Wolf Tooth was founded in 2013 by three mechanical engineers - Mike Pfeiffer, Brendan Moore, and Dan Dittmer - with backgrounds in high-tech industries including automation engineering and robotics. The company's DNA is rooted in precision manufacturing and problem-solving, creating technical solutions to real-world cycling challenges that larger manufacturers overlook. Indeed, Wolf Tooth excels at creating products that bridge incompatibilities between major manufacturers' component systems.
Based in Burnsville, Minnesota, Wolf Tooth operates as a "product-first company" that designs, machines, and assembles most components in-house at their 38,000 square foot facility. With approximately 87 employees and 10 engineers, they've grown from a basement chainring operation to a comprehensive component manufacturer - often manufacturing small runs of product for major players like Shimano.
Wolf Tooth's innovations are numerous and cover a broad range of disciplines, but their foundation product is the patented Drop-Stop narrow-wide chainring system, born from harsh Minnesota winter fat bike riding where front derailleurs fail in icy conditions.
The Drop-Stop tooth profile features an asymmetric design: the right side maximizes contact on the drive side to spread load and improve chainring life, while the left side is narrower than the chain's roller pin to create a channel for mud flow, reducing friction and preventing dropped chains.
More recently,
Wolf Tooth re-booted clipless pedals and their CTRL, ALT, DEL range represents a comprehensive rethinking of SPD-compatible design after two years of development and testing. The three-model lineup is built around the same SPD-compatible clip mechanism with the goal of prioritising contact with the shoe for maximum pedaling efficiency and control
Precision Manufacturing is at the heart of the brand's approaches.
Wolf Tooth employs incredibly high-quality machinery working with extremely tight tolerances, drawing on founders' backgrounds in precision high-volume manufacturing from the tech industry. Products are machined from premium 7075-T6 aluminum (chainrings) and 6061 T6 aluminum (structural components).
Following this ethos, longevity and serviceability are key to the Wolf Tooth product experience. Every Wolf Tooth product is designed for complete user serviceability. Replacement parts, service guides, and tutorial videos enable riders to repair rather than replace components. If something breaks in a crash, individual affected parts can be replaced instead of entire assemblies. While this may seem obvious, it is something that few brands do in meaningful ways.
Most products are manufactured at their Minnesota machine shop, where CNC mills and lathes represent the company's heartbeat. QC is paramount, and when overseas manufacturing is necessary for items like dropper posts, products are sent to Minnesota for assembly.
Designed for the realities of cycling, Wolf Tooth components are built strong, are beautifully engineered and solve real world issues, allowing for more expansive use of existing manufacturers' components through innovative solutions, as well as proprietary products that elevate performance and longevity.
Wolf Tooth products just work. They keep you in the saddle longer.