A Little Bit More On That Stainless Steel Bike

It is a fine rig, that Warakin. A darn fine rig.

The Otso Cycles Warakin I have on test was the rig I rode on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational last weekend. The review, as it sits so far, for RidingGravel.com can be found here. I just wanted to share a couple things here about this stainless steel thing since it is a rare deal to see a frame made from this stuff.

Now having ridden this bike I have to say that it is actually pretty nice, maybe a bit stiffer than typical steel bikes, and maybe that is due to the fork. What would this bike ride like with a nice steel fork? That would be interesting. However, I probably will never know. It is a test rig and it goes back to Otso pretty soon.

The frame has ginormous clearances for bigger tires. The 45mm WTB Riddlers fit with clearance to spare. That's a good thing, and I am glad Otso figured that out. It does make for a big bend outward at the chain stay though, so if you ride "duck footed " you probably will find your heel striking the chain stay. Other than that, the bike was not an issue for me at all. Everything worked well. The 105 components actually worked better than my older Ultegra ones do.

The Warakin came with a 50T/34T crankset and I don't really prefer that. I rode my Tamland today with the 46T/36T set up and I seem to like that better as a big ring over a 50T. Personal preferences, to be sure, but I found I had to do a lot of "corrective rear shifting" whenever I dropped to the 34T on the Warakin. I do not typically have that with the Tamland's set up.

That all said, the stainless factor seemed to me to be about a slightly stiffer ride, a stiffer BB, and the look of titanium. Everyone said it looked so much like a Ti bike. It really does too. Now why don't they make a Ti bike? They said the stainless frame is a better price and has many of the same bennies as the Ti one would. Okay, fair enough.