Originally Posted by
Homebrew01
But you can't go shorter than what's required for big-big, so why does small-small matter ?
Because minimums are just that minimums. I don't live by minimums in most things, so why should I limit myself to minimums in bike chain length. Way back, earlier in the thread I explained one reason for wanting a longer chain, especially for race bikes. It's not rare to flat and accept a donated wheel, either from neutral support, or a fan. If you're racing with a tight cassette, you can get into deep schist with a borrowed wheel with a wider gear range.
Eons ago, when I worked with a race team, exactly that happened to a member who borrowed a wheel form a team mate who happened to have slightly wider gearing. Thereafter we decreed that every bike on the squad would have a chain long enough to loop the widest cassette we were likely to run into, regardless of what was on there when set up.
Racing wheel swaps is probably why Europeans prefer the longest chain method to the shortest one.
For non racers, running longer chains improves chain life (marginally), provides that bad links can be cut out if necessary, and provides for a future gearing change.
As I said, why live with minimums, when you can have the maximum?