I was so excited when Wolf Tooth released their clipless pedals a few months ago. There’s a lot of nice things about these pedals and, like many of the Wolf Tooth product, they do a classy job delving real value.
Yay! The problem, I had been running flat pedals exclusively for the past five years. “super nice”, I’d say, but such a shame.
A strange thing happened when I was doing initial shake down and testing of the new Corsair all-road bike. I decided to try clipless pedals again. Five years off but still having 30 years under my belt, it came back naturally. After a few rides, I’m liking clipless for now. So spinny and nice with the narrow bike.
My Shimano XTR Trail PD-M9020 pedals that I received as a warranty back around 2015 were getting beat with a significant play on the axles. I wouldn’t feel bad to change these out. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time as they are 55mm (rather than 52mm). Sometimes we have to wait for some upgrades.
I decide that I should order some of the new fancy pedals from Wolf Tooth. I get the CTRL model as I’m looking for a more trail/enduro use case. I think there is more that can happen with these for gravity and look forward to a ‘cage’ upgrade. There should be a trail version of these offered.
What I love about these pedals is the width adjustment (along with the 15mm stack). Few understand how much work that I do to keep my stance width tucked into the frame center as much as possible. I really do focus on this and it’s buried very deep in the fundamental design of my bikes. Even when using flat pedals, I’m choosing very specific pedals to get what I want. Serious stuff.
Before the pedals go on the bike, they are set to 51mm (rather than 55mm or 59mm) q-factor and 100 in-lbs release torque. I go to ride.
The narrow pedaling felt amazing. So good. The problem was that my shoe was just an edge too close to the crank arm. It was bothersome. I needed to move out but I didn’t want to go to 55mm. Just a little more.
Of course, I didn’t know about the adjustment spacer kit that Wolf Tooth sells to get the 53mm q-factor (this must have just come out). I make my own. A 2mm and 6mm spacer for each pedal. Quick turn around in my own shop and stainless!
It happens that my old SPD shoes were falling apart and I needed to replace them. I happen to have a fresh warranty pair of shoes in the stash. These are Giro Rincon in portaro grey. Not my favorite but what I had. First step is to get toe spikes in position. This is critical for a mountain biker.
Final step is to set release torque to 100 in-lbs. This may seem heavy to some but it’s needed for aggressive riding.
Cleat comparison. There are a few subtle differences between the SM-SH51 cleat and the Wolf Tooth. The chamfer at the nose is most obvious.
