I know several people who have accidentally ended up with the wrong sized frame for their bodies, so a bit of research needs to be done to make sure you get it right. Typically, I would end up with not much seat-post showing on a medium. I am 5″ 10″ and I have short legs, and a long torso, and yet I have a decent amount of seat-post sticking out on my medium sized frame. It also has mounts on the top-tube which make mounting of a gas-tank very easy, (or even another water-bottle).You can either bore holes in you current gas-tank for mounting, or use magnetic mounts. ![]() The OPEN frame has 3 separate bottle cage mount points, which is a must for bikepacking, and a slightly sloping top-tube, which is also great for a frame bag, or even better, a half-frame bag, if you want to use all of those water bottle mounts. I did manage to get rid of all of the above bikes, except the road bike, it’s just not worth trying to sell. One of the things it assumes is that you have a spare set of wheels and enough gearing to cover all the different scenarios. You could in theory get rid of your CX bike, your road bike, your touring bike and your bikepacking bike and replace it with this machine. is a massive change for me in terms of the technology that passes for normal on many bikes today. Q-factor is very on-trend in marketing circles these days, although Shimano seem to be bucking this trend recently with their wider GRX groupset. The guys at OPEN, Andy Kessler and Gerard Vroomen get credit for the dropped chain-stay design that gives them clearance for fat tires and yet still obtain road-bike levels of Q-factor. Given the amount of off-road riding I am doing on it, I am happy to have the beefier frame of the U.P., although the designers say the UPPER’s frame is no less robust. Be prepared to OPEN UPPER your cheque-book even more for that model. ![]() could not be further away than the Karate Monkey, at 1040 grams the OPEN’s frame weighs less than the Karate Monkey’s fork, but is still 160 grams heavier than the OPEN U.P.P.E.R model, which is significantly more expensive. My favourite and most adaptable bike up until now has been my Surly Karate Monkey The OPEN U.P. Normally I’d go for a more fiscally conservative option, but the stars lined up and a demo bike became available, along with a “dream-bike-build” pass, from my long suffering wife. The frame alone costs more than 3 times the cost of the previous whole bike I bought, so it’s pretty much a superbike by my definition. I also swapped out the Easton bars for some Thomson KFC cross bars which have a very fat and wide feel to them, and a weener UNO stem. The 130mm perch was a good 40mm too narrow for my butt so it was eventually swapped out for a Selle San Marco Regale FX, an acceptable compromise between weight and comfort, but not a serious saddle for back to back long days in the saddle. Easton EA70ax wheels and bars, Maxxis Rambler tires, a Thomson seat-post and stem, and a very sexy, but painfully narrow Brooks Cambium saddle. OPEN’s timing looked to be perfect with the resurgence in supple and fat tires, 650b wheel-sets, and a move away from road riding where riders have to share with an ever increasing number of cell-phone distracted car users – #gravgrav was becoming a thing. Most people see it and say, “What brand of bike is that? Oh, never heard of them, where is it made? Switzerland?” It was the complete opposite of the cycle-tourist look, without rando bags or racks, appealing more to the Rapha ethic of minimalist gear, travelling with a credit card, a C02 and a Shakedry in your pocket. (Unbeaten Path) was styled so differently to anything else out there at the time, with its fat frame lines and minimalist branding. could be regarded as the first high-profile, modern, carbon “All-road” bike, if we disregard the bikes of old, that allowed the use of wider tires than was deemed normal at the time, and may have even been called touring or rando bikes. My first complete through-axle bike, only my second Press-fit bottom bracket, and my first SRAM hydraulic system, vs Avid or Shimano. This will be a pretty wide ranging post, because it covers a lot of new ground for me. Some might say I am more in the luddite category, bu t then they would, wouldn’t they. Unfortunately I do not fit into this demographic in any way, so the following review you may like to take with a grain of salt. If this is not a clever subliminal marketing attempt at the well-healed “ dentist” portion of the bicycle market, then I don’t know what is. I suspect it’s no coincidence that OPEN make bicycles with model names like OPEN UP and OPEN WIDE. The dentist, the luddite and the Superbike.
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