Doesn't packing grease usually sit on the chain and cogs, not the pads?

The humidity warping the string part really got me. That kind of thing happens way more than people want to admit, not just in Denver either. Same deal with my tape measure on a hot day, it stretches and you swear you measured right. Small errors stack up until the whole job is off and you're blaming your math instead of your tools. Feels like half of getting older is just realizing the stuff you trusted was fine all along until it wasn't.

You really think a 20 minute fridge test proves anything? That is nothing like 25 degrees for hours with wind hitting the body, plus a camera that just warmed up from your bench and your hands. Old grease does not thicken on some neat curve, it can be fine at 40 and lock up solid at 25 once the metal in the mirror box gets cold too. A real cold test means leaving the body outside or in a freezer for a few hours, not a quick chill, and even then you are only guessing at what Duluth will do to it.