This might be a stupid question but I just got my new Iron Horse Maverick and I absolutely love it, my only complaint is that when I coast the chain goes slack. This made it kind of tough when I needed to pick up some speed quickly and my first few strokes don't provide any power they only tighten the chain. How can I keep my chain from going slack when I coast? Also, could this be related to the fact that the cranks spin if I take my feet of while coasting? Also a friend who has an Iron Horse Maverick 3.0 suggested taking a link out, as he had the same problem is that the right solution?

First few strokes? As in Full Revolutions of a pedal actually do not do anything??

That doesn't sound like the chain at all. Sounds like your freewheel is not catching.

It's a problem that will probably fix itself. Your freehub is hanging up a bit. That's what makes both your chain go slack and your cranks turn when you coast.

If you don't want to wait for it to loosen up on it's own, spray a little WD40 into the seam in the freehub between the part that rotates with the cogs and the part that's fixed to the rotating wheel.

Removing the link from your buddy's chain isn't what fixed his. If you want to check your chain length, shift into the big/big gear combination. That should pull your derailleur arm almost straight forward but leave just a bit of additional slack in the chain. If your chain is shorter than that you risk serious damage to your bike should you ever shift into that gear combination.