For a std. 114 link chain, what would be the max ring and sprocket you could fit before it is too short?
A mate is thinking of running 58t ring (!) + 28t sprocket = 86 teeth in total, on his TT bike.
That seems pretty big to me. Anyone know the limit of a std chain.
[I don't know what mech he's running so let's assume a std 11spd Shimano road mech.]
Fixmeup suggests you should need around 108 links depending on chainstay length, assuming there's no derailleur.
58/28 isn't huge. Only 5 teeth more than a standard big ring, and 27t cassettes have been common for ages. Remember that the chain only wraps round half of each, so (roughly speaking) it takes 4 teeth to require another pair of chain links. Plus road/track/TT bikes have short chainstays, which makes a much bigger difference: half an inch of chainstay equates to a pair of links, the same as 4 teeth.
Either way, if you run out of links you just shout out to mates/LBS/forum and ask for an offcut. I've got a tandem timing chain (a tandem boom tube is loooooong compared to normal stays) that's made of a load of them 🙂
ta. I've done some quick calcs and 114 should be fine.