Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
You should be able to find a chain length that will accomodate both a 46/15 and a 49/15. Set it up so that with the 46/15, the axle is close to the back of the dropout. You should then be able to get the 49/15 combo to fit without changing chains. You can usually find half links to more finely tune the chain length. Even with my short track ends, I can cover a four tooth change in chainring/cog combo.
Thanks for the advice! I figured that might work but I may just get a separate chain anyway, because i'll still be riding my track bike on the road when i'm not at the track, and while I generally take care of my chains, still, they get some road grime on them and I think i'd prefer to just use a separate chain and chainring(s) that I only use at the track when i'm not warming up; just to keep my track stuff shiny clean and lasting as long as possible.
Also, on that note, anyone have any experience with reusing masterlinks on track chains and the safety of doing so? I know that some people who utilize deep rear cutouts on their seattube have to take their chains off to remove the rear wheel so i'd imagine it's not a huge deal... or maybe the people i've seen/heard about doing that are anomolies and this usually isn't an issue anyway. I don't have a rear cutout on my frame; mostly just curious about this