I have one on my commuter and on the rear wheel it gets very grungy. When I washed my bike I would direct the hose into the lock and flush all the sand and dirt out of it. Sometimes it was amazing how much gunk could be flushed out. After drying it as best can be done with a rag, I would spray the internals with WD40 to drive out any water. A day or 2 later I would use some graphite lock lubricant on it. That would usually last for about a month depending upon how rainy it was. In the dead of winter if it was very wet I would sometimes hit it with graphite or WD40 just to keep accumulated water from freezing up and making it hard to operate. I love my ring lock and I'm sure it makes the bike a less appealing target for thieves.