flattop1 said:
Who knew catenary tension even existed in a chain drive system .
Now, that is absolutely above my pay grade.
LOL
in physics and geometry a Catenary is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends. In other words how much droop does it have, that is the cantenary curve. And how much pull does it exert on the ends that are supported.
Example hang a 20ft piece of chain between two post of a clothesline.
Then tie a piece of bailing wire and measure the difference between how much force is pulling on the post holding them compared to how much they drop of sag.
In other words IN THEORY the shorter the chain the less frictional forces are exerted on the sprocket teeth. But to really get technical, you have to take into consideration the top span of chain and the lower span of chain. The rear sprocket on top gains a little help. But the front gear loses the exact same amount, same with the bottom so all that is really changed is the amount of friction.
So if you have it perfect. You might gain 1 centimeter during the entire race.
1 centimeter = 0.3937007874 inch
OR
25/64 inch I would not put a lot of effort into it.
Now hopefully it is in your pay-grade. And I feel like added absolutely nothing to this conversation.
Now it is time to discuss the cosine of the chain at different tensions. Another factor in winning races. just like octane.