentle for the seconds-counting pit mechanic with a world championship on the line.
We’d love to see a connector that would work with the Nomad H2O On-The-Go portable power washer
portable power washer, and it could perhaps benefit from a hose material that doesn’t kink or fold so easily. But for $24.99, the Brush-X is an affordable, useful stocking stuffer that might also give back in the form of your bikes getting cleaned as well. A clean gift but a dirty trick!