There's a range of opinion as to what is the best chain length. Long enough to handle the big/big and not so long that the rear der cage is wrapped up beyond the chain clearing the cage when in small/small. There is usually 1 or 2 links (here meaning a pair of male and female or 1") worth of chain length between the two extreems. I like to go long as you can always cut a chain shorter if you have to. At work i'll often cut a chain 1 link too long and see how the system works then make a judgement as to removing the 1 link. More then a few times i've found the origonal chain on the bike was a link shorter then what I thought best. After all in 114 bikes the company has an extra chain if they run the length short. Andy.