Originally Posted by chrisgerne
if you were to throw a tensioner on a fixed....
that wouldnt work, would it?
It would curl up and die.
As soon as you go to skid, all the chain tension goes to the bottom of the chain, the bottom of the chain goes straight, and the top of the chain therefore goes slack. Really slack chain = asking for trouble, really slack chain while skidding = getting it in heaping quantities.
Which isn't to say people haven't done it, probably moreso with tensioners with small amounts of travel (only taking up a minimal amount of slack).