The field of all-road and gravel bikes may seem crowded, but Otso Cycles always seems to add something new to the conversation with their bikes. In this review, Hailey Moore writes about what sets the Otso Warakin Steel apart among its off-road peers.

If you’re a fan of Otso Cycles, Wolf Tooth Components’ Minnesota-based sister bike brand, then you know that all Otso bikes are just a little different. And – in defiance of my southern roots that would have me use “different” as polite euphemism – I mean that in a good way. Otso feels like a brand built by tinkerers and dedicated cycling lifers; their design details appeal to folks who inevitably won’t leave the stock bits in place. When I reviewed the Fenrir Ti, I spent 3,300 words trying to shoehorn it into a specific category; the Voytek is still one of the most compelling fat bike models on the market; and, Otso’s (perhaps) most straight-laced, race-forward carbon gravel bike, the Waheela C, was ahead of the curve when it debuted with clearance for 700 x 54mm (29” x 2.1”) tires and adjustable rear dropouts in 2018. So when I had the opportunity to review Otso’s Warakin Steel, I was curious to see what would set this bike apart.

Otso Warakin Steel: Quick Hits

• Frame: 4130 custom-butted steel tubing
• Frame weight: 5.53 lb / 2509 g (size 56 cm)
• Available in: 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, and 60 cm
• 2x compatible (except size 49 cm frames)
• Flat-mount
• Internal routing for dropper post (for 27.2)

• Clearance (stick with me, this gets complicated)

               Otso’s Stated Clearance:

• • Sizes 52-60 cm (Rear Frame Clearance): 700c & 650b x 40 mm in 420-millimeter chainstay position; 700c & 650b x 50 mm at 430/440-millimeter chainstay position
  • Size 49 cm (Rear Frame Clearance): Otso does not recommend 700c for 49 cm frames; chainstays are shortened by 10 mm for all Tuning Chip positions such that the stated clearances are: 650b x 40 mm at 410 mm chainstay position; 650b x 50 mm at 420/430 mm chainstay positions.
  • Front Clearance (Lithic Carbon Fork): Max clearance 29″ x 2.1″
  • *Otso gives conservative clearances that include a ~6-millimeter margin between the tire and chainstay or seatstay (whichever is closest). 

               Clearance as measured by me:

• • Fork: 700c x 58 mm, 650b x 66 mm (2.6”); Frame (54 cm): 700c x 57 mm, 650b x 60 mm (2.35”)
• Mounts: Three bottle frame mounts, fender, rack, cable clamps, two three-pack mounts on fork
• Price (Frameset): $1400
• Made in Taiwan

Released in July of this year, the Otso Warakin Steel is a follow-up to the titanium and stainless steel versions of the Warakin Gravel bike. The addition of a steel version brings a more budget-conscious member to the Warakin family, and at $1400.00 for the frameset the Warakin Steel (specced with Lithic carbon fork) comes in at less than half the price of the Warakin Ti frameset (currently priced at $3050.00), and still substantially less than the Stainless Steel frameset (currently priced at $2050.00). Plus, the new Steel Warakin is the only version with a color finish and comes in Navy Gold (as seen on this review bike), Tangerine, or Racing Green.

A Semantic Digression Re: All-Road

Believe it or not, at the outset of a bike review, my goal is not to sound like an insufferable John Cusack in High Fidelity on the topic of bike categorization. However, establishing a standardized use of some terms and categories can be helpful in creating a shared orientation between reviewer and reader. In short, I’d like to ensure that we are quite literally speaking the same language at the jump.

There are a few instances online where Otso has categorized the Warakin as an “all-road” bike, and I think it is worth mentioning that I disagree with this labeling. At the risk of nitpicking, I’ve generally come to connote the all-road category as a somewhat hairsplitting bridge between Road and Gravel bikes, a frame with, say, max clearance for 700c x 40 mm tires, and geometry that still biases on-pavement performance. Gravel-lite. From my observations, this understanding seems to be reflected in the wider cycling industry’s use of the term, too.

Petor Georgallou cheekily summed up my feelings about the all-road category in his recap from the GiRodeo 2023, “I started to understand the term ‘all road’ differently; like a bike that should be ridden ‘all on road’ and never not on all roads.” For riders like myself with a wide-tire bias, this summation seems apt. So, although the literal meaning of the all-road label is applicable to where one might reasonably take the Warakin, I have to push back at the broader categorization attempt. And, I’d add, delightfully so. With stated clearance for 700c x 50 mm tires, Otso’s signature Tuning Chip providing chainstay adjustability, and short-travel corrected geometry, I’d say that the Warakin Steel is much more capable than what a capitalized All-Road designation would imply.

Of note: The “nominal” HTA and STA are measured with the Tuning Chip in the center position. Therefore, the actual HTA when the TC is in the longest position is 70.75° and it is 71.25° when the TC is in the shortest position. I refer to the HTA throughout by rounding to 71°.

