How about we go to a more succinct point form of how to winterise your bike!
Bottom bracket - coat in grease, don't be shy, coat that bad boy!! Everything, you can wipe it off if it spills out
Seat post - loads of grease for that sealed effect, then put an innertube over it with cable ties
Hubs- Get sealed bearings and replace them annually.
Tyres - Run the most open tread you can with high side knobs. Hutchinson make great tyres for all conditions, check them out! Make sure you have a sealant in if you are running tubeless as fixing muddy flats is no good, and if you aren't running tubeless, get a bike to test it on and you won't go back.
All other parts - By now, you should have taken the time to clean everything, but make sure you have as much of the grit out that you can, as its often what makes a creaking sound towards the end of the season. Derailleurs benefit from being clean and well lubed with a light lube to stop them attracting too much grit, and when they do it still falls off.
All these things that you can do are little tips that hopefully can prolong the life of your ride, but the most important thing for longevity and less $$ is changing your chain regularly. I've run the same cluster and chainrings for 2 years before mine let go, and thats because of regular chain changes at about 500km depending on the severity of the conditions. It seems expensive, but far less stress than a shagged drivetrain! The SRAM chains work great, and are very affordable to replace.
Get out there and work on that bad boy! Just don't use a pressure washer!!! Thanks to GVRace Tech for their assistance with this post.
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