Open WI.DE

[sparky33]

New teaser (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfiecJ-pLPo) from Open, and another blog post (https://opencycle.com/updates/just-when-we-thought-everything-was-solved).

Any guesses on the details?

I see the Schwalbe Rock Razor...27.5x2.35ormore? Maybe a plus version of the U.P.

[AngryScientist]

haha, i saw that too.

the gravel bike arms race is heating up! every bike company now has a fat tire road bike - now we need a fatter! tire road bike!

that's the name of the game though, keep innovating and keep people interested in the new stuff.

i honestly dont know how someone who is currently in the market for a modern fat tire gravel bike chooses these days, there are SO many options it's wild, and the next update is always right around the corner.

probably a pretty cool time to be in the business on the design and R&D side. i assume there is a lot of fun product testing going on!

[R3awak3n]

I absolutely love my OPEN as yall might know since I am always talking about it. Its been a great bike. They kinda started this carbon gravel craze and having spoken to Andy via email multiple times, great guy so I am really happy for them. They now also have 3T and they are coming out with some cool things on that end too.

This one is cool, maybe nice option if you want a new bike but no reason to upgrade from my OPEN to this. The 2.0 tire is more than enough for the stuff I ride. I did notice that a lot of companies are increasing tire clearance... bigger 700c tires so now mounstrous 650b tires.

[jm714]

So its a drop bar mountain bike, that’s cool!

[Hilltopperny]

I'd love to try something like this out. Not likely anytime soon, but drop bar 29ers and fat 650b bikes look like a ton of fun.

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

[dbnm]

This dropped today
https://alliedcycleworks.com/pages/allied-able

[chunkylover53]

Open version of the Cutthroat? I have a Cutthroat and love it - great for gravel riding, mix in some single track, do some bike packing. The gravel around me is very deep and coarse, so the bigger tires definitely make a huge difference.

[yinzerniner]

This dropped today
https://alliedcycleworks.com/pages/allied-able

That elevated stay is .... unfortunate looking.

Also the setups they have in the promo shots would be a nightmare for any type of non-road riding. Especially love this pic - dude has a 50/50 shot of losing his front teeth:

1697979927

That said very interested to hear how it rides. Allied has an impeccable reputation, and the geo and design is quite a departure from most recent gravel trends.

[shoota]

dude has a 50/50 shot of losing his front teeth



Why do you say that? Looks fine to me..

[Davist]

dude has a 50/50 shot of losing his front teeth:



Whyzat? straight downhill dropoff of about 18" his weight is back, should be NBD, cripe I've done that on a CAAD10.

[Sjambok]

I wonder if this model will have fender mounts. We all know how they feel about fender mounts, but with most of their competition having them, they might cave.

[sparky33]

This dropped today
https://alliedcycleworks.com/pages/allied-able

For the front tire 700X47 or 650X55, for the rear 700X43 or 650X45

While I like the novel approach to the chainstay clearance problem, it seems like a lot of trouble for not achieving the fashionable 2.1 clearance benchmark. 650x45 excludes many road plus tires.

Also the setups they have in the promo shots would be a nightmare for any type of non-road riding. Especially love this pic - dude has a 50/50 shot of losing his front teeth
Agreed. The trail riding scene is a stretch. They should focus on gravel roads instead, which is mostly what they are doing.

[Jaybee]

I would be back further taking that drop on that bike, but many good bike handlers could hack that.

The elevated chainstay is Trek Stache-like, which might be both good and bad. A lot of riders complain of flexiness, especially in the early alloy versions of the Stache, and it looks weird. On the other hand, it’s the key to ultra short chain stays which is the secret sauce that makes the Stache one of my favorite bike geometries ever. I just wish they would have used it to wring 2.2” clearance out of the back. Almost every all-road bike can handle 650x47, even with normal chainstays.

Rodeo Labs Trail Donkey 3.0 is still the on-paper gold standard for me in this category. Just wish I had the funds to pick up RobJ’s 56cm in the classifieds.

[pdmtong]

That elevated stay is .... unfortunate looking.


Nishiki Alien

[Bostic]

That elevated stay is .... unfortunate looking.


It reminds me of Alpine Stars aluminum mountain bikes circa 1991.

[sparky33]

I wonder if this model will have fender mounts. We all know how they feel about fender mounts, but with most of their competition having them, they might cave.

I am guessing no fender eyelets. The seatstay bridge appears similar to that of the U.P. and that shape seems at odds with any reasonable fender position or shape.
Would be nice though, even if fenders are just a seasonal addition.

[d_douglas]

it looks cool enough (hey, most shiny nice carbon bikes are appealing) but it is weird that they have different tire clearances from front to back. For all the investment in molds, I wonder why they didn't accommodate a massive rear tire? I'd take an IBIS Hakka any day over this. Love that bike!

As for the cyclist going offtrail, that looks pretty straight forward. I am pretty out of MTB shape these days, but I have been known to ride technical singletrack on my CX bike - I actually think it is super fun.

