Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Pedaling in small to small, with an excessively long chain, the chain sags toward the ground. Not much pushing going on.
Remove a connector link from a chain and turn the cranks (preferably by hand, with the bike on a repair stand), and the chain drops straight down to the floor off the front of the chainring.
No, that's just gravity saying, "I'm the boss of this."
My point is, front shifts go smoother and makes the equipment last longer when you momentarily soft pedal while the chain is switching over. Period.
It's like the low-mileage Ford Focus ST that I bough eight or nine years ago. Little did I know that the previous owner (who had installed a very nice cold induction system, thank you) was power-shifting it, so the clutch blew up after 30k miles.