Wolf Tooth Releases SRAM 3-Bolt & Race Face Cinch T-Type Chainrings

Aug 21, 2023 at 10:15
by Dario DiGiulio  
photo

The folks at Wolf Tooth seem to keep pretty busy, with a steady stream of clever products pumping out of their Minnesota factory. The newest additions to their massive lineup are chainrings meant to work with the new standards established for the SRAM Transmission drivetrain. SRAM left their tried and true 3-bolt design behind with the launch of the T-type system, but there's nothing preventing those cranks from performing just as well as they did prior to the newest release. The same goes for Race Face's Cinch system, which was a popular aftermarket option for folks looking to replace the original cranks on their bike.

Catering to both the 3-bolt and Cinch crowds, Wolf Tooth has released T-type chainrings (which they refer to as the Drop-Stop B tooth profile) for both of those mounting standards. Both are available in round and oval shapes, and come in a variety of tooth counts.


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SRAM 3-Bolt

• Drop-Stop B tooth profile
• Round sizes: 30, 32, 34, 36
• Oval sizes: 30, 32, 34
• 0mm or 3mm offset
• Also compatible with eeWings cranks
• Weight: 65-81g
• Price: $76.95 USD
• wolftoothcomponents.com

photo

Race Face Cinch

• Drop-Stop B tooth profile
• Round sizes: 32, 34, 36
• Oval sizes: 32, 34
• 0mm or 3mm offset
• Fits all Race Face cranks
• Weight: 63-75g
• Price: $79.95 USD
• wolftoothcomponents.com


Given the wide variety of offset, tooth profile, and fitment standards available, Wolf Tooth made this handy guide to navigate the lineup. I love to see brands squashing and consolidating standards, as it ultimately makes cycling more accessible to a wider audience, preventing folks from getting priced or aged out as things evolve.

For those wondering how the chainrings work with the new Transmission groupsets, put briefly: very well. I've been running one of the Drop-Stop B 8-bolt chainrings on my Staff Ride Tallboy, and have noticed zero difference from the stock SRAM ring.



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73 Comments
  • 71 2
 Good Work Wolftooth. Doing the work that needs done.
  • 1 12
flag fantaman (Aug 21, 2023 at 12:11) (Below Threshold)
 There are more chainring brands hopping on the T-Type train for sram 3 bolt cranks etc.
  • 3 0
 @fantaman: nothing to hop on really, a few tiny changes a la wolf tooth and they are t type ready, I imagine all rings from everyone will be compatible in the near future
  • 3 1
 it was a cinchWink
  • 39 0
 Wolf Tooth people are good people who have a magic parts bucket at the races they attend and will fix the dropper lever you snapped off crashing free of charge.
  • 27 0
 Little known fact was that Wolftooth canceled their work on a Shimano fitment for T-Type chainrings for fear of creating micro-black holes that would consume the earth. hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com
  • 15 5
 This is awesome, but I wish they made some even smaller. I understand that you run out room with standard 4 bolt mounting, but it seems like there is nothing stopping you from going to a tiny ring on direct mount cranks other than your pride. I just went to a 28 on my enduro bike, and it is glorious.
  • 48 2
 I'm hoping to see negative numbers of chainring teeth so I can climb overhanging ledges without having to dismount.
  • 8 1
 Let's take the small chainring concept even further. I don't use the tallest gears (high speed/low cadence) on my enduro bike. I would be better served with a smaller and lighter cassette paired with a much smaller chainring.

Going to get a high pivot enduro bike next so I can run a ridiculously small chainring + small cassette and not alters the bike's suspension geometry as the main pivot is no longer at the chainring.
  • 12 0
 @haen: you mean like they did 10+ years ago but with less gears?
  • 6 2
 most full suspension bikes are designed around a certain tooth count (typically 32t). you start screwing with kinematics below that.
  • 12 0
 @adrennan: or you look for a bike with lower than average anti squat values and put the 28t on and nd end up w a bike that has your desired anti squat kinematics. Other kinematics like AR and LR aren't affected by chainring size.

Also, come on. We used to have bikes built around a 24t and a 36t chainring and somehow the suspension still worked well enough, so I'm not gonna sweat going from 32 to 28.
  • 3 5
 @justanotherusername: Wasn't biking 10 years ago but I don't need 500% range on my cassette. Considering how much bikers bitch about weight, this seems like a pretty glaring oversight.
  • 2 2
 I love my 28t on my Sram 11speed whose cassette max out with a 42t cog. But on Eagle do you really need that low? Or are there cassettes with shorter ratios available?
  • 4 2
 @haen: Slight issue being that the chain tension is increased proportionally to the reduction in size, causing faster wear and more breakages
  • 1 0
 @haen: you'd be better off keeping the chainring you have and getting rid of the small cogs. I think e13 make a cassette that starts with a 14t now.
  • 1 0
 @atestisthis: Will look into the e13. Thanks

@Tristanssid: Good to know! Everything is a tradeoff.
  • 2 0
 @opignonlibre: i use the entire eagle cassette with the granny 52t on a 28t.


www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/55439145


www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/55339479

I’m coming from sea level and riding past 10kft 3k meters sea level on steep trails with flat gravel roads at the beginning or end.
  • 2 0
 @freestyIAM: Absolutely right. Popular bikes in the last few years have anti-squat values of ~100-140% and people don't seem too worried about that range, yet some folks get worried about altering the anti-squat by a few percent.

