Open is a company made up of just two guys with a passion for all things two wheeled and a vision to design bikes they’d want to ride themselves. With former lives working for BMC and Cervleo, it's fair to say these two know a thing or two about bikes.

The New U.P.

You might have heard of the U.P., it was one of the first gravel bikes where wider (2.1”) tyres could be fitted, calling it Gravel Plus. Developing all the time, Open now produce three different bikes using the same carbon frame: The Classic U.P. using forks from company 3T incorporating post mount disc brakes, the new U.P. (the one we are here to see) with flat mount disc brakes and lastly the Superlight U.P.P.E.R. These bikes all share the same geometry and tyre clearance but differ in carbon layups, disc brake mounts and thru-axles.
 

Tyre Clearance

The new U.P. fits tyres up to 2.1”, including 40mm cross tyres or a 28mm road tyre if the mood takes you. Using 2.1” tyres require you to run 650B wheels, where as other combinations can all be run with 700c wheels. Open say the outer diameter of a 700c wheel with a 28mm road tyre fitted is 341mm where the outer diameter of a 650B wheel with 2.1” tyre on is 342mm, they say you won’t feel any difference in geometry for making the swap. Designing the bike around these diameters of wheels and tyres means that the chain stays can also be kept relatively short at 420mm.

Tyre clearance is also maintained by dropping the drive side chain stay, allowing it to be wider and stiffer. Dropping this chain stay allows for the narrower Q-factor of cross / road cranks to be installed.

ThruThread Dropouts

The design of the ThruThread axel used the same thread as a regular 12mm through axel and uses this thread to also lock the derailleur mount into the frame, keeping things simple, light and effective without any loss of the stiffness.

Disc Brake Mounts

A big difference between the classic U.P. and the new U.P. is the disc mount standard. To be able to use the lightest possible brakes from both SRAM and Shimano the U.P. needed to be ‘flat mount’ compatible. Flat-mount brakes use an adapter to mount the front brake to the post, Open say this adds weight and reduces braking efficiency. The U-Turn fork from Open has the answer to the flat-mount problem, removing the requirement for an adapter as the caliper mounts directly to the fork. The fork is dedicated to using 160mm rotors and used the same ‘bolt through’ design as usually seen on the rear triangle. This isn’t the only way the brand save grams on the claimed 375g for the U-Turn fork, they also use a Carbon –Ti custom axel. To note the 'frame only' weight is a claimed 1030g.

More good stuff

The gorgeous carbon frame is kitted out with bottle cage mounts and a top tube bag mount making it adventure friendly.

Geometry wise a medium frame has a head angle of 71 degrees, a seat tube angle of 72.5 degrees, a reach of 376mm and a wheelbase 1008mm with 420mm chain stays.

The new U.P. will be available from about mid-September we are told with a frameset retailing at 3,200 Euro’s – it’s not cheap but damn, is it beautiful.

Visit  Open here