ebflo

TLDR: depends on reach "Modern" geometry (slack HTA, long reach, steep STA) is for going up and down. The long wheelbase of slack HTA long-reach bikes gives great pitch stability for steep descents, but they have to steepen the STA or the top tube will be too long for size. This puts your COG farther forward, which counters the rearward COG shift from an incline so it's good for climbing too. The trade-off is it's bad on flat ground because it puts your COG in front of the bottom bracket which puts too much weight on your arms/hands.

From the Statesman article: Sounds like they had been struggling due to rise of online shopping and took the opportunity to cash out in the recent upswing knowing it would be short-lived.

Light, strong, cheap. Pick two one (except light or cheap).

Seriously, we'll be left with nothing but REI. I've nothing against them but they're no LBS and that shows in the service dept. even more than on the showroom floor.

Will be interesting to see what they do. I was thinking the larger stores are a lot of floor space for a single brand. Either way it's disappointing that the Research shop will be Trek only even if it stays open, I also really like that location.

Sure, and it was true because we had front derailleurs (may they burn in hell).

No doubt I would be happy with a 10-speed if it had the 10 I want, but everyone would want a different 10. Modern 12-speeds allow bikes to come off the shelf with all the gears I want as well as all the gears most other people want.

Dropper post, Bontrager Drop Line 31.6mm with 150mm travel (445mm total length) available for porch pickup in NW Austin. Works but needs frequent maintenance for it to consistently return fully without extra encouragement.

Agree, $70 sounds like a lot for a lever that pulls a cable; no indexing, no precision pull ratio, literally just a lever that pulls a cable. Smoothness of operation seems to depend much more on the dropper actuation mechanism than the lever. I'm sure the expensive ones are more ergonomic and look nicer, but both of the cheap OEM ones on my bikes work fine. I would have no hesitation over trying a random cheapie from amazon, as long as it's clear it clamps the cable.

I'd have said good morning, but each to their own.

None on Travis Country Cir either, but I'm not sure if there ever were.

I would try more psi first not less. At that pressure the tread may roll enough to disengage the cornering blocks. Geometry change is a long shot. Are you that precise with how much you bend your arms that you would notice +/- 1/4"?

My aluminum Topstone has the internal routing for it. Would be fun, but I could see dropping the post, forgetting it's just a gravel bike, and doing really stupid shit.

Where do you mount the trigger? Inside of drops behind the brifter levers? In any case I'll have to re-learn how to tape bars.

Trails are good this morning, I couldn't even tell it had rained. Maybe they were a bit less dusty.