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So in what circumstances is 1/8" preferable over 3/32"?
It's entirely plausible that there are no human-powered circumstances which truly favour ⅛" over 3/32". ⅛" is a legacy size, and was likely picked out of an engineering catalogue (along with the ½" pitch) by early cycle manufacturers as being the smallest readily available roller chain (#410 in non-cycling parlance) , without any real regard to optimising it for cycle use. It's one of those cost driven compromises (like threaded sprockets) which track cyclists have stuck with for no good reason other than inertia. Inertia is a tremendously powerful thing at the velodrome, where you're likely to want to nick bits off your mates and individual bikes can easily last decades.
gbj_tester
Interesting.
So in what circumstances is 1/8" preferable over 3/32"?