Dealing with dust

[Butterbean]

So, with my complete inexperience in all things offroad, and an entry into a 100 miler dirt ride, I have some questions...

 

My training rides are fairly dusty. Nothing outrageous, I suppose, but dusty. I train about three times a week, with a weekend ride.

 

I know cleaning your bike too much will cause problems, but I can't get over the fact that groupset, pivots, shock and fork stanchions are getting a dusting. At the moment I use a garden week sprayer (more for convenience than anything else) to give the bike a quick once over, and then wipe stanchions off and relube chain when necessary. Is this too much tho?

[Capricorn]

So, with my complete inexperience in all things offroad, and an entry into a 100 miler dirt ride, I have some questions...

 

My training rides are fairly dusty. Nothing outrageous, I suppose, but dusty. I train about three times a week, with a weekend ride.

 

I know cleaning your bike too much will cause problems, but I can't get over the fact that groupset, pivots, shock and fork stanchions are getting a dusting. At the moment I use a garden week sprayer (more for convenience than anything else) to give the bike a quick once over, and then wipe stanchions off and relube chain when necessary. Is this too much tho?

you can't clean your bike too much, just incorrectly.

What you are doing is fine. Keeping the dust to a minimum will prolong many aspects of your bikes mechanicals, and keep it working properly for longer too, making for more peace of mind and enjoyment.

 

But just be sure to pair cleaning with simple maintenance. That is, clean as often as you want, appropriately of course. But then on a suitable frequency (every 6 months if you ride often?), be sure to inspect, grease and lubricate the pivots as necessary.

Pivot bearings for instance, do have seals,but they are not perfect, and eventually moisture and dust will pass them into the bearing internals. It's a long process, so there's no immediate concern. You'll know if it's been too long when the pivots start feeling a bit rough when being rotated.

Those covers are easy enough to remove for the grease to be removed and the bearings re-greased.  

 

Even if you don't go looking behind the bearing seals, disassembling the pivots gives you an opportunity to clean them properly. Besides, it gives you some alone_time with your bike.