mack_turtle

Is this problem exclusive to FS bikes? Is it possible that the left and right dropouts move independent from one another just enough to cause a thru axle to loosen?

Not sure how long any sort of thread-locker would hold after several uses, but it's not a bad idea. Wrapping the threads in plumbing Teflon tape or nail polish might help. I always keep a bottle of cheap nail polish around just for this reason. Be sure to get something glittery that complements your eye color, but the clear stuff works too.

I would look into how true "dirt drops" are supposed to be set up. With a traditional drop bar on a road bike, you set it up so you can ride on the hoods or in the hooks. For a true dirt drop setup, the hoods are useless because you set it up for riding in the hooks only. The brake levers will be much farther down the bend than on a road setup. The in-the-hooks position means you need to get the handlebar quite high in the air, which is why you see those Carlie Cunningham style bikes with tall headtubes and freakishly tall LD stems.

Crowding makes people "rude" anywhere. Now let's talk about snakes.

I Googled it before posting. I am right and you are incorrect. I need to work on my thumb spelling skills, though. I confess that it is fun to say "go back to California" to strangers.

About half of the people moving to the Austin area are moving from other parts of Texas. Californians are a tiny minority of people who have moved here in the past decade or so. It's a fun stereotype, but the idea that "Californians are invading Austin" is fake news bullshit that placates the Fox news know-nothing narative. Give it up.

https://www.ergotec.de/en/products/vorbauten/sub/ahead-vorbau/produkt/high-charisma-31-8.html

Seriously, I love wrapping bars. It's therapeutic to get the spacing just right, wrapped the right direction, tucked in the ends, neatly taped at the center. Hotter line up those shifters first though. I recommend a tailor's tape measure for the job.

What on Earth is happening here? Lemme know if you want help taping a handlebar. I can't stand knowing that this exists in the world.

Many of the female Texas brown tarantulas you encounter might be older than you. Studies have tracked some for forty years but there have not been any studies long enough to see how old they really can be.

Read up on coral snakes. Very venomous but not very dangerous to people. Basically, you have to do something really stupid and let the coral snakes chew on you. No deaths from a Western coral snakes have ever been reported. Rattlesnakes, on the other hand, are scary AF.

I think there was a stolen bike list for Austin on Facebook too. File a police report and check with pawn shops.

This, however, is not fooling around.

It was published around the beginning of April. Kind of a weird time to announce a new product, right?

https://www.pinkbike.com/u/the-rise/blog/the-rise-introduces-worlds-first-hydraulic-handlebars.html

I attempted to contact the organizers of this event via FB several days ago. no response.

photos of these bikes would help.

I made a few attempts at putting dirt drops on mountain bikes and I could never make the fit work. Drop bars add a lot of reach and reduce the stack on a bike, so a bike that fits you with a flat bar is usually going to feel enormous with a drop bar. Getting the hooks in a position you can reach comfortably usually means a bike with a tall head tube or a very uprights stem. Kudos if you can make it work without too much drama.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/finding-your-sweet-spot-handlebar-width.html This is pretty accurate.

5'9" with a 760mm SQLabs x12 handlebar and 50mm stem on a hardtail with a 120mm fork, or rigid fork depending on the mood I am in.

What are you going to do with that old fork? Boost?

Believe me, I tried it. The best but powder. But powder the likes of which you wouldn't even believe. It mixes with sweat under pressure and turns your undies into concrete.

I have not followed TD in years past. Is this year particularly brutal?

On working outside- I lasted less than six months as a commercial electrician a few years ago before taking a big pay cut to work in a bicycle shop again. I worked in several buildings that summer, buildings with no electric other than temporary lights and a few fans, but walls to trap heat in. Long days in 100+ in boots, jeans, hard hat and carrying heavy tools around tool it's toll on my soul. Iwould lay in bed in a puddle of my own sweat every night trying to get to sleep knowing I had to get up at 4:45 and do it again 6-7 days a week. Lots of overtime pay but I got seriously depressed. I could not drink enough water to stay hydrated, Gatorade didn't help either. Mad respect for people who can do a job like that. That kind of heat makes me not want to ride my bike in modern technical fabrics let alone denim.

Chumba Sendero looks perfect! https://www.chumbausa.com/sendero-steel-mountain-bike-29er-27plus