As title states...my concern was that it being a considerably smaller sprocket if chain wear would be an issue...is it safe?
Its not a daily driver just occasional weekends...

* Last updated by: morgstang on 8/25/2017 @ 4:48 PM *

Here is how wear breaks down. Stick your index finger thru your other hand that makes a fist. Roll your fist over your finger about 1/4 turn. That's stock call it. Turn or twist your fist over your finger half way. That's your smaller sprocket moving around the pin.

Imagine a pencil is a tube or a pin that is round. Take a file and drag the file over the pin at a 1/4 of it's circumference. Keep filing at that one area. So every time the chain curls around that sprocket, the load factor of that one side is being pulled around that sprocket. The pin is being sheered off at a slow pace. The pins eventually wear out on that one side and there is where the stretch comes in.

Meaning, when you pull the chain off the rear sprocket, those sheered pins move into the roller. In proportion, there is even wear at the roller and pin. So you have to see both lose their tolerance and cause the chain to stretch. Imagine the weak link if more pin surface is worn down.

As long as you stay on top of the wear and not stretch the chain past its stretch measurement, change chain before you break the weakest link. But you just added more wear around the pin so you more cut the stretch measurement more to its 3/4 stretch limit rather than take a chance at the 100% limit.

Do you see the wear factor with more arch tearing up around the pin?

I'd much rather just go to a larger rear sprocket even if I had to change the chain.

At this point i really dont have a choice to run a larger rear...i just replaced the chain and sprockets and unfortunately i cut the chain a little short with the 17/42 gearing and dont have enough length to put a bigger rear on now...i tried a 16 front and noticed no difference at all which i find extremely unusual...at 70 mph GPS checked im running 4,000 RPM with either the 16 or the 17...how is that possible?

I'm not exactly sure how it all works out but 16 teeth is 5.5% less teeth than 17 so I would think you should need to turn 5.5% more rpm to go x mph. At 4000 rpm, 5.5% is only 220 rpm. If that's how it works, I'm not surprised you wouldn't notice a difference. A 45 tooth would be turning about 4500 rpm compared to a 41 tooth turning 4000. That sounds about right from what I can tell with 17/45. It feels like about 1 gear lower.

* Last updated by: Rook on 8/26/2017 @ 9:09 AM *

Gearing Commander

Gearing Commander is the bomb.

Go for it. You are not going to hurt anything and you
can always change it back.

* Last updated by: piken on 8/26/2017 @ 9:38 AM *