Originally Posted by
Squirrelli
I like this kind of chain breaker the most.
Which makes me wonder. Carleton, do track riders break their chain when they switch the ratio AT the velodrome? Do you have a stash of chains in various lengths for different events?
That's the benefit of having long track ends (dropouts). If they are long enough you can use a long chain for every gear combination. But, sometimes there might be a weird combination that doesn't work. For me it was 45/13 (small ring plus small cog) which put the wheel off of the dropouts. So, I had to have a short chain which was 1 link shorter. I used two chains (Izumi Eco) that had normal quick master links. Using a chain with a screw pin (Izumi Super Toughness) took too long.
That's why some bikes like the Planet X or LOOK 496 have really long dropouts.
With dropouts that long, you'd never have to switch chains.