If I had to recommend five workshop essentials, a good brush kit would be one of them. This is not because I really like cleaning my bike after a muddy ride, but rather because I actually hate it. A good range of cleaning tools takes the edge off my irritation, and can also speed up the process, so I don’t actually have to be spending any longer than necessary.

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Finish Line’s Easy Pro brush set includes five different scrubbers, and they each have a function. To get the worst off you’ll use the big dog, which has soft bristles designed not to damage delicate paintwork. It’s not stiff enough to scrub the tyres, but it’ll shift most dirt from the frame, fork and wheels. If you want to get into those hard-to-reach areas, you then choose one of the four smaller sweepers. 

The lozenge wheel brush will clean between the spokes. The little bottle brush is good for in between linkages and behind the chainring. The small toothbrush is for jockey wheels and the chain. And the paintbrush is a bit like one of those car detailing brushes that you can work into tight spaces. 

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I’ve used bike-specific brush kits for over three decades, and my experience is that they don’t last. The biggest brush in this quintet is the most durable because it’s not really used for any hard graft, which isn’t something you can say about the wheel brush. On this brush the bristles attach to a metal loop and, like most, it’s bendy to get into those tight crevices, but every single one I’ve ever tested eventually snapped at the handle. 

The bristle on the detail brush and the mini brush became mangled after one use – the former needs to be softer and the latter a good deal stiffer. No problems with the bottle brush, but it’s the one I use the least. This all sounds pretty negative, but it’s totally par for the course.