Many designers just pick a bike they like or their top competitor and replicate many of the kinematic properties. It's not like the "designed" value is some perfect number or works together with all other kinematic, fit, and handling parameter in some sort of black magic synergy.

Feel free to experiment with the properties of your bike - after all, that's exactly what R&D teams do, and that's how we arrived at modern bikes being better than old bikes. Those janky contraptions of a quarter-century ago were "designed" to be exactly how they were, and the designers were wrong.

That said, maybe don't put a Wolf Tooth 24T chainring (yes, they make that) on a newer model Ghost Riot (anti-squat not much short of 200%), but go nuts on a older Whyte or Knolly (anti-squat under 80%), as just a couple examples.
  • 4 0
 From what I read they aren’t releasing T type specific rings just making all future rings compatible with T type by making a few tiny changes to their previous design and replacing it.
  • 3 0
 Correct, just a thinner tooth profile - but relevant to the new drivetrain standard.
  • 2 0
 I absolutely love Wolf Tooth products, but I definitely prefer OneUp's Switch system for chainrings. One chainring that works with all 10,11, and12 speed systems and just change the carrier to fit the crankset. The only thing OneUp is missing is a new 8-bolt carrier.
  • 1 0
 The OneUp Switch is product that makes sense and I wanted to love, but a constant creaking noise drowned out all enjoyment of it.
  • 2 0
 @excel: I am running the Switch system on 4 different cranksets; 1 Shimano, 1 SRAM, and 2 RaceFace. My first install on a RF crank initially creaked. I removed the carrier, cleaned all of the mating surfaces, and then applied anti-seize. Thousands of miles later and they are all dead silent.
  • 2 0
 Hey I've just setup the new sram gx t-type transmission on a raceface crank with a Shimano chainring and it worked like a dream first time out, not sure how the wear will be. I've just got a raceface cinch /sram steel ring to put on there so I'll give that a crack next with the flat top chain.
  • 2 1
 Will these be more wear resistant than the drop stop A? Reason I ask is because I found the A chainrings to become very noisy. Three chainrings, mine, my sons and my neighbors, all using the same sram eagle GX drivetrains started making loud creaking sounds within a few thousand miles.
  • 5 0
 A few thousand miles is a fair chunk of off road riding is it not?

Let’s say 2000 miles is ‘a few’ then that’s 100 rides of 20 miles long off road, are you blaming the ring for stretched chains etc?
  • 1 2
 @justanotherusername: I see the rider's sentiment, as Shimano road chainrings are known to last 10,000+ miles. I think the repeated chain slap MTB rings are subject to decrease their life, and the fact that they're smaller so have the same pedaling stress on fewer cogs comparatively, but you should still get 3-4,000 miles out of a chainring in my experience.
  • 4 0
 I have to run steel rings. I can wear an aluminum ring out once a season easily, one time i needed a new ring i put on spring, for the Dakota 50 in sept as it was worn.
  • 2 0
 @eight-n-burly: thought about the huge difference in conditions?

I don’t ride through gritty dirt, mud and leaves on my road bike (you might not either though if you live somewhere that’s mostly dry but still very different) then as you say drop 10t and change from smooth pedalling to interrupted sprints etc.
  • 2 0
 I switched to steel rings a while ago.
  • 1 0
 @eight-n-burly: number of teeth, material used and overall cleanliness make much more of an impact on chainring life than chain slap...which only wears down your chainstay
  • 1 0
 @justanotherusername: Conditions definitely make a massive difference. Sand and loam hurt a chain a lot more than dust and dry dirt, in my experience.

Going from a 52t road chainring to a 32t mountain ring means the chainring could be wearing ~75% faster on an MTB system due to the reduction in size, not accounting for any differences in pedaling style or dirt/debris. I'd be interested to see some studies on it, but at the end of the day, once I notice my chain starts to fall off over bumps and impacts is when I look for a replacement.

