The Wolf Tooth Components Precision Headsets feature their typical high-quality, high-performance and highly engineered CNC artisanship. The ultra trick headsets utilize the superb Enduro stainless steel cartridge bearings sealed with their top and bottom lip seals. They come in Zero Stack and External Cup versions with lightweight top covers in 5mm, 15mm, and 25mm heights to accommodate almost any head tube and cockpit combination cleanly and they come in a bright array of eight colors (Black, Silver, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, and Gold) to suit any riders taste. The headsets are CNC-machined and assembled by hand in their Minnesota facility from aerospace-grade aluminum and come with matching steerer-friendly 5mm top caps, lightweight aluminum preload screws, and a spring steel star nut.
The lowers retail for $54.95 and the uppers for $64.95, and you can mix and match the colors as desired. For additional information refer to wolftoothcomponents.com.
The Zero Stack (ZS) headsets are for frames with internal bearing cups that are pressed into the frame, and the uppers come in ZS44|28.6 with 5mm, 15mm, and 25mm stack height, while the lowers come in ZS56|40. The External Cup (EC) headsets are for frames with external bearing cups (bearing sits outside of the frame), and the uppers come in EC34|28.6 with 16mm, 25mm, and 35mm stack height, while the lowers come in EC34|30, EC44|40, and EC49|40.
Installation
My Ibis RipMo 29er required Zero Stack headsets, so I went with a ZS56/40 Lower and ZS44/28.6 Upper with a 15mm spacer. To match up the RipMo’s Tangerine Sky color scheme and add some bling to the bike I choose the luminous Orange.
Grease the lower and upper headset cups and install them using a Bearing Cup Press of your choice. Place the upper cup on the head tube, insert the end of the Bearing Cup Press with its top press plate into the tube, slide the lower cup up onto the tools ends and finish with the accompanying bottom press plate and lock into place. Now engage the tool and turn the handles until the lower and upper headset cups are flush with the head tube.
The crown race for the system is a bit oddly shaped, so I used their optional Crown Race Installation Adapter not to damage the unit. The adapter tool retails for $14.95 and comes in the three common crown race sizes (30mm fits 1 1/8″, 33mm fits 1 1/4″, 40mm fits 1 1/2″) and allows for installation of the crown race without damaging seals and it’s compatible with the Park Tool CRS-15.2 crown race setting tube. Just slide the aluminum billet adapter onto the end of the setting tool, and its internal o-ring keeps it securely in place during use. Once I had the adapter on the tool I pounded the greased crown race onto my MRP Ribbon Coil fork without any issues.
To finish the install, I slid the bottom bearing onto the crown race on the fork and pushed its steerer up into the bike’s headtube until the bearing seated in the lower cup. Next, I slid the top bearing over the forks steerer and pushed it into the upper cup followed by the top cover assembly, stem and finally the top cap. Tighten the preload bolt to the proper torque and check for any play or looseness.
Note, I did not go into the details of getting the stack height set properly by utilizing spacers to work with the stem, forks steerer tube length, and the uppers 5mm top cap and 15mm top cover.
Bottom Line
Once I set the preload bolt to the proper torque, I did a couple of rides to check for looseness, but there wasn’t any, so no further adjustments were needed. From day one the bearings have been smooth as silk, and I never felt any play, sloppiness, binding, or stiffness during steering. After almost six months of heavy use in all sorts of conditions, including snow and heavy rain with lots of dirt, sand, mud and other debris being tossed and flung at the headset, it has remained in a like new state, showing a testament to their lip seal design. The headset has been pounded and pummeled at high speeds through rugged and gnarly trails with rock gardens, roots and jumps and it never belayed any sense of fatigue, and no looseness or wear and tear were encountered, and it’s been quiet without any squeak or rattle. I liked the 5mm top cap design as it made for easy installation and a great look.
The Wolf Tooth Components Precision Headset has been a superb product and after an intensive test period in a myriad of conditions including abusive trails and heavy water and dirt impregnation the steering has remained precise and smooth. It has never needed any additional adjustment from its initial installation and still acts like a brand new unit.
Specs
- Custom-molded upper lip seal provides additional protection for upper bearing.
- Custom-molded dual lip crown race seal to protect lower bearing in the harshest conditions.
- O-ring steerer tube seal to prevent water intrusion.
- Enduro sealed stainless steel bearings top and bottom.
- Headset top covers available in 5, 15, & 25 mm stack heights.
- Available colors: Black, Silver, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, and Gold.
- Top assemblies include signature Wolf Tooth 5mm stem cap, aluminum preload bolt, and star nut.
- Designed and manufactured in Minneapolis, MN USA
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