I’m generally pretty ‘clean’ with all things and my road bike is no different—though road bikes are easy to keep clean, in particular because conditions are usually great.
I have a new gravel bike and I’ve been riding when roads are wet (not standing water) with sand on some sections. Little to no salt though.
When I get home it takes me less than five minutes to wipe down the chain, jockey wheels, cassette and chain rings, plus I use another rag to wipe down the frame (carbon) if it’s gunky. As it’s winter and cold here my outdoor and garage water is off so no hoses.
Question - is that enough? Not sure if I should clean rotors, pads, front or rear derailleur...
Living two streets from the sea I still only clean my bike perhaps once year besides weekly chain oiling, never had any corrosion develop on the working parts of the bike. The only place I've seen rust spots develop is the exposed steel arm of the smaller shift lever (Shimano), I suppose sweaty hands have their say there. I think you'll do alright with a squirt of silicone spray on the pivots and springs whenever it crosses your mind.
I'd leave the rotors and pads alone unless you suspect contamination of some sort, every time you clean them they'll take some time to get grippy again.
MN here, so true winter temperatures. In the winter I don't worry about full bike cleanings. I take a couple of buckets of the hottest water I can get and splash all over my drivetrain and brakes. If it really needs it, I'll take the first hot water bucket and brush down the drivetrain with soap and a brush and then douse with hot water. Wipe down a bit and chain lube. The only pavement I ride though is the 300 yds from my house to the edge of town to the gravel, so I don't really worry about road salt.
Official Minnesota Pro Tip- the less you clean your bike the easier it is to justify spring upgrades.
I'd wipe down the rotors too, winter can make em kinda squeaky. Pads are kind of self cleaning by design because they transfer all their schmutz to the rotors.
For me, front derailleurs barely ever work in the winter. You should probably wipe them down though. Rear derailleurs get a lot of gunk kicked up on them. I had to replace an XT one recently because the bolts all got covered in corrosion. My new RD has some Ti bolts to solve that problem.
Minnesota winter commuter tip: WD40. Yeah, that stuff. Normally it's *awful* as a lubricant. But if you're a regular commuter in snow/wet/slush, it lasts exactly as long as you need it to. When I get home from a wet commute, I will do a quick wipe-down on the bike to dry it. And then I will spray the heck out of the drivetrain with WD-40. It gets the water off your chain and cassette. It sort of vaguely lubricates them. And importantly, it keeps them from rusting while the bike sits. Then you go off on your next day's commute and ride on it. The WD-40 is a crappy lube, but it only has to last for that one commute, because you're going to wipe it down and spray on a new application when you get home at the end of the day.
I saw this on instagram of all places recently but have started to use hot water in a pump sprayer - like what you might use for bugs or deck cleaning. It's cheap at the local hardware store. I bought a 2 gal tank but they come 1-6 in my store. Looks like I used 1 gal which was surprising given how much apparently the hose runs in the warmer months ...