Geometrically Speaking

The Warakin has room for healthy tire clearance, average stack and reach, yet — when it comes to those important protractor measurements — strays slightly from its gravel peers. The two numbers that jumped out to me most on the geo chart were the bike’s lower-than-average bottom-bracket drop and slightly steeper seat-tube angle (74° for size 54 cm). I’ve come to love the spirited feeling of the low BB on my Sklar Bikes SuperSomething, but have yet to see many brands nudge the seat tube that steep for a gravel bike. On paper, my interest was piqued.

Like all bikes with adjustable rear dropouts, the Warakin has a few subtle shape-shifting characteristics depending on the position of the Tuning Chip. The Tuning Chip is Otso’s patented dropout technology that provides up to 20 millimeters of wheelbase variability. For the Warakin, that shift takes my size 54 review bike’s wheelbase from 1043 mm to 1023 mm and the chainstays from 440 mm down to 420 (for all sizes 52 to 60 cm, see Quick Hits notes for 49 cm chainstay lengths and clearances). This inevitably results in some minor changes in the bike’s geo, as seen in a +/- .5° shift in the head angle, and a +/- 4 mm change in the BB drop. See below:

• Chainstays at 440 mm (Tuning Chip back): 70.75° HTA, 72 mm BB drop
• Chainstays at 420 mm (Tuning Chip forward): 71.25° HTA, 68 mm BB drop

That amount of change in the rear triangle has implications for the bike’s handling – longer equals more stable – and the maxed-out chainstay position takes the Warakin’s clearance beyond the realm of more traditional all-road frames. While I appreciate the versatility and clearance benefits that adjustable dropouts like the Tuning Chip provide, I do think it’s important to call out that this is not a “switch” that you’re just going to flip as the mood strikes between rides. Changing the position of the Tuning Chip requires shortening or lengthening the chain and fine-tuning the derailleur to the new position. Resultantly, I spent most of my time riding the Warakin with the Tuning Chip in the longest position. Singlespeeders take note: Otso also sells a Tuning Chip Dropout Single Speed Conversion Kit for $94.95.

Another point of interest in the frame design is the Warakin’s modest suspension-corrected geometry, a change that was introduced to both the Warakin and the Waheela C in 2021. Both models are now designed with shorter head tubes than the originals (the Warakin’s was cut by 20 millimeters from the former design) and the framesets come specced with Lithic Components 420 axle-to-crown carbon fork. Though I only rode the Warakin rigid, Otso encourages riders to run it with max 40-millimeter, short-travel gravel forks, like the RockShox Rudy or the Fox 32 Taper-Cast (or, the Invert, the latest from Cane Creek.)

Despite these more progressive features, the Warakin retains a pretty classy silhouette. The top tube, though certainly still sloping, at least gives a nod to the idea of a level randonneuring frame, thereby also prioritizing main triangle capacity for large bottles or touring accouterments. The word balance gets thrown around a lot in reviews, but I did find the overall geometry of the Warakin to be just that: balanced.

Ride Impressions

The best and worst part of being a bike reviewer is getting to ride lots of different bikes. I’m consistently fascinated by the way that a few subtle changes across a frame – a degree here, a few millimeters there – can have such a cumulative effect on the riding experience.

But, the totality of those details can be really hard to talk about. That’s why words like versatile and capable and balanced get so overplayed. And yet, I found the Warakin to provide such a well-rounded experience that these descriptors have a renewed aptness. However, while I was largely impressed with its all-arounder qualities, I still have a few critiques to share.

I noticed the plushness of the Warakin’s chromoly construction on the first ride. I wish there was a way to bottle and re-experience those irretrievable first-ride impressions in unaltered exactness, as an inaugural pedal on any bike is often the most revealing. On that ride, and the subsequent 500+ miles I’ve logged on this chassis, I noted that the Warakin feels buttery on dirt, forgiving over washboard, though stops short of being noodle-y. In my experience, it maintains speed over gently-rolling-to-undulating terrain. Put another way, outside of pure climbing, the frame’s steel construction carries speed because of its smooth nature.

When it comes to pure climbing, depending on your expectations for the Warakin, you might call the steel construction a penalty, or you might call it a tradeoff. Using steel tends to make a frame heavier than other materials – this is a well-known fact. But, in my experience, just like a carbon layup doesn’t automatically make a bike faster, using steel tubing doesn’t have to make a bike a laggard when the pitch kicks up.

For example, while touring through the Dolomites, I found True Love Cycles’ Heart Breaker impressively efficient on the long mountain passes. To me, the Heart Breaker exemplifies how two factors necessary to achieve a responsive pedaling platform – frame weight and stiffness – can be expressed really well in a steel bike. The Heart Breaker’s oversized, yet thinner-walled, downtube made it feel like all of my power was being transferred into the pedals when mashing up a climb.

