Maine Bike Works - Otso Cycles

MBW is proud to sell bikes from

Otso Cycles

we dig Wolf Tooth's componants and we dig their bikes even more

thought you'd never be able to find a real adventure bike in titanium or stainless steel?

if you have big touring and bikepacking plans and would like like some performance in your next n+1 then check out Otso Cycles. we tell folks that Otso brings you the custom bike experience without the custom bike price tag. while their bikes are all of a certain price-tag they give you more options than any other stock bike maker does and what they don't offer in one of their stock build packages, we here at MBW will customize for you. too many options to describe so best to email in if you see a frame model you like. just choose the frame material you want to use as your base and tells us about your upcoming adventure and we'll steer you towards the build which fits your upcoming needs (and budget!) the best.

based out of Burnsville, Minnesota just a little south of Minneapolis, Otso is has an interesting origin story. while most bike company eventually end up dabbling in the componant business by making their own branded stems, seatposts, saddles etc, Otso was the result of the component company Wolf Tooth wanting to make frames worthy of hanging their parts on.

living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes means that the good folks at Otso bake adventure into the DNA of all their frame. while lots of companies make bikes that can be toured and bikepacked on, Otso takes a slightly different tact by marrying high end frame materials and modern frame geometries to ensure their adventure gravel, mixed touring and fatbike rigs can not only haul the kitchen sink on your adventures, but also allow those inclined to haul ass while doing so.

Otso Cycles in Waterfall Display at Maine Bike Works
the enginerds at Otso make everything from race-ready carbon gravel and fatbikes to their live-aboard adventure rigs. we'll outline a few below. the two models which are the most popular in our adventure focused shop are the bikepacking and monster gravel capable Fenrir frame and the gravel and mixed surface touring focused Warakin frame. both frames are available in either titanium or stainless steel depending on the needs / budget of the new owner. there's lots of options about how they are built up as well and we'd be happy to use one of their frames as the basis of one of our MBW Kustom Frame-Up Builds where you can choose every nut and bolt we hang on your bike drawn from all parts makers on the planet OR if you'd like the best bang for the buck, we'd suggest choosing one of Otso's stock build kits and let us order the frame and all the parts from Otso for you to save you a lot of money over doing a completely custom frame-up build. so it's you're choice of full custom frame build or semi-custom frame build with a stock price tag. win/win no matter which you choose.

check out Otso Cycles website and let us know what strikes your fancy. it's worth noting that while Otso could also build you up a killer complete bike from a frame and send it to you in a box, we like to think we can bring a little sumpin' sumpin' to the process that will make you want to tap into our own knowledge of how folks ride and gear up their adventure bikes here in New England. if we build it for you, we'll rock you a terrain and adventure specific Otso and be the place in the know to keep it maintained over the years. alternatively, if you prefer to get greasy, we can also sell you a bare frame you can build up at home. lots of options and we'd dig walking you through all of them.

so, read on about a couple of the Otsos we've built for our fellow bike adventures and let the dreams begin!

Otso model #1: the Fenrir

available with titanium and stainless steel frames and with geometry to run either a drop bar or a non-traditional alt-bar, these frames are designed for going anywhere while carrying everything. while designed to feel sporty even when carrying the kitchen sink, what's surprising however is just how nice they ride without a load. its fairly rare to find a bike that rides nice when carrying 50 lbs of gear, but is also enjoyable when unencumbered which means Fenrirs have the real possibility of being folk's mythical swiss-army-knife-bike that we often aspire to build, but seldom pan out in reality. Put some fat Rene Herse tires on the bike and you can totally do long road and gravel rides on them or max out that tire capacity (2.6" on 29" rims! and a smidge more for 27.5er, 2.8"!) and point the bike towards whatever trail you fancy. we can advise you of which rim / tire combo and tire widths would be best suited for your needs, but if you're like most Fenrir owners you'll quickly start thinking about having a couple pair or tires around the house to suite whatever days riding plans you have in store when the alarm goes off. bikepacking. gravel grinding. commuting. we've built them up for loads of different adventures.

here's a few of the different ways we've built up Fenrirs, each may have different bars, tires and drivetrains on them, but the heart of the bike remains the same.

the stainless steel Tour Divide ready drop bar Fenrir when you go to build up a frame like the Fenrir which was designed to be equally adept at running drop bars or flat / alt bars, you have the best of both worlds and we choose to build this Fenrir is full dropped with the new super wide ranging 1 x Shimano 12 GRX groupset to take advantage of being able to pair the best brifters in the biz with bikepack-able, low touring grears. 'skinny' 29x2.1" G-One tires make for a super fast ride on hard surfaces and can easily be swapped out for some super fat 2.6" knobby meat on the rides which require full-on mountainbike capabilities. so rock a build like this on the daily commute and when 5 o'lock comes, just add, some bags, bacon and a cast iron skillet and head out into the back country. of course, adding the full length fenders have made this rig more wet weather capable and I gotta say, the bike looks even more bad ass with em too. can you spot the super subtle espresso colored bling kit and the front and rear cameras?

he stainless steel Tour Divide ready drop bar Fenrir not everyone wants to rock drop bars on the bikepacking rigs and this customer agreed that he could get even more comfort out of his saddle times if he had him build up his new Fenrir with some alt-bars (in this case Jones Loop bars). A traditional rear rack (a Tumbleweed mini-pan which is anything but traditional in design) will carry most of the load and the fork and under downtube mounts carry three pack racks to complete the gear carrying capability with the lashing of a Voile strap or two. if a more traditional two rack system is needed in the future for four pannier adventures, then we'd suggest adding an Old Man Mountain rack to the fork to really maximize gear carrying capacity. blue accents were chosen to kick the build up a notch.

