Originally Posted by
mpetry912
the long accepted general best practice (at least as explained to me) was - as short as possible but no shorter.
so - use the small small cog combination, make the chain the shortest possible length that it is not sagging (that is, the jockey cage is just starting to take tension) and then set the chain at that length. Run thru the various cog / chainwheel combinations and confirm that you have enough chain and that shifting is good. Sometimes too much chain tension will inhibit shifting to a smaller cog. On triple chainrings you may not be able to use the combinations of large ring / large cog.
No one rule covers all possibilities, but this approach yields good results in most cases.
Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA
Hmm...I believe I understand your general point, and this is the way I generally do it. However, I would describe it as the longest possible but no longer, rather than the other way around. Wouldn’t that follow from setting the chain length so that the RD cage is just beginning to take up slack?