A Trio of Parts from Wolf Tooth

A lot has happened in the months since I started testing these two components from Wolf Tooth! Probably the most interesting is the change in perception of “Manufactured in Minnesota.” On this side of the border, this is no longer the slam dunk it once was.

On a personal level, I’ve struggled with where to put my dollars, and even my review hours. Generally speaking, bike and component reviews aren’t the place to make grand political statements, but with trade, manufacturing and consumer spending so politicized these days, how can I not mention this? I’m certain that each one of you is going to feel differently about this topic, and that’s okay! It’s important to be conscious of where you spend your money, and my own targets are shifting with some frequency.

From here onwards, my discussion will be solely about the products. I look on the reviewing process as a contract between myself, the manufacturer and the reader. The manufacturer sends us product to review with the expectation that we give a good faith representation of our experience. The reader expects us to be honest about the positives and negatives of the product, while being entertaining and impartial. From that, I hold myself to a standard where everybody gets a fair shake and I do as much as I can to remove any personal biases from the process. With that, here are some thoughts on a bunch of Wolf Tooth parts I’ve been reviewing for the past several months.

Wolf Tooth Ripsaw Pedals

I spent much of the first look on these pedals (holy cow! Almost a year ago now!) talking about what they were, and who they were for. To summarize:

• These things cost a pretty penny 200 USD/306 CAD
• The internals are similar to the Waveform, just in a different package
• These are meant for people that are looking for a thinner pedal, or prefer a convex shape – the suggestion is that people that ride with the pedal in the middle of the foot might prefer this shape
• I finally retired the RC’s used in those photos just last week! I noticed that the sole was falling off, so it felt like time

In Use

The best components have the shortest reviews. This is a 10 out of 10 product. I can’t think of a thing I’d change. The platform is large and grippy, giving me room to stand on while still allowing me to wrap the outside of my foot around the outer rim. I ride with my foot quite far forward and very far out, and this shape works great for me.

Despite riding in heinous conditions, the bearings are spinning smoothly and there are signs of a bit of moisture slipping through the seals, but without much impact. All of the pins are still intact, and with no anodizing to wear away they still look great. This makes me wonder what schmuck sold us on coloured pedals in the first place.

Really, the only complaint one can likely make is about the price. I’m not suggesting everybody run out and drop CA$306/US$200 on a pair of pedals, but if you consider the ease of repair, the amazing parts support (you can literally replace every single part on these pedals, including the platform, and a full bearing/bushing refresh kit is very reasonably priced) and the thoughtful quality and design, I’m confident that these pedals will last years and years and years. I’m a big fan of spending a little bit more up front and getting something that can move with you from bike-to-bike, and pedals are one of the few remaining areas on our modern bikes where that seems possible.

Wolf Tooth Resolve Dropper REV2 + Remote Pro Lever

The review for this is going to be a bit more complex, so let’s split it into a few parts. If you’re looking for some more information, here is my first look on the REV2 post, Andrew’s teardown of the REV1 post, as well as his full review.

Length

If you’re searching for the longest of long droppers, your choices in seatpost become a bit more limited. Rock Shox is now selling their new Reverb in pretty long lengths, and One Up has a 240mm option as well. I’m sure there might be others, but if you’re searching for max length the Wolf Tooth should be on your radar.

What I’ve proven to myself is that I’m not a guy that needs a really long drop seatpost. I asked for Wolf Tooth to send the longest version as it seemed like the thing to do, but after a couple of rides I knew I didn’t need that much drop. Actually, it was worse than that. I couldn’t ride with that much drop!

I put a lot of force through my seat when I’m riding my bike, and I have the broken seatposts and bent seats to prove this. I like to squeeze and grip and angle my legs up against my seat, especially when turning my bike, and if my seat isn’t in the right place (with my pedals flat my seat should hit my thigh somewhere above my knee) I really struggle to feel in control of the bike. I did an informal survey of other NSMBers and I found that preferences split almost down the middle as to seatpost drop preference – about half wanted as much drop as their bike could muster, and the other half was like me, and needed their seat in a more particular location.

As a short term solution I tried to more carefully set my seatpost height at the top of a downhill so that it was closer to where I needed it. This was leaving about an inch of unused drop (at least). The problem though was that as I worked the seat, that was enough to force the post to its lowest position. The post wouldn’t stay partially extended. So I got to work on figuring out how to adjust the drop of the post.

Adjusting Length

The good news is that the drop of the post is adjustable. What you’re actually doing is reducing the extension of the post, so that it doesn’t fully extend. With the Wolf Tooth post you need to disassemble the post and install some plastic spacers inside the cartridge. This is more involved than with some other designs, but you should hopefully only have to do it once, and it seems like a very robust solution to travel reduction.