@therealmancub: I guess I was moreso referencing the fact that when your chain 'slaps' against the chain stay, it's also slapping back into place on your chainring. It looks like it impacts 5-10 teeth. If you watch these slowmo replays just pay attention to the chain slapping back onto the ring, it's not a huge force, but it's gotta cause some wear down the line. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1XYCVJt3VE&t=74s
  • 1 0
 So can wolftooth also release cranksets in multiple lengths (like 5 dev and appleman) but that are compatible with all the standard spindle types?

The main manufacturers aren't making things in different crank lengths. This is the next obvious vaccine to fill.
  • 1 0
 Agreed, as a 6'9" rider, I need more 180mm crank options.
  • 1 0
 Gotta love Wolftooth. I'm hoping they start making multiple ODs of bashspiders so us riders with no ISCG tabs can have a bash ring that doesn't look like it's from the 1990s. (Missing my old 4-bolt race face chainring & 30T sized bash ring)
  • 3 1
 Does anyone make steel thick-thin chainrings other than Burgtec? Theirs are great, but only available in 104bcd.

Sorry a little off topic
  • 6 0
 Raceface
  • 2 0
 Buy a 104 ebike steel ring, outside of Ebikes not many need a steel ring when you can buy a direct mount for £40.
  • 7 0
 Wolf Tooth makes stainless steel 104BCD rings, and ones that fit their CAMO spider system.
  • 7 0
 SRAM NX/SX chainrings are steel. They are cheap new and almost free as take offs from new bikes.
  • 1 11
flag Slope-Style (Aug 21, 2023 at 11:44) (Below Threshold)
 all steel does is wear out your chain faster
  • 2 0
 @dariodigiulio: I sent WT an email recently regarding stainless steels rings. They informed me they were discontinuing them due to material cost. So get'em while you can!
  • 2 1
 @Slope-Style: you can get a SRAM steel chainring and 2 chains for the price of one alloy SRAM chainring if you buy at the right times!
  • 2 1
 @Slope-Style: 4 years with cheap steel chainrings, NX chains and X01 cassette and its running mint!
  • 1 0
 @Healelw1: What he said! My Steel 34t is knocking on 7000km and still takes a fresh chain with no noise or fuss - smooth as silk (getting ~1500km per chain, bit more in summer / less in winter - replace at ~0.9 on the wear indicator)
  • 1 0
 @krka73: for ebikes steel chainrings are a must have.
  • 1 0
 @zoobab2: I run steel rings on my meat powered bikes.
  • 1 1
 @Slope-Style: Pinkbike nonsense comment of the year!
  • 4 0
 This is the articles I care the most about personally.
  • 4 0
 Thanks - there was exactly nothing wrong with my old cranks!
  • 1 0
 good thing by wolftooth, but aren‘t transmission wider alla super boost? so if you don‘t own an old set of super boost cranks you still need new cranks for transmission/t-type, did i get that right?
  • 1 0
 Not many bikes are superboost and there are different offset rings to solve this one
  • 1 0
 A zero offset chainring on an older crank will give the same chainline as the new Transmission cranks.
  • 2 0
 Good question! We have two chainring offsets available to get you to the 55mm chainline for Transmission. If your existing 3-bolt cranks are Boost, you'll need one of our 0mm offset chainrings. If your existing 3-bolt cranks are Super Boost, our 3mm offset chainrings will do the trick to match the 55mm chainline. There's a link toward the end of the post that'll take you to our guide to walk you through all of this stuff.
  • 2 0
 Good stuff. It's likely a few grams lighter than the new offerings from Sram too.
  • 1 0
 OK so next question: Can we use a standard 12 speed chain on the new transmission stuff?
  • 3 1
 no
  • 1 2
 @likeittacky: why? And don't just regurgitate what Sram says.
  • 5 5
 @IamZOSO:Regurgitate??? URSOZO pretentious! with that attitude figure it out..your on your own, Putz!Wink
  • 1 0
 You can on the new chainrings, it’s completely backwards compatible
  • 1 0
 @likeittacky: Ha! Good response.
  • 2 0
 Wolf Tooth are a good company making good stuff, that's good.
  • 1 0
 WTH Wolf Tooth?!? 30T minimum? Not small enough for me. Here's hoping they come out with a 26T oval soon.
  • 1 0
 Unfortunately no 30T available for Race Face Cinch Frown
Wolftooth, can you please make that happen?
  • 1 0
 Wolf Tooth is the Q Division for bike components.
  • 2 0
 Where are they hiding the machine guns?
  • 1 0
 @boozed: three, poison-tipped darts. three explosive-tipped darts.
  • 1 0
 I've heard that NSB will also be dropping into this space soon too
  • 1 1
 You can get 7075 chainrings for 10EUR shipped on Aliexpress vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005004076475280.html
  • 1 2
 EeWings are the only reason for this.... all those other cranks aren't worth the upgrade Frown
  • 1 0
 maybe not upgrade but for a replacement it's good
  • 1 2
 how f*cking much?







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