“I learned so much, and yet I still learned more about how little I actually know.” Haema summed up Stamina’s Wolf Tooth experience simply and perfectly. On a warm Monday evening seven Stamina riders drove down to Burnsville, MN to visit with three Wolf Tooth employees (one of which was a third of the owner/creator team!) They started the meeting off strong by treating us to pizza and a new flavor of La Croix, and then Chelsea delivered a highly educational presentation on the history of Wolf Tooth, bicycle components in general, and Wolf Tooth products in particular. Dan and Kurt layered on additional history and technical explanations.
Elise and Christina were so excited leaving the event that the following conversation occurred.
Anisa (she/her) with the wolf of Wolf Tooth!
Christina : The most interesting component to me was probably chainrings. Before today, my understanding of chainrings was that the big ring is harder and the little ring is easier. It ends up there is so much more to chainrings than the big ring and the little ring! For example, I didn’t realize that the big ring on my road bike would be any different from the big ring on my gravel bike.
Elise : Right! I appreciated that Chelsea explained the rings to us in a way that made sense. I like how she started with something we understood: chainrings that have more teeth make pedaling harder. Then she explained that road bikes generally stay on roads, which are designed for cars and therefore are generally less steep than mountain bike trails. Therefore mountain bikes and fat bikes tend to have smaller rings than road bikes.
Christina : It was especially cool to learn how many different sizes of chainrings Wolf Tooth has made. I love that they listen to customer needs and are agile enough to make small batches of chainrings. It was fun to hear Dan say that they have made a tiny chainring for someone who was going to fat bike the Iditarod route and they have made a gigantic chainring for someone aiming to break a speed record.
Chelsea introduces us to Wolf Tooth’s handy bolt circle diameter measurement guide. If you print this off on a standard 8.5”x11” piece of paper at 100% scale, you can place your current chainring on the guide to determine which chainring will fit your bike. This looks very useful for ordering the right chainring!
Elise : Beyond the size of the chainring, I also liked learning about the shape of a chainring. I had heard of oval chainrings before, but I hadn’t looked into them or understood why they were oval.
Christina : I liked learning why oval chainrings exist, too. Dan started with something we understood: our legs produce the most downward force when the pedals are horizontal and the least downward force at the top and bottom of the pedal stroke. The oval chainring is widest where the most force is produced and narrowest where the least force is produced, and this capitalizes on the maximal force.
Dan explaining the physics behind oval chainrings.
Elise : On top of that, it was interesting to hear about different oval shapes. If the chainring is too far from circular, then pedaling feels strange. If the chainring is subtly oval, then the pedal stroke can be efficient and still feel natural.
Christina : Chelsea said she put a Wolf Tooth oval chainring on her bike and she adjusted immediately; her pedal stroke still felt comfortable.
Elise : She definitely sold me on that oval or “ellipse” shape, I want to try it out and see what it feels like. Somewhat related to the chain rings but mostly just feedback from the experience, I truly appreciated how welcoming Chelsea, Kurt, and Dan were during our visit. I wasn’t afraid to ask any question, no matter how silly it may have seemed.
Christina : Oh absolutely! They are so customer focused that it was no surprise how willing they were to answer our countless questions. They said you can chat with them through the website or send them an email and real people will respond.
Elise : Exactly, their dedication to customers is out of this world. I thought that the cassette on a bike was made up of different sized chain rings but Dan nicely corrected me and told me that nope, those are called cogs. Knowing that it is a completely different product than the cassette has my head spinning around the fact that they make more than 300 different types of chain rings?!
Christina : It’s bananas.
Elise : Not knowing the difference between a chain ring and a cassette is just one way in which I realize how little I know. Which is why, as someone who likes organized, clean documents, I loved learning about their tech documents! When Chelsea showed us where you can find all their different product resources on their website I almost giggled in excitement.
Christina: I wish more companies would provide documentation like that!
Elise : Same! Knowing that all of that information is available for me and other customers is reassuring so next time I start filling up my digital basket with goodies I actually know what I am getting instead of just guessing.
Christina : The other cool thing about the resources is that they actually explain what they are used for; they don’t simply assume that every single customer knows all the answers.
Elise : Totally. Speaking of filling up our digital baskets, let’s talk about the bar tape. I can NOT wait to add the bar tape to my gravel bike! I like the Supple Lite bar tape because it is super comfortable while still being lightweight. It seems like it would do a great job of cushioning my hands from the bumpy gravel roads on our gravel adventures.
Mariya’s bike sporting Wolf Tooth Supple bar tape and a blue anodized headset spacer.
Christina : Absolutely, and I was shocked to feel how light it was. Even so, I think I’d get the Supple bar tape because I want my hands to feel like they’re holding onto clouds. I hope they start making it in pink!
Elise : Oh yes the fun colors! Who doesn’t love to personalize their bikes? I am leaning towards that brown color for my gravel bike but once my road bike tape goes out I might go for a brighter color to make my dark blue bike really pop.
Christina : Everyone deserves to have the comfiest handlebars possible! We use our hands constantly so why not treat them like the stars they are?
Elise : I 100% agree. Another thing I want to add to my gravel bike is the B-RAD water bottle adapters. Right now, one of my water bottle cages sits a little high on my frame, and so when I ride with my frame bag attached it’s hard to get my water bottle out. The B-RAD system would let me lower the water bottle cage so that I’d have more space to pull out my water bottle without squishing my bag.
Christina : I also like how the B-RAD system allows you to put two side-by-side water bottles where only one water bottle would have fit before. I want to carry all the water bottles! Last week we had to stop at that gas station to buy more water. With the B-RAD system, I could have space for enough water bottles to get me through the Heck of the North (if anything will get me through the Heck of the North!).
Elise : Yeah there are a couple of different products that Chelsea mentioned that really are designed with the rider in mind. The company clearly is so thoughtful in their actions and earnestly believes that any body is a biking body. The solutions that they have come up with for different folks to modify their bikes is inspiring and proof that you can create a perfect bike that fits your body and needs.
Christina : Woof, what a great trip. I’m so happy they were able to meet with us.
Elise : It was an absolute blast and now I need to go dust off my credit card and start putting in some orders!