Wolf Tooth Standard and Light Action Remote

Often referred to as a dropper lever, Wolf Tooth market’s theirs as the ReMote. The Wolf Tooth ReMote has been on the market for several years now and quickly became a fan favorite.

My wife and I have been running Wolf Tooth ReMotes and OneUp droppers on our trail bikes for over a year. She has the Light Action remote (in the Limited Edition Blue color) actuating a OneUp v2 120mm dropper, and my bike has the standard remote (orange) actuating a OneUp v2 175mm dropper.

Wolf Tooth’s dropper lever is made entirely of metal and offered in standard or Light Action versions. The difference is that the Light Action’s thumb lever is roughly 11mm longer at 57.1mm, and reduces effort by 25% or more.

Regardless of the model you choose, I think the lever is great for many reasons.

First, the metal thumb lever surface has vertical grooves cut into it along the entire pad, which provide excellent tactility and feedback when pushing. There’s no slip and no question how far it’s being pressed.

Second, is actuation. Lever’s movement is buttery smooth every single time. I think this is due to the use of a massive 21mm sealed bearing. Hopefully, this translates into years of longevity.

Third, installation was super simple and I discovered a differentiating feature that Wolf Tooth calls a “cable kind” captive washer to hold the cable tight. This design distributes pressure over more of the cable surface to hold tighter with less bolt torque, so it doesn’t destroy the cable in the process.

All ReMotes can be ordered with a mounting solution for just about any bar or brake setup. The default configuration is a 22.2mm mount for mountain bike handlebars, but they also offer direct mount solutions for Shimano, SRAM, Magura and Hope brakes. This allows you to mount the dropper lever cleanly on the same clamp as your brakes. They even have a 31.8mm clamp available to mount it next to the stem.

The ReMotes on our personal bikes utilize the 22.2mm clamp mount only because that’s what our local bike shop had in inventory. If I were to do it again, I’d buy the SRAM Matchmaker mount for my wife’s bike to attach cleanly to the SRAM Guide R brake. I’d do the same with mine, purchasing the IS-EV mount to connect directly to my Shimano SLX brake lever.

Come to think about it, I’ll just buy their mount conversion kit.

Pro-tip: At the time of this writing, Wolf Tooth offers free shipping on orders $50 of more. But wouldn’t you know it, both mount conversion kits add up to $49.90 and shipping is a whopping $20. Save yourself the shipping costs by requesting your local bike shop add a few in their next bulk order.

Both Standard and Light Action versions use the same “break-away” design. The remote is designed to break in the event of a crash. And instead of purchasing an entirely new lever, you can purchase readily-available and easily replaceable components for a fraction of the price.

I suspect the most likely part to break would be the barrel adjuster, which is listed for $4.95. Just for fun, I added all the replacement parts to my cart to build a ReMote from scratch and it came out to $85.

If you’re not sure which version to get, Wolf Tooth has a chart of the most popular dropper posts on the market and their recommendation for each.

Interestingly enough, Wolf Tooth recommends the Light Action version for use with the OneUp dropper. And I think I’d agree. While the Standard model works perfectly fine and is smooth every time on my bike with the OneUp V2 175mm dropper, the effort required from the Light Action model on my wife’s bike is considerably less while retaining that silky smooth motion.

Truth be told, if I could find a Light Action model in their now discontinued Limited Edition purple with a Shimano IS-EV mount, I may just do it.

Things We Don’t Like

There’s so much good in Wolf Tooth’s ReMote that there are just a few things to mention when considering this product.

First, reminder that the lever is metal and have vertical grooves machined into the pad. This provides excellent feedback but also means that friction can do a number on your thumbs if your hands get soggy or after repeated use. If you wear gloves, it’s not likely to be an issue. But if you don’t, it may become noticeably uncomfortable on longer rides.

Second, and this is just hearsay. I’ve heard the mounting hardware can back out. There have been reports of this across the internet, but I suspect it was either a case of incorrect bolt torqueing. Worst case, apply a dab of locktite and call it a day.

Verdict: Buy

Get yours at one of the links below (in order: 22.2mm clamp, SRAM Matchmaker, Shimano IS-EV) to show appreciation for this article. It helps me keep producing more content like what you’ve just read.