Key on the battery straps is snug, not tight. With three straps, there is no need to crank them down. This will definitely extend the lifespan.

I just lost one last weekend. First one in 2+ years of running tekno's. I'll replace it.

They ripped completely in half...one of shorter ones and the long one...on the same run.
I didn't pull them super tight, just snug. I was given a heads up to keep extras on hand.

I'm gonna assume that was a defect. I've used Tekno straps for custom battery braces on my short course truck as well as my past Tekno cars and never even had a strap fray on me. The velcro gets a little fluffy eventually.

New serpent looks tekno-ish.

To me it looks like a cheaply built EB48 lol

No one can deny that the eb48 if the most popular. After running mugen for the past 6yrs, this thing is pretty amazing. Things i've like so far besides the performance compared to mugen,wear on the outdrives, axle pins,front axle strength. Chassis wear,plastic wear. On my nitro,the stock drive train is lot free-er with stock bearings

Chassis looks like crap,surprised in serpent

lol I guess serpent admits they can't make a car as good as Tekno. If you can't beat em, copy them.

Even then nothing matches a tekno's strong sharp responsive steering, that does not rooster tail it at corners. Big improvement over the .3

So is the Bornhorst rough setup a good starting point for a hot outdoor Florida hard clay track that has dusting on top of hard pack. Later in the day it will get a groove with torn up rutted areas and dusting on the edges.

Stock setup wasn't very easy to drive.

I don't recommend many people to be chasing the pro's setups. Joe & Ryan like their cars on edge, which would mean super twitchy to us average folks.

I would suggest, starting with the recommended setup (on Tekno RC ). And see how that feels. That's what I did, and made minor changes from there. I felt that setup had me real close to where I wanted to be. (The changes from there are as follows: Center dot for A & B blocks, and up one hole on rear camber link) Besides the fact that I also have 2 different shock packages that I'm running. Depending on the track. The recommended setup in one set, and the second set I have 3x2.1's and 500\550. Same stock springs.

I also started with joes setup and wound up going bacl to the stock set up. which felt better for me.

Did you guys also go back to 10/10/7 diff fluids (stock)? or keep 7/7/5? (Joe's)

I have 7/7/5 in mine. I am a rookie in my own eyes....but I like it so far.

7-7-5 for me.