During the mindless seemingly unending miles of distance riding (long,long ago) I used to amuse my mind wondering this very conundrum.
It had been precipitated by reading that at Indy in 1967, the Granatelly #40 Turbine car, which was 4 wheel drive, somehow divided the applied power 60% to the rear wheels and 40% to the front (or, something along those lines.) The only way I could figure that was by differing gear combinations arriving at the same ratio, assuming front and rear tires were the same size (also unknown.)
I had posed this question some time ago on the Bike Mechanics thread, and as I recall, the determination was that the large/large combination was potentially easier due to the larger diameters resulting in more chain wrap at reduced deflection angles between links. But, I would have to revisit that thread to be sure.
Anyway, I thought I was looking forward to joining this group in 3 months or so, but now I'm not sure. Y'all are far too cerebral for my capabilities.........