Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - hockey skid consideration

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i was reading through an old thread about throwing chains the other day and somebody brought up that doing a hockey skid makes the frame flex much more than normally, making chain throwing more likely. so i was trying to think about it then and thought that a hockey skid would lengthen one chainstay and shorten the other. which one would shorten and which one would lengthen? in other words, to make it less likely to throw the chain, would you want the chain/drive side facing forward or backward in a hockey skid?

a personal request: please let's not get into "that's why you need a brake, dumbass" vs. "brakeless is enough in any situation, dumbass" debates. we all know the reasons for each of the two mindsets and have landed on one side or the other, so let's just let down the pride and self-righteousness a little and simply discuss one aspect of riding.

preace, grace, love, et cetera, et cetera
colin

I've been on both sides of brakeless and with a brake. If your chain is tensioned properly you need not worry. If you need to hockey stop all the time, then maybe your riding style needs improving. To answer your ? I would throw the drive side to the right but I don't think the frame gets flexed that severely.

I'd think you'd want the drive side facing backwards. The front side would flex the most, no?

If I had to speculate, I would say that the side that is thrown forward is being "shortened"


Honestly I doubt the frame flexes enough to make a big difference but if it did, I would throw the drive side forward still, because I would rather the chain get looser than tighter (especially for those who have good components and run high chain tension)