djb

(PPS, should start with, I hope the family enjoyed it and it went well.)

too much lube and not enough rag wiping.

I know I know, the far side of jockey wheels can get overlooked cuz we dont see them that much, but regular careful wiping of both sides of the jockey wheels is the best method to not have to waste time with gunk buildup.

Same with rag "flossing" of cassettes.

Its like those tv ads for changing the oil in your car regularly, the mechanice saying, "you pay me now, or pay me a lot more later...." with bikes, its time you save (and some wear of course)

I recently did a big cleanup of a friends bike where it was a gunk fest. He just doesnt care or pay attention to it, thats ok, but it ends up being waaaaay more time later to clean it. His cassette was so gunked up that I had to remove it and dissasemble it to get all the toothpaste+sand gunk out of all the crevices and holes in each cog.

like I said to him, I'm a lazy son-of-a-gun, so doing the regular quick but proper rag wipe of chains, chainrings, jockey wheels, and sometimes a rag floss of a cassette saves me loads of time compared to dealing with ultra gunkfests.

its up to you how you want to spend your time, and or if you care.

I'm not saying this is you, but often people who dont care will complain about how their drivetrain stuff wears out quickly.....

ps , the flathead screwdriver trick works a treat on the far side jockey wheel, hold it against wheel, turn, and the vast majority of gunk gets scraped off real fast, then a quick wipe--done (remember, I like to minimize time on this stuff, I too have many family bikes to do all the time, so I'm efficient)