Wolf Tooth - Expanded Adaptability

Wolf Tooth Components has been busy of late, releasing a number of new products in the past few weeks.

To begin with they launched their first chain guide; the GnarWolf. It mounts to regular ISCG5 tabs and relies on a compact top guide to keep the chain in place (high direct and S3/E-type versions are also in the works).

Like the guides from One Up and Absolute Black, the outer cage flips up, allowing you to swap cranks or chainrings without removing the guide. While it may be similar in this regard, it does incorporate some unique design features.

With most lightweight trail oriented guides, the chain line is adjusted with a series of spacers. The GnarWolf eschews the spacers and slides from side to side, locking in place via an expanding collet. You simply loosen the collet, align the guide directly over the chain and then lock it in place with a 4mm allen key.

The adjustment range handles chain lines from 48mm through to 54mm, so the GnarWolf is compatible with regular bikes as well as those with a ‘boost’ drivetrain. It can also handle a wide range of chainring sizes; from 28 to 36T with round chainrings and 28 to 34T with oval rings.

Wolf Tooth intentionally built the GnarWolf with a bit of extra beef—they wanted to ensure the guide is stiff and robust enough to do its job reliably. With this and its easy-adjust locking collet the GnarWolf comes in at 44g; certainly light enough for trail bike applications.

The GnarWolf is available directly from Wolf Tooth for US$65.

 

CAMO Ring

The CAMO spider and chainring system it the other new addition to the Wolf Tooth range. 

There may be a trend towards spiderless direct-mount chainrings on 1X cranksets but Woolf Tooth has taken a different approach with their new CAMO system. At a glance, the five arm spider and removable chainring appears to step back in time but Wolf Tooth has adopted this design for a number of legitimate reasons.

Direct mount cranks may provide greater versatility but every brand uses a different mounting format; RaceFace Cinch is different to SRAM which differs from Cannondale and so on. With the advent of boost (and now Pivot’s ‘super boost plus’) we now have a number of additional chain lines to contend with as well as different offsets for BB30. Of course there’s both round and oval rings too, and all the different chainring sizes in each and every possible combination.

By travelling the seemingly old-school route, Wolf Tooth can produce five different spiders within each mounting system to tackle the chainline issue and the CAMO chainrings simply bolt on from there—round, oval, steel or alloy all fit to the same spider. This makes it easier for Wolf Tooth (or retail stockists) to keep up with all the different standards and offer a broader range of options.

Benefits for the consumer include: 

• The ability to fine tune the chainline to suit specific needs and individual bike setups (for example, where frame clearance permits you could fit a different spider to pull the chainline in—this can stop the chain derailing when you backpedal in the lowest gear).
• You can easily swap chainrings without completely removing the cranks (handy if you have a particularly hilly ride planned).
• A CAMO spider and chainring sells for around US$73—that’s close to the same as a single direct mount Wolf Tooth chainring. Replacement CAMO rings are US$45-50 each so the ongoing cost of running this system will be lower and it’s more cost effective if you like to have an assortment of chainring sizes on hand.
• The combined weight of the alloy CAMO spider and a stainless steel chainring is substantially less than a full steel direct mount ring—a good thing for those who prefer to use long-lasting chainrings.

Of course some people are going to question why Wolf Tooth didn’t adopt an existing bolt circle standard for their spider (CAMO rings will only mount to the proprietary CAMO spider). According to Wolf Tooth, none of the existing standards were suitable for running a 28 or 30 tooth elliptical chainring; something that they wanted to accommodate with their system. They also say the five arm system allows them to cater for all chainring sizes – from 28 through to 36 – whilst maintaining sufficient strength and stiffness. The combined weight of a CAMO ring and spider is nearly identical to an equivalent sized direct mount ring (approximately 74g versus 70g for a SRAM compatible 32T combo).

Aside from all the design practicalities, the CAMO system also allows you to style things up with alternating chainring, spider and bolt colours. Check out all the options on the Wolf Tooth Components page.