Originally Posted by sivat
As for what mickster said,
-sideways flex just isn't an issue on a fixed gear. Unless your chainline is more that 2mm off, unheard of on any respectable track bike, there is no sideways force on the chain. If the chainline is off by that much, a more flexible chain would actually be better since it would be able to move more smoothly normal to the force of the chainwheel.
-1/8 is 33% bigger than 3/32, not 50%.
-Mixing 3/32 and 1/8, though possible, really defeats the purpose of running the bigger components.
One of those perennials like whether to use lockrings, but I'll bite:
I still maintain that sideways flex, or lack thereof, is a desirable characteristic in a track bike chain. Chainlines are not always spot on, even on 'repectable' track bikes - just run a pair of Mavic ellipse track wheels, for instance, on your otherwise respectable fully-Dura Ace pista equipped track bike and yr chainline is instantly 2mm off - and tolerances change as drivetrain parts wear. I also said that chain tension is a factor in this, and contend that a less-than-perfectly-adjusted chain is less likely to ship if it has less sideways flex as per a 1/8" track chain. If there was no sideways force involved on a track chain they wouldn't ever ship on the track, but we both know that this does occasionally happen.
I said a 1/8 chain has 50% more width than a 3/32 - put another way, a 3mm chain has 50% more width than a 2mm chain. I think that statement still holds; in any case, we're into petty semantics - the point about it being wider and therefore longer lasting remains.
mickster