[amorrow]

I just installed a new Izumi track chain. It seems to long. With a 50 x 15, and a healthy amount of slack in the chain, my wheel is all the way to the end of the ends. Do I need to remove links, and if so, how many?

It's an EAI Nessuno. I am, obviously, new to this so I don't have a preference of short versus long events. So I would like a good degree of flexibility. I searched everywhere and can't seem to find an answer.

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[Dubbayoo]

That is a fairly large gear. That is probably too long for your smallest gear but ideally you would have several chains of different length on hand to carry you through a wide range of gears. Think about what is the smallest combination of chainring/cog you will use. Notice I didn't say smallest gear. For me that would be a 46x16 for warmups or something. With that gearing my short chain puts the axle pretty close to the end. Going up a 46x15 (82.8) would likely put it right at the end but a 49x16 (82.7) is virtually the same gear so I use that instead. I'll keep another chain with a few extra links to cover combinations of larger rings/cogs.

[amorrow]

So, I should put on a warm-up gear (let's say 46x16), push the wheel to the end of the track ends, then shorten the chain accordingly? I think this will mean taking out 2 or 3 links. Does that sound right? If I understand this correctly, I should be able to run many, but not all, gear combos on this chain (like a 49x15). To run something bigger (like 50x14), I will need a longer chain.

[Dubbayoo]

I'm not saying my method is the way to go. I just happened to have a 46x16 gear on when I got the chain so it made sense to think of it that way. Most people will tell you to keep the axle closer in but you can't do that with every single gear.