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In Praise Of: The Worx Hydroshot

Those lucky enough to have a hose hookup easily accessible likely don't know the pain of washing a bike. For the rest of us there's the Worx Hydroshot! Many of us live in apartment buildings without external water hookups that we can use to rinse our bikes. Instead we're left schlepping buckets of water and scrambling for a wall to lean our bikes against in the street. Washing a bike could easily take two full buckets and requires rinsing the bike inefficiently via sponge or carefully spilling the water over the bike. Simple garden sprayers are helpful but need to be regularly pumped and often don't supply enough water and pressure to quickly remove soap.

Enter the Worx Hyrdoshot, a battery operated portable pressure sprayer that can be fed by bucket, hose or even a soda bottle! There are multiple different models with different attachments and pressures. The model I have, WG630, can pump out 350 psi in a variety of spray patterns from a concentrated powerful point to a wider 40° spray. My favorite feature, however, is the ECO button. This lowers the pressure allaying any fears about blasting water and soap into sensitive bearings. More importantly, it saves on water usage making it possible to fully wash multiple bikes with just one bucket of water! There's also a soap cannon that can be used to easily coat a bike in a layer of foamy soap to soak and work through grime. As a bonus, it collapses small enough to bring to cross races for clean up on the go.

Workflow

  1. Rinse the bike using the 25° sprayer on ECO mode to get everything wet.

  2. Attach the soap canon with MucOff NanoTech bike cleaner and cover the bike to soak for a bit.

  3. With a soft brush, start from the top of the bike working downwards to lather the bike and work out any grime. Don't forget to wash under the saddle.

  4. With a separate stiffer brush, clean the drivetrain, adding more soap as needed. Do not mix brushes or next time you wash your bike you'll be spreading grease from the chain all over your bars and saddle.

  5. Swap back to the 25° sprayer and rinse all the soap off on ECO mode. Switch off ECO on the tires to get mud out of knobbies.

  6. Dry it all with a clean rag starting from top to bottom.

  7. Don't forget to relube your chain after a bit of drying.

Worx Hydroshot Review: The Good

  • Water efficient

  • Pressure when you want it but not too much

  • Soap cannon quickly covers a bike in foam

  • Transportable

Worx Hydroshot Review: The Bad

  • Pricey. $200 at time of purchase.

Worx hydroshot Review: Should You Buy It?

If you have a hose you're fine — no need for more pressure for your bike. If you're missing an accessible hose hookup, unequivocally yes: Add2cart endorsed.

Disclaimer: TBD has no relationship with Worx. I paid full retail for the Hydroshot and would do so again.