Originally Posted by
banerjek
This would be a bizarre accident...
I used to run long chains, but now I run short ones. Friction may be an issue in big ring big cog combos, but if you're up against sufficient wind or hills to put you there, you've selected the wrong ring. I also like to keep cassettes and chains together.
Yes - for a person running only their own gear and with only say - 1 set of wheels and limited cassettes. With lots of riders and lots of wheels - it's actually really easy to do. I have had racers who sized their setups for 11-23 cassettes who made their chains as short as they could with those setups - only to grab a wheel from someone with a 12-27 cassette. Derail go boom.
They don't stop and ask questions about gearing in a race...