I clean my bike very thoroughly every couple of months, sometimes more often if I’m doing a lot of riding and/or if the weather has been bad. I tear it down almost completely, removing all the gears, the wheels, the tires, etc. and clean everything very carefully. Before heading for France (I leave in four days) I always go a few steps further and replace a lot of things. Today I tore it all down, cleaned it quite well and put on new tubes, new tires, new brake cables, new brake pads, new shift cables and a new chain. It’s so clean you could eat off it!
