If you’re machining anti-drop chainrings in house, it only makes sense that you would make your own 42t cassette adapter as well. At least, that seems to be the case for Wolf Tooth Components. To go along with their precision machined, made-in-the-US chainrings, chainring bolts, and bash rings, Wolf Tooth has been working on a cassette adapter of their own to expand the gearing options of your 1x system.
Look to Wolf Tooth to give your cassette more teeth after the jump.
The cassette adapter will be called the GC – after all, it is a Giant Cog. Unlike the OneUp adapter, the GC will not use additional spacers, due to the fact that it will be Shimano or SRAM specific. To gain the needed space on the freehub body, the 17t cog will be jettisoned much like the rest. Initially, GCs will be available in 42t only, though Wolf Tooth states that if demand for the 40t is high enough, they may follow up with a second model. Their reasoning for the 42t is that as far as a bail out gear is concerned, bigger is better, and while it is the absolute upper limit with current derailleurs, it does work. They feel strongly about the maximum range being the key benefit to a cassette adapter, and mention that the jump between the 36t and the 42t isn’t as big as you might expect.
The prototype design is machined with both shift ramps, and special tooth profiles to ensure perfect shifting up to the big ring. WTC is planning on offering the GC in at least two colors, though what colors hasn’t been decided yet – input is welcome on the color, what do you want to see? Pricing is expected to be around $90 for each GC which will be made in their Minneapolis facility next to all of their other products.
Mike is gunning for a shipping date in early February, and are holding off on taking orders until the cogs are actually ready. WTC says they had hoped to keep quiet about the GCs development until they were closer to shipping, but the recent launches by both OneUp and Absolute Black prompted them to show their hand – though they did have images up on their facebook page a week ago.
Like the other cassette adapters, the GC will be compatible with the following cassettes:
Shimano
- XT (CS-M771-10 11-36)
- XTR (M980 11-36)
Sram
- X5 (PG-1030 11-36)
- X7 (PG-1050 11-36)
- X9 (PG-1070 11-36)
