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review
Cleaning products
Finish Line Gear FlossFinish Line Gear Floss.

Finish Line Gear Floss

8
by Shaun Audane
UPDATED Thu, Oct 15, 2015 04:24

First Published Nov 12, 2011

9
£6.99

VERDICT:

8
10
Brilliant workshop/generic sprucing tool with the power to encourage obsessional cleaning
Weight: 
33g
Contact: 
www.madison.co.uk
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Describing Finish line Gear floss as the ultimate finishing tool might be pushing things a bit but they'd make a great gift for the rider who's otherwise impossible to buy for.

Working to the same principal as dental floss, the clever micro-fibre strips latch onto the dirt, preventing it from cross contaminating other parts of the drivetrain. Better still, they're machine washable so can be reused over and over again. Quite how often is unclear but suffice to say I'm on my fourth cycle without any obvious deterioration in performance. Common to similar grime gobblers, a preliminary purge using a cassette claw reaps best rewards, especially on really gruesome congealed gunge.

Prise open the pack and you're presented with twenty 51cm lengths of super tactile woven rope with crimped ends to prevent them fraying. Essentially the result of a steamy tryst between old school trainer laces and knitting wool, they consume literally zero space so hygiene freaks could always pop a few in the panniers or pocket for a spot of road-side sprucing. Getting the most from each strip is basically a question of tackling the cleanest areas first. Under the brakes, a trip around the cantilever bosses and on to the hub cones perhaps...

Clasping the ends between your fingers, adopting a push-me, pull you sawing motion sees the grease, grime and unmentionables vanish from derailleur cages, square taper bottom bracket axle/crank interfaces and those jockey wheels. This isn't simply an exercise in bike vanity either, since this sludge can become a mightily potent grinding paste, chomping through chains, rings and sprockets at a ruinous rate. Top to toe pre hibernation fettling had the Teenage Dream sparking in two strips whereas crusty 'cross and mountain bikes come closer to six. Curiously, the self-cleansing wax type lubes that float off in congealed clumps showed a tendency for engulfing the fibres but quickening the pace saw it run clean and ready to tackle behind the block, across the hub flanges, disc mounts and other intricate areas previously off limits.

Verdict

Brilliant workshop/generic sprucing tool with the power to encourage obsessional cleaning.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Finish Line Gear Floss

Size tested: White

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

"Finish Line Gear Floss is the ultimate detailing tool! Perfect for cleaning your rear cassette, front chain rings, derailleur pulley wheels, hubs and spindles, brake arms, bottom bracket / crank interface, and more".

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Made from strips of washble microfibres designed to trap and reain dirt, thus avoiding cross contamination.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10

Still going strong

Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
8/10

Pleasant to use.

Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Despite some initial scepticism, the gear floss has proven an excellent addition to the workshop, allowing easy removal of generic grime from otherwise inaccessible areas.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Easy, efficient and moreover washable.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Nothing

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 38  Height: 1m 81  Weight: 70 kilos

I usually ride: Rough Stuff Tourer Based around 4130 Univega mtb Frameset  My best bike is: 1955 Holdsworth Road Path and several others including cross & traditional road

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,

 

Finish Line Gear Floss
Finish Line
Bike Floss
Shaun Audane

Shaun Audane is a freelance writer/product tester with over twenty-eight years riding experience, the last twelve (120,000 miles) spent putting bikes and kit through their paces for a variety of publications. Previous generations of his family worked at manufacturing's sharp end, thus Shaun can weld, has a sound understanding of frame building practice and a preference for steel or titanium framesets.
Citing Richard Ballantine and an Au pair as his earliest cycling influences, he is presently writing a cycling book with particular focus upon women, families and disabled audiences (Having been a registered care manager and coached children at Herne Hill Velodrome in earlier careers)

Add new comment

9 comments

Avatar
andyp | 12 years ago
0 likes

you should be ashamed not caring where is it from

[The following comments are totally unrelated to the product/manufacturer in question...]

As they say, whether it works or not is the issue. Bonus if it's from the UK, but really, this whole 'buy British or else' thing is nonsense. Quality first. If it's British and it works, fair do's.
I suspect a fair proportion of 'what got this country in the state it's in' is to do with British stuff being historically, generally sh1te. No need to worry about standards, chaps, people will buy it simply because it's from Ecclefechan.
Sort the quality out and the sales will follow.

Avatar
friedfred | 13 years ago
0 likes

Polocini - I have used the Purple Harry Floss - It was brilliant !! I am also a big believer in keeping it British too!! Road C.C. you should be ashamed not caring where is it from. That is what got this country into the state it's in. I know you are reviewing the product and not the country, but please support our own first of all. BTW where is the Purple Harry Floss review?? 4

Avatar
Polocini | 13 years ago
0 likes

Apologies for the rip-off comment. On second reading it was flippant. I'm a big fan of the purple harry stuff and I have met the guys who make it.

Over the last few years since the recession I try and buy uk made kit wherever possible. It's something I always look at when reading a review.

Cheers
AL

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
0 likes

We are reviewing it Polocini… not really interested where it was made though, the point for us is how well it works. Anyway doesn't the Purple Harry stuff have a wire in it? If this is a rip off of anything it's string… or maybe dental floss.

Avatar
Polocini | 13 years ago
0 likes

Isn't this just a rip of of Purple Harry's bike floss??? You should review that as it's made in the uk and came out before the finish line stuff.

AL

Avatar
nick_rearden replied to Polocini | 13 years ago
0 likes
Polocini wrote:

Isn't this just a rip of of Purple Harry's bike floss??? You should review that as it's made in the uk and came out before the finish line stuff.

AL

You have to be careful bandying around terms like 'rip-off' as someone will inevitably come up with an earlier precedent; someone here - obviously less distracted by shiny titanium than me - says they can remember seeing this Finish Line floss at Eurobike 2010. Either way, we have the Purple Harry's in and it will get a fair review whether it's made in the UK or not.

Far more importantly, though, we're trying to get final word on who really does the laundry at the Farrelly house.

Avatar
strada725 replied to nick_rearden | 13 years ago
0 likes

Just to clarify - Purple Harry's Bike Floss was first reviewed by thewashingmachinepost way back at the beginning of August 2010 having been on the market for a couple of months. Furthermore, Finish Line couldn't even construct their own spiel behind Gear Floss, instead opting to also plagiarise the description and application of Bike Floss... still it's only the best ideas that are copied, and typically as here, the copy lacks in functionality and form compared to the UK manufactured product.

Avatar
koko56 | 13 years ago
0 likes

39 indeed

4

Avatar
Rob Simmonds | 13 years ago
0 likes

Hmmmm, have Finish Line been watching too much Monty Python? These look suspiciously like Emperor Stringettes, just the right length. 39

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNj-QFZbew

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