Wolf Tooth Components Shift Gravity Clipless Pedals

Expanding on its pedal lineup in more ways than one are Wolf Tooth Components’ Shift clipless pedals. Donning the usual level of quality that’s expected of the brand, these SPD-style pedals bring good looks, tons of support, and a very useful level of adjustment. But as much as I love that extra adjustability, there are better value options around, albeit without such neat tricks.

Wolf Tooth Components Shift Gravity clipless pedals – Technical details

Wolf Tooth’s keyboard-named pedal lineup has been around for a little while now, and it’s received plenty of praise. In fact, I’m still quite the fan of the interestingly shaped CTRL. Though upon the unveiling of that initial range, there was space for a gravity-focused pedal with a larger platform. Enter stage left, the Shift.

The Shift is built around the wider-platformed CTRL’s shape, but there’s a cage around it. That cage, or platform, is home to four adjustable stainless steel pins per side, and if those are too short for you, the pins used for the Waveform flat pedals will fit, I’m told. But using the trail-going pedal as inspiration means that the Shift benefits from many of the ideas that Wolf Tooth had proposed with its smaller-platformed lineup.

It features a low stack, so it’s thin in profile (measuring 15mm), which the brand says lowers the centre of gravity, and one key aim with the pedal is to provide an increased contact patch between it and a shoe. As such, there’s a large central portion that the shoe sits directly on, while raised areas of the outer cage also contact the shoe.

Sat in the middle of that platform is the tried-and-tested SPD mechanism built from stainless steel, which will work with any SPD cleat, and there’s a pair of Wolf Tooth branded ones in the box. That mechanism then offers five degrees of float with a 12-degree release.

The CNC-machined 6061-T6 aluminium body rotates around a heat-treated 17-4 PH stainless steel axle. This is where the pedal gets rather interesting, as with the three cartridge bearings per pedal, an igus bushing, and a radial seal, there are a bunch of spacers. These spacers allow for axle length adjustment – Wolf Tooth states that this is a q-factor adjustment, but that’s up for debate if you’re the pedantic type.

Within that surprisingly simple axle length adjustment system is the ability to choose from 51, 55, and 59mm lengths, and if you put out the cash for an additional spacer kit, you’ve then got 53 and 57mm options to choose from.

As for the weight, Wolf Tooth has managed to create a relatively light pair of pedals here that’s claimed to weigh 410g. I weighed them to be 414g, with pins installed, which is by no means shabby.

Wolf Tooth Components Shift Gravity clipless pedals – Performance

As I mentioned before, I was quite the fan of the CTRL pedals, but the lack of fore and aft support definitely left me wanting for something with more of a platform. So, it goes without saying, I was very pleased to see the Shift slide across my desk.

The build quality here is exactly what you would expect from Wolf Tooth. It’s among the best you’ll find. It’s clearly CNC-machined with a few grooves left after it’s been cut, but the pedal’s really solid. Even after many months of riding, everything’s still performing as it should, aside from the odd battle scar, which you would expect from something that’s often so close to the ground. With this, the brand has managed an excellent balance of weight and durability.

Clipping into the pedal is almost as breezy as it gets. I say almost because Renthal holds the trophy in that respect, but I’ve never found an issue with the Shift.

Once clipped in, the shoe is welcomed to a large platform that rustles up heaps of support. Wolf Tooth has really got the sizing and the overall platform shape absolutely right here. You get that immediate contact with the base of the pedal (where the mechanism sits), but there’s just enough space between the shoe and the fore and aft edges to allow for a bit of float, while still rustling up plenty of support when properly weighted.

I’ve used these pedals with the included pins and at first, I thought they were very short. The traction they offer when clipped in is noticeable, but minimal. It’s definitely a more free-floating pedal even with these pins, but when unclipped on the odd occasion, they still provide a useful amount of traction to retain some confidence while rattling down trails.

This is an SPD pedal, too, and if you’re used to riding with such binding, you’ll be right at home here. It provides that positive click when clipping in, and clipping out is just as straightforward.

To wrap up, the adjustable axle length is a very neat touch, and something you won’t find on many pedals outside of Wolf Tooth’s range. The pedals come as standard with a 55mm length, but after a very quick disassembly and reorienting the spacers and bearings, I’ve been running them in their widest setting, very comfortably.

These pedals also benefit from Wolf Tooth’s Right to Repair, so they’re user-serviceable, and after opening the pedals up, I can report that it’s super simple. But importantly, that means that there’s a full suite of replacement parts available.

Wolf Tooth Components Shift Gravity clipless pedals – Verdict

Clearly, I’m a big fan of what the Shift pedals can offer here, but there’s one main drawback: the price. At £205 a pair, it’s an investment, for sure. And while these bring plenty of benefits, the main one is the adjustable axle length, because not many other pedals offer such a feature.

A great example that I’ve been riding alongside the Shift is Shimano’s PD-M9220 XTR Enduro clipless pedals. Even at £179.99, they’re not cheap, but they pose a significant enough saving for a good quality pedal. They are prone to clogging, however, and do not have adjustable axles. Plus, I’m not so sure that replacement components are as easy to source. Despite donning the XTR moniker, which suggests lightweight, the saving here compromises weight, as these weigh 466g.

Though the biggest contender that the Shift faces is the OneUp Clipless Pedals. A pair of these will set you back £142.99. They’re not as beautifully CNCed, but they boast a sizable platform and an impressive weight. Like the Shimano pedals, there’s not quite as comprehensive a selection of replacement parts, either. These weigh 416g, so they’re comparable to the Shift.

As the Wolf Tooth Components Shift Gravity clipless pedals provide tonnes of support, easy entry, good float and impressive durability, they’re a seriously solid entry into the clipless pedal market. There’s very, very little not to like here, but there are pedals around that are nearly as good available for less money. Granted, that adjustable axle is the key trick up their sleeves.