Track Cycling - 49x15-16-17: One Chain Length??

As stated in the title, can anyone tell me whether or not I will be able to use one chain length with a 49T chainring and 15, 16, and 17t cogs? I would use the 17 for street, 16 for track warm up, and 15 for racing/training. I am new so I don't think I need a 50x15 yet.

I am trying to keep my options as simplified as possible. Would this be feasible if I set up the chain for the 49/17T combo at the front of the drop outs (still allowing some movement for removable of course).

Thanks for any help!

That depends on the length of your fork ends, but I ride to the track on a 50x17 gearing and usually race on a 50x15 so it's definitely possible.

According to Sheldon for each tooth difference the wheel moves 1/4" in the dropouts/track ends. Your ends are likely longer than 3/4" so yes.

Thanks guys I have had confirmation from the fixed forum as well. I appreciate it.

Hey Yoshi don't you usually run 85 gear inches on the track? I could've sworn I read that in an earlier thread. I am speaking of using a 700x23 tire in a calculator as well (not that 27" rule)

On both my IRO and my old Erba, I could go from a 49x13 to a 49x17 easily.

if you set up your chain properly yes. you should also get a 50 and 51 tooth chainrings. the way i was taught is to have 3 cogs and 3 chainrings to give you 9 close gear combinations. so you will get a gear chart that looks like this in gear inches (chainring/cog x 27):

___ 49 50 51
15 88.2 90 91.8
16 82.7 84.4 86
17 77.8 79.4 81

this way you can make small adjustments to your gear depending on the type of race or training, weather time of season etc.

i have fairly short trackends on my felt tk2, and use 49 17, 49 15, and 50 15 without chain changes.

with my bike i have 45,46,47 tooth chainrings and 14,15,16 and a 19 tooth cogs. lately i've been using a 46x14 or 47x14 at the track and ride over to the track on a 46x19 or 47x19. with the 46x14 the chain is at the very back of the dropouts. with the 19 it's pretty close to the front of the dropouts. thats a 5 tooth difference. my bike is really old and has long campy dropouts. some of the newer bikes look a little shorter so you might not be able to get that big of a difference. the other choice is to have two different length chains to get all the gear choices you need

Thanks guys I have had confirmation from the fixed forum as well. I appreciate it.

Hey Yoshi don't you usually run 85 gear inches on the track? I could've sworn I read that in an earlier thread. I am speaking of using a 700x23 tire in a calculator as well (not that 27" rule)

I did for most of last year and a month or two this year. But I replaced the chainring (48 to a 50) and I've been liking the larger gear.

yeah, he geared up and Yoshi "not a sprinter" even won a few laurels for his sprint recently...

Hmm. I may give the 50 a try then I guess. I have a 50T DA ring in the mail coming to me. I was gonna get a 49 instead. I am a track virgin but I am in pretty good shape as I do quite a bit of weight training as a hobby and I have a background in BMX racing. those big gears seem to scare me for some reason haha. That's why I figured I would start with 49x15 as opposed to 50x15.

I can run 53x15-19 on my KHS Flite 100...

Thanks, nice to know as I am running a Kilo TT (same frame/drop outs)