[jaybert]

Like the title says. Plan on replacing my sons crankset with a shorter one and at the same time the chainring will go from 30T to 28T. Should I expect to need to remove a link in the chain or will it likely be fine?

Thanks!

 

[Darthur]

I didn't shorten my chain when I did exact same thing to my bike.

 

[jaybert]

I didn't shorten my chain when I did exact same thing to my bike.

great thanks. Figured I'd ask ahead of time so I know what I'm getting myself into when I do the switch / how much work I should prepare myself for!

 

[milehi]

I didn't bother going from 32 to 34.

 

[Rod]

I changed from 30-34 often and didn't change my chain length. You should be fine.

 

[TurboFusion]

It depends. When I did the same thing on my bike, I had to shorten by 1 link. Check in the smallest gear on the cassette. If the chain has tension, you're good. If the chain is slack, you need to shorten by at least 1 link.

 

[Tallboy723]

It depends. When I did the same thing on my bike, I had to shorten by 1 link. Check in the smallest gear on the cassette. If the chain has tension, you're good. If the chain is slack, you need to shorten by at least 1 link.

Good to know what to look for. I just replaced my chainring and went 32T to 30T. And my cassette I’m replacing goes from 10T to a 9T. So we shall see what tension I have.

 

[flgfish]

It depends on how tight/loose your derailleur was with the 30T and your current chain. If you had your chain kind of long with 30T, you may get more chain slap with 28T. You definitely won't have to lengthen the chain.
You probably won't have to do anything.

 

[Nat]

If your chain length was perfect before and you decrease the number of teeth by two then you could remove a pair of links (two teeth’s worth).

If in doubt, don’t change the chain length and see how it performs. If you get a lot of chainslap then you can later remove a pair of links.

 

[Mac_89]

You might need to adjust the B tension on your derailleur.

 

[J_Westy]

If your chain length was perfect before and you decrease the number of teeth by two then you could remove a pair of links (two teeth’s worth).

Actually it's only 1 link since the chain only wraps around half of the chainring.

So since this is impossible, the OP might have to take out two links if the chain was on the long side to begin with, or leave it as is if the chain was on the short side to begin with.