Additionally, after digging back into my notes, I was surprised to find that my Heart Breaker frame is a pound lighter than the Warakin, even though the former is a much bigger bike that I’d categorize as almost a hardtail. I’d chalk that difference up to True Love being a boutique brand that offers custom-specced tubing – in my case, tailored to my body size rather than a tubeset that wants to insure a range of rider weights – but also to the additional weight inherent in the Warakin’s adjustable rear dropout. So, although I found nothing lacking in the stiffness of the Warakin tubeset — it doesn’t feel like it’s sighing or anything with each turn of the pedals on the steeps —  the weight of that extra material from the Tuning Chip, and (I’d suspect) tubing profile has to get accounted for somewhere. Interestingly, both bikes share a 74° STA, which puts the rider in an aggressive position over the BB.

Though pure, sustained climbing performance is a metric that’s important to me – living in Colorado, with access to long high-altitude climbs – it doesn’t explain the whole story of a bike. And, especially for a bike as versatilely minded as the Warakin, it shouldn’t. There were many moments I had aboard the Warakin – on rollercoaster dirt, or moderate singletrack – where I tried to parse exactly what it was that made the bike so much fun to ride.

I found myself wanting to test the limits of a turn, just to see how tightly I could take it, or take the social-track cut-through in my neighborhood, just because it’s there. The Warakin is stable without feeling sluggish, balanced without feeling boring. The BB drop puts you down in the bike enough for it to feel playful while still being able to roll over some chunk; the head tube and more-forward seat tube stats combine to give a very “front row” feeling over the bars (in a good way), and the smooth frameset just makes everything more pleasant, like a cool breeze on a summer day.

For bike travel, I think the Warakin best serves as a light-duty touring bike. Though the stack seems in-line with its more race-focused peers, like the Santa Cruz Stigmata (also corrected for short-travel forks), I know that I’d want to be a little more upright in the cockpit for multi-day riding. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing a little higher stack on the Warakin for just daily driving, but that’s just me.

Another minor drawback to the Warakin as tourer is the lack of lowrider rack mounts on the specced Lithic fork. I did get out for some touring in New England during this review period, but I swapped the Lithic for a Rodeo Adventure Labs carbon Spork (one of the few carbon forks compatible with lowriders) in order to run front panniers and carry a laptop (among other non-traditional-for-me touring items). By the way, that’s not a mod I would recommend as, with a 396-millimeter A-C, I really wanted a higher stack with the Spork up front. The more obvious workaround here is to run a rear rack (for which the Warakin has mounts), put your full-size panniers back there, and rock some of the trending minis up front on the Lithic’s three-pack mounts. I just don’t love the way that much extra weight rides in the rear. As a final aside about touring, the Warakin has relatively high trail, so – however you want to run your bags – I’d suggest biasing the weight lower for any up-front cargo.

In response to my question about the “all-road” categorization, Kurt Stafki (Marketing Director at Otso) told me that the brand had indeed received a few queries about the designation. As he said, “Warakin is a bike that was designed to ride on all roads – fresh tarmac, bumpy county roads, packed gravel, MMRs, or remote two-track. Calling it a gravel bike doesn’t capture the versatility of the bike. Perhaps it is time for the industry to update the definition of all-road?” It’s a fair point. I’ve never loved the annoyingly literal – and objectively unsexy – term “gravel” and, with its origins in mountain biking, ATB (i.e. “All Terrain Bicycle”) has its own baggage. While I’m doubtful that the gravel ship will change course, maybe it is time to liberate the all-road label back to its wider-ranging roots.

In Closing

I struggled to write this review (but, I’m hoping maybe you couldn’t tell). At so many points along the way, I just wanted to say: “It’s a really good bike, next question?” But to say summarily that the Otso Warakin Steel is a really good bike, or well-balanced, does not mean that there’s nothing specific that stands out. The suspension-corrected front end and dropper-post compatibility are attuned to the current state of gravel; Otso’s Tuning Chip is a well-engineered feature with versatile implications; and, the subtley steeper STA seems like prescient move in the drop-bar space. The Warakin’s geometry feels like the Goldilocks culmination of Otso’s collective decades of experience riding dirt and making bikes. The thing that sets the Warakin apart in a crowded field of gravel and all-road bikes might not be some striking standalone feature, but rather the accumulation of dialed-in details that deliver an impressive mixed-terrain experience. TL;DR: Would recommend.

Pros

• Price: Competitive price at $1400 among other comparable steel-frame-carbon-fork framesets
• Versatile geometry, thanks to Tuning Chip Adjustability
• Fender and rear rack mounts
• Fun!

Cons

• Stack could be a little higher (imo)
• Back end feels on the heavier side
• No low-rider rack mounts on Lithic fork

See more at Otso Cycles.