Would it be alright to take a chain link or two out?

[Fordulike]

My bike originally came with a 48T chainring (largest). Now I'm running a single 42T chainring, can I take some chain links out? If so, how many would be ideal. There's probably some mathematics involved here somewhere, but my tiny brain cannot compute lol

The reason being, is that I feel that the rear derailleur isn't providing enough chain tension, when I'm using the cassette 12T.

 

[flecc]

You've reduced by six teeth, which is three links to remove to return the tension to what it used to be.
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[Fordulike]

Superb, thank you very much flecc.

 

[Fordulike]

You've reduced by six teeth, which is three links to remove to return the tension to what it used to be.
.

Just to clarify, I would take four links off, then join back up using a missing link?

 

[Alan Quay]

Just to clarify, I would take four links off, then join back up using a missing link?

Yes, that would do it.


The formula is

L = 2 (C) + (F/4 + R/4 + 1)

L = Chain length in inches. Round the final result to closest whole inch figure.
C = Chain stay length in inches, measure to closest 1/8". Use chart above to find decimal measurement.
F= Number of teeth on largest front chainring.
R= Number of teeth on largest rear cog.

(stolen from Park Tool website, but I have used it so I know it works)

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[flecc]

Just to clarify, I would take four links off, then join back up using a missing link?

Sort of, as I said, three links, a chain link is two sections, below is a photo of one link:

You can see it spans two teeth, so to compensate for the six teeth reduction in your chainwheel, you need to remove a length of three of these from the chain. The photo I'm adding below shows the length to remove, spanning six teeth: