Originally Posted by
scbvideoboy
.. if you bought a new bike with 10sp rear cog setup and where advised not to cross chain,... would you feel cheated
No. Pretty much the same as a car/motor cycle/boat salesman telling me not get the tach into the red. It'll run there, but it will wear faster.
Originally Posted by
scbvideoboy
. if you bought a new bike with 10sp rear cog setup and .. the derailuers setup wouldn't allow it, would you feel cheated
Not exactly cheated, but I'd see it as as sign of the bike having been shoddily assembled. Common assembly practise is to cut the chain to a length that will allow cross-chaining, at least structurally. Cut it too short and cross-chaining goes from inadvisable to impossible.
Originally Posted by
scbvideoboy
..if you bought a new bike with 10sp rear cog setup and where advised not to cross chain, in fact the derailuers setup wouldn't allow it, would you feel ...the setup was a compromise?
Well, one man's compromise can be another man's ideal. Suppose I ride mostly on the plains, then I get a sudden urge to head for the hills for a ride or two. I can get a wide-range cassette on easily enough, but I might not be quite as eager to swap out my short-cage RD. Running a full length chain might get me in trouble with too much chain slack, but running a slightly shorter chain is only an issue if I miss where I'm at in the gears.
As (hard) cross chaining usually is pontless in terms of the gearing it gives(which usually can be had at other, mechanically less stressful combinations of chainwheel/sprocket as well), there's no need to go there anyhow. Having a chain long enough to allow big/big is an insurance against blowing your RD through operator error, but doesn't influence performance otherwise. Could easily be seen as "the best" option in some circumstances.
Originally Posted by
scbvideoboy
..Or being bike savvy you (in general) expect some gear combinations not to work due to excessive chain angles?
If it's a bike in stock configuration I expect all the gear combinations to go in, but I'm aware that some of them are borderline functional and may not run clean, or creak and rattle more than usual.