Although I've made many efforts to avoid getting any rust on the metal parts of my bike this winter, I'm still getting it on it bad thanks to the salt they're throwing everywhere. I rinse the bike frequently, lube the chain, keep it in a garage shed overnight and I've also sprayed it with muckoff a couple of times. I even keep a fan on overnight in the garage to dry it if I ride it in from the rain.

But I've still got bad rust building up on the bike, particularly on the chain, some nuts and bolts and a very small part of my exhaust. It's very sad to see this, as the bike looked like new a few months ago.

I've tried cleaning the chain with chain cleaner and brush, then lubing but the rust doesnt come off properly. Today my bike suddenly slowed down very quick and I had to stop what was wrong. I couldn't identify the reason 100% sure but I think it was my rear brake getting stuck, as it fixed itself after I poked it around a little.

What are your best tips to avoid this happening in winter? (when you don't have a car lol) And how can you remove rust effectively?

When I lived in Europe and had to deal with salt spray in winter the best I found was to spray the exposed metal bits and aluminium with tectyl.
Wash it off after winter and all was good.
Don't use on brakes and so, but you knew that.
There are some other products around that work well also.

ACF 50 is pretty amazing stuff for protecting your bike from corrosion. They developed this stuff to spray on Lear jets so it should be good for your SD. You can spray it on electricals as well as the metal. Obviously NOT on the brakes!