Chain Length- help please

[NBLon]

The gear ratio on my mountain bike isn't suitable for London roads, as I'm always in the highest few gears- the city is so flat!

Will shortening the length of my chain make it harder to peddle, as if adding a few gears? Basically, I would like to make my bike more suitable for road use.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

 

[Bigtwin]

Nope. Chain length makes no difference to gearing.

Your best and cheapest bet would be to get a larger front ring.

 

[jimboalee]

Is top on your MTB a 42 x 12? Yes?

That's 91 inches and at 85 cadence is 22.5 mph. That should be plenty fast enough for a MTB.

PS, that's about 300 watts if you've got a pair of slickish tyres.

Can you pull this speed all the way across town?