Originally Posted by
oneeyedhobbit
Forgive my ignorance, but why would a ss chain need to be any loser than a fg chain (outside of a dropped chain being potentially more devastating on a fg)?
Like TT said, it's not that it has to be, it's that it can be.
On a fixed gear the likelihood of your chain dropping is greatly increased by the tension constantly switching back and forth between the "top" section of chain (when you're accelerating) and the "bottom" section of chain (when you're resisting/skidding). The slack constantly flipping locations can lead to the chain bouncing around a lot more, and increases the likelihood it will grab the side of a tooth and jump off the cog/ring.
That's not an issue with a freewheel, so you can run a little bit more slack if you prefer.
I would never dream of running fixed with the amount of slack I posted above.