Wolf Tooth’s Top 5 Tools and Inventions
By Stan Portus – 4 March 2020
Wolf Tooth has always set out to find innovative solutions to the problems and bug bears that plague cyclists. Here we look at the Minnesota based company’s Top 5 Tools and Innovations.
Wolf Tooth’s MO has always been to find solutions to the problems that plague riders.
Its first chain rings were created when founders Mike Pfeiffer, Brendan Moore, and Dan Dittmer wanted a solution to rings that led to dropped chains on their 1x fat bikes that carried them through the cold Minnesota winters.
Since then Wolf Tooth has developed a roster of nifty and ingenious products and solutions that has led it to have a notable impact on the bike industry. Here we profile Wolf Tooth’s most popular solutions, tools, and trademarks.
EnCase System
EnCase was developed in response to the Wolf Tooth team’s desire to carry tools within the bike itself, freeing up space in any frame or saddle bags.
The EnCase System is comprised of a hex key wrench and a Chain + Tire Plug Tool that fit into rubber storage sleeves, which in turn slot into the end of a flat or drop handlebar.
Tough, reliable, and practical, the tools are expertly machined from aluminium and will serve you well out on the trails and roads or even at home in the workshop.
Pack Pliers
Wolf tooth made the Pack Pliers to provide functions that aren’t normally found on multitools but are essential for anyone doing serious bike packing and adventure riding.
The primary function of the pliers allows you to remove and install chain master links. Although small and incredibly lightweight at 38.5g, the Pack Pliers provide enough action to easily remove tricky links. The pliers can also hold two master links inside with magnets so you will always be prepared when out riding.
Direct Mount Chainrings
Wolf Tooth began by producing some of the best chainrings for 1x setups. Direct Mount Chainrings are some of the company’s best.
The chainrings feature Wolf Tooth’s signature Drop-Stop technology. Drop-Stop is designed for the best wear life, chain retention, and mud clearance. The wide-narrow design near eliminates dropped chains on 1x setups and used in conjunction with a clutch rear derailleur you’ll survive the toughest conditions.
The success of the Drop-Stop technology is achieved through Wolf Tooth’s ability to work and machine to incredibly high tolerances. This is done in-house at its Minnesota HQ meaning Wolf Tooth can overlook every stage of production. Wolf tooth only use the best quality materials too which further enhances the performance of its chainrings.
Wolf Tooth always produce variants of its products for as many different industry standards as possible. Consequently, the Direct Mount Chainrings are available for SRAM, Cannondale, Cane Creek, Easton, and Race Face.
Road and Goat Link
Safe to say the bike industry is changing. Just as 23cc road tyres now feel like a rare sighting, so too do cassettes with the biggest cog being a 25 tooth.
Larger cassettes have many benefits as they offer bail out gearing, keep legs spinning at a high cadence, and if you’re bike packing can provide you with gear ratios that will make light work of large loads.
Despite the desire for larger cassettes rear derailleurs often can’t accommodate such large cogs. The Road and Goat links resolve this by offset the position of your rear derailleur and in turn making it possible to run a larger cassette. This is a nifty solution as you can get the advantage of a long reach derailleur without the significant dent in your wallet.
Wolf Tooth Direct Mount RoadLink
View detailsLight Action Droppers
Dropper posts are becoming more and more standard with a wide variety of options. But many companies have focused on the mechanics of the post without giving much thought to the dropper lever itself. Wolf Tooth however – in characteristic style – has given the lever a lot of thought.
Wolf Tooth has a wide selection of dropper levers, but one of the standouts is the Light Action Droppers. With a long lever and an industry first 21mm sealed cartridge bearing, the lever reduces the amount of effort required to drop your seat post by 30%.
The Light Action Droppers are also built with longevity in mind. A plastic breakaway axle pivot means that in case of a tumble the lever arm will easily breakaway from the body of the lever preventing any damage to the rest of the lever. Wolf Tooth sell replacements for the breakaway axle as well as every other part of the lever meaning if anything goes wrong it is easy to fix and saves you replacing the whole thing.
