Originally Posted by
hamish5178
edit:
having a rough time wrapping my head around this right now, but I think you're almost right. If you take the chain off of the chainring, then rotate the crank (no need to move the chain) that should change your skid spots. I think. . .
Correct - imagine you have a gear combo with four skid patches (90° apart), and you rotated the tire 45° without moving the rim - now you'd have four new skid patch locations half way between the old skid patches.
You can do the same thing by moving the tire on the rim, moving the chain on the cog, or moving the chain on the chainwheel. In practice, any time you take the wheel out or change the chain you'll almost certainly not get it back in the exact same orientation anyway. This isn't really an issue for most people unless they skid a LOT... it's just fun to think about.