u/suomipewkele

Bought a new bike, out of the box gears didn’t stay on but I got the bike shifting good by adjusting the cable. Took a look at the derailleur and it looks like in the photo and I was wondering is it supposed to be like that or is it bent? The bike shifts good so do I need to be concerned and can I cause damage by riding it like that?

I’m doing fork seals on the bike and the insides of the fork are all crusted up with sand because the dust cap was nonexistent. What would be the best way to clean this up?