• The instructions for reducing travel are easy to follow, but you do need to consider a few things:
• When you drop the pressure from the post you lose a lot of oil from the cartridge, so have a bottle of the correct oil at the ready. This was the most annoying part of the whole job, as it would be nice if you didn’t need to rebuild the post in the event that you have to dump pressure from the post
• You need an uncommon tool to remove the clamp from the post. Wolf Tooth will sell you one, and apparently it can be ordered from other sources
• You’ll need the right spacers as well

So, make sure you source all the right parts before you get started and once you have them follow the instructions and you should be okay. My biggest issue was just getting the right amount of oil measured out and into the post. After making a couple of stupid mistakes, things went fine and my post was happily down to around 212mm of drop. With hindsight I should have just asked for a 200mm post and called it a day, but I learned from the experience, so here we are. The whole process took about a month if you include waiting for parts, and an hour if you don’t.

Using the Post

Once the drop was set on the post, things were better. The action of this post is very, very light. I’m not sure if it’s the “lightest”, but it’s up there. It goes up smoothly and consistently and there isn’t a lot of thumb pressure required to do so.

The Resolve self bleeding feature also does what it says, but I’m less than enamored with this system. It sounds great in theory, but I find that this post takes more intervention than I’m used to. For comparisons sake, most Bike Yoke droppers that I use may require an actuation of the bleed/revive function every 6 months or so. It seemed like as often as not I would pull the Wolf Tooth down off the wall and it would feel spongy and need intervention. Most of the time, cycling it up and down would fix the problem, but sometimes that wouldn’t be enough and I would have to do their enhanced bleed function. Essentially, get the post standing as vertically as possible and then work it up and down veeeeerrrrrryyyyy slowly a few times. Doing this would fix the problem and I would be on my way. No big deal, right?

This started to feel a little bit like the guy you know who dislocates his shoulder all the time, but it isn’t a big deal because he can just ram his body against a wall and set it back into place. It doesn’t seem to take all that much out of his day, but wouldn’t it be better if the shoulder just stayed in place? So, while Wolf Tooth has made it very, very easy to bleed/revive the cartridge (i.e. you’re doing it every time you drop your post) it seems like they’ve created something that requires a fair amount reviving/bleeding. It never takes a lot of time, but it does become a thing that you need to fiddle with at the start of each ride. I do store my bikes hanging from their front wheel and I’m sure this contributes to this issue, but this is a pretty common method for storing your bike.

Other than that, I’m pretty happy with the construction of the post. I was a bit worried about the detachable seatpost head, but it hasn’t been an issue, and seat swaps are quite easy. The actuator mechanism works well and keeps the cable seated with no issues (something I can’t say about the One Up V2 I have in my stable) so no complaints there.

Who is this post for?

This becomes the question, doesn’t it? As we mentioned above with the pedals, they are expensive but they work flawlessly and will likely last you a long time. I foresee them moving from bike to bike over the next many years. Can the same argument be made for this dropper post?

I do like how rebuildable it is. Even after cracking it open just the one time, I wouldn’t hesitate to do the job again, and there’s something to be said about a serviceable part that you can rejuvenate with some TLC. I love the Wolf Tooth philosophy on parts support. I also like that you can upgrade your REV1 post to REV2! Backwards compatibility is amazing. Wolf Tooth also suggests that you can change the diameter of your post, if need be! I looked to see what parts this would require and how much it might cost, but couldn’t find that detail.

So, if you want a made in America, fully serviceable dropper with miles of drop, the Wolf Tooth might be the answer for you. If you don’t need all of those three things, the 570 CAD/350 USD becomes a trickier proposition. For future versions I’d love to see the post requiring a bit less reviving, even if it is pretty easy to do so.

The Lever

There’s not a lot to be said about dropper levers. This one works well. I struggled to figure out what to do with the cable during setup, and you should just follow Wolf Tooth’s instructions rather than trying to go your own way.

I did struggle to make the lever fit properly with the TRP brakes that I am running. The lever comes with 3 different mounting holes, which makes the area that the clamp bolts to a little bit wider than with other levers. With the TRP brakes, there’s really only one spot where the lever fits, and it place the lever too close to my hands. I was forced to move my brake levers inboard to prevent the lever from jamming into my hand as I rode. I think I would have had more options if I had the integrated mount from TRP, and you’ll likely be okay if you have an integrated mount for your particular brakes. Just be aware if you plan to run a clamp (which I always do) the 3rd mounting hole might actually limit where you can place the lever. Price is 122 CAD /70 USD.

Wolf Tooth Components