Otso model #2: the Warakin

given the chose between a titanium construction with its lighter weight and snappy feel or for a little less $ go with the also awesome to look at and ride stainless steel option you may have a tough time deciding how to build your new adventure rig up. Both Warakins designs share the same adventure capable carbon fork and build up to sporty, live-aboard capable gravel bikes. with an easy flip of the chips in the rear stays it's easy to convert your bike between a performance road roady wheelbase to a longer more mellow, easier handling ride when the mixed terrain gets rowdy. check out some of the links below to see different reviews of the titanium and stainless frames to help you decide between on the two.

in the meantime, here are a few of the different ways we've built up Warakins. Different drivetrains, wheelsets and finishing touches on each, but the hearts of the bikes (their frames) remain the same.

the big adventure ahead Ti beauty we built this lovely titanium rig up with 2x GRX drivetain for someone who has definitive high mileage adventures in their future who wanted a go fast, live-aboard rig that could also serve double duty as the daily road machine. with a custom Redshift cockpit (Redshift Kitchen Sink bars, Redshift suspension stem and Redshift top unders and low bottom grips) with carbon adventure wheels with dynamo front hub wired to a kLite USB charging and lighting system our customer can generate her own electricity to keep her navigation & entertainment systems (ie her phone) charged up on tour there won't me many situations where her Otso Warakin won't be up to the task. purple accents and a quick removing rear rack complete the build. big adventure ahead for sure!

go fast Ti adventure rocket we built this sexy titanium Warakin up with a super wide-ranging 1x 12 speed GRX drivetrain to ensure there will never be an adventure where easier gearing is more than a 5 min chainring swap away. we went with Easton direct mount cranks to ensure that future owners could take their pic between road, gravel, touring and mountainbike sized direct mount chainrings which means you can can get pretty much any gear inches under your legs your heart desires with minimum changes to your bike - something that will come in handy when you are racing at the front of a New England gravel grinder one day and bikepacking wih the kitchen sink in VT the next. IMHO, the gold bling adds a touch of class to the party as do the skinny 700x38mm coffee colored Rene Herse tires. pretty elegant for a bike that can also rock upwards of 700x55 or 29x2.1" knobbies right?

Otso model #3: the Waheela

while we love titanium and stainless steel, carbon has a place in our world too and if you want the lightest Otso gravel adventure bike around, check out the Waheela as your go anywhere, do anything speed machine. check out the links to reviews below if you want more info or give us a shout to give you the TL;DR

Otos Waheela-C with drop bars

racy, but oh so capable Waheela-C carbon doesn't mean not-adventure ready and the Waheela-C is eating that proves that pudding. so many great ways to flesh out and build up a Waheela, you really can't go wrong with any of the options that Otso offers on their site, but if you're looking for parts, accessories or bling options not listed that's where we'll happily take one of Otso's traditional builds and step it up a notch to really dial it in for your own adventure. check out a few of the reviews linked to below and get in touch to chat about what hidden-menu options we can bring to the build table for you.

Otso's fatbikes: Voytek 2's are their carbon offering and Arctodus's are their steel and titanium fatties

not hard to imagine why a company based in Minnesota makes such great fatbikes. what's super cool about them however is how nice they ride year round as go-anywhere-do-anything adventure bikes. you may even give up your hardtail mountainbike with one of these in your stable as even though they fit the widest fatbike tires available, Otso strives to make all their fatbikes with the least amount of Q factor possible so your feet don't feel like they are a fatbike width apart rather a mountainbike width apart - something which makes a huge different for folks who suffer from sore hips after riding traditional fat bikes. the fact Otso offers their fatty's in four different frame materials to suit all adventure types is truly icing on the cake.

Otos Fatbikes

Voyteks in the wild a customer sent this picture showing off his stable of Voyteks enjoying all New England has to offer

a side view of a sweet Voytek 2 from fast dirt trail riding, to loaded bikepacking adventure touring to riding in the whitest of the white stuff, the new v2 Voytek was 7 years in the making and was totally worth the wait

a cockpit view of that same sweet Voytek 2 a pic showing off Wolf Tooth's adjustable / tune-able headtube angle thingy

a side view of that same ultra sweet Voytek 2 tons of clearance for the fattest of fat tires but without the super wide cranks that all other fatbikes require - ie Voyteks have the lowest Q factor in the biz