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Wolftooth GC42 – Five Month Check-Up

Way back in June (2014), I shared the installation of a Wolftooth GC42 on our Surly Krampus (Silver). It’s five months down the trail and I wanted to share how the Wolftooth conversion worked out over the long(er) haul. The GC42 has been absolutely trouble free over the course of the last five months of riding. The extended gear range allowed me to engage Silver as my primary mountain bike this summer. Having the 42 tooth (bail-out) gear for the short steep climbs that are common where I ride, made the 1 x 10 drivetrain work much better (for me) than the 34 tooth that I had been running prior to the conversion. In addition to the extended gear range, the GC42 had absolutely no negative affect on the shifting performance of the drivetrain during testing. All of the spec’s from our initial conversion are listed here.

wolftooth components gc42 collage

Soon after we started testing our GC42, Wolftooth started making a 16 tooth cog to replace the 15 tooth cog to make the gear ratios more even across the middle range of the 10 speed cassette. The only time that I notice the 15 tooth gear jump is when I’m riding gravel or pavement. The 16 tooth upgrade helps to make the gap between those gears feel more evenly spaced in their pedaling resistance. When I rode the Krampus in Singletrack, it was never that noticeable, but when grinding along a gravel path, there seemed to be a spot right above the 15 that I could notice a larger than normal gap in the gearing. So if you’re going to convert your ten speed cluster over, I would recommend that you instal the GC42 and the 16 tooth cog together.

The bottom line is that the GC42 worked exactly as advertised! I would recommend this product to my friends that are looking to make the switch to a ‘one by’ drive train. The GC42 just plain works!

For more information about Wolftooth Components visit – www.wolftoothcycling.com

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2 Responses to Wolftooth GC42 – Five Month Check-Up

  1. Mike November 12, 2014 at 9:28 pm #

    Hey
    What chain is that?

    • Mike November 14, 2014 at 1:44 pm #

      That is a Wipperman Connex chain

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