[adub]

Well I know I will never be a gravel bike model, no leg tats. :(

[mt2u77]

Whyzat? straight downhill dropoff of about 18" his weight is back, should be NBD, cripe I've done that on a CAAD10.

His weight is back, I'm sure he'll be fine . . . just had to go into a Romanian deadlift position to get there.

[charliedid]

Just a little drop off. Good spot for a left side mini tail whip :banana:

Mountain bikes for roadies.

[blakcloud]

I wonder if this model will have fender mounts. We all know how they feel about fender mounts, but with most of their competition having them, they might cave. In the Key Features section on the posted page they say "Hidden fender mounts".

[R3awak3n]

they have caved and coming out with apparently their fender system.

Hopefully just normal mounts because something like enves system is very cool but kind of annoying and I hate proprietary stuff.


Personally, its a gravel bike and gravel and fenders do not mix... Get a bit of mudd involved and you are going to be in trouble so this was never a big deal for me with my OPEN. On my cielo I got fenders now because won't see much gravel and just big tire road bike and I do like fenders for that.

[CAAD]

Ill show up on my full squish mtb and ride away from that thing on single track. I get by with 38s on all the gravel rides I have done to date. 45+ just seems like complete overkill. If I need that much tire im bringing the proper tool for the job, a mountain bike.

[sparky33]

In the Key Features section on the posted page they say "Hidden fender mounts".

This article (https://bikerumor.com/2019/05/30/open-wi-de-and-take-in-an-even-wider-carbon-gravel-bike-adventure/)shows fender mounts under the seatstay bridge and behind the bb. Would be interesting to see the rest of the fender concept.

Ill show up on my full squish mtb and ride away from that thing on single track.
Indeed.
While I can imagine mellow dirt trail where riding 2.4s on a drop bar bike would be amusing...I get it...,this is looking even more similar to my 27.5 xc hardtail...which is already super fun for boring-ish trails and other mixed stuff.

[jtbadge]

Ill show up on my full squish mtb and ride away from that thing on single track. I get by with 38s on all the gravel rides I have done to date. 45+ just seems like complete overkill. If I need that much tire im bringing the proper tool for the job, a mountain bike.

That's great and all if you drive to all of your offroad rides. Some people don't want to ride suspension bikes miles and miles on pavement.

[unterhausen]

there is a trail system near me that goes up to some really nice forest roads. If I don't take that, I have to ride on one of the main highways out of town. Wide shoulder, but crossing it to come home can be a PITA. I think it takes me an hour longer to ride the trail on my gravel bike (38mm tires) than it does on my mountain bike. So bigger tires would be nice for an application like that.

[Sjambok]

This article (https://bikerumor.com/2019/05/30/open-wi-de-and-take-in-an-even-wider-carbon-gravel-bike-adventure/)shows fender mounts under the seatstay bridge and behind the bb. Would be interesting to see the rest of the fender concept.


Pretty pumped about the addition of the fenders. Looks like I'll be upgrading...

[tony_mm]

Looking at the geometry of the WI.DE compared to the U.P the shorter reach and much higher stack makes the WI.DE an endurance relaxed gravel bike.

I am happy about the wider tires but the concept is quite different to the fast U.P with its road bike geometry.

I suppose that people needing wider tires (> 2.1*» in 27.5 or >40mm in 700C) don’t have a road bike geometry in mind.

[yinzerniner]

Looking at the geometry of the WI.DE compared to the U.P the shorter reach and much higher stack makes the WI.DE an endurance relaxed gravel bike.

I am happy about the wider tires but the concept is quite different to the fast U.P with its road bike geometry.

I suppose that people needing wider tires (> 2.1*» in 27.5 or >40mm in 700C) don’t have a road bike geometry in mind.

Yeah the 2cm larger headtube and stack/reach numbers seem to make this a much higher/comfortable ride. Not sure how well that combines with the stated off-road focus. I guess only test rides will bear out how well the stated goals are achieved.

As for positioning - Open WI.DE. promo shots seem to show much better technique with slightly bowed arms, engaged legs and far back positioning.
https://cdn-cyclingtips.pressidium.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Open-Wide-5.jpg

Don't know how that positioning works with the huge amounts of saddle to bar drop they're showing on setup pics.
https://cdn-cyclingtips.pressidium.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Open-Wide-3.jpg

[John H.]

Judging from many bikes in the gallery on the Open site- additional stack would be a good thing.
Many of the bikes have 3-4cm of spacer stack.

[tony_mm]

I use my road bikes without spacers and I would like to keep the road race geometry.

I was thinking about getting a Medium for the U.P but now I will get a Small for the WI.DE. Both options give me 30mm more stack than on my road bikes. Otherwise that would have been +50mm stack in M (WI.DE).

There is still the option to run a negative stem but that looks very weird IMHO.

[tony_mm]

Judging from many bikes in the gallery on the Open site- additional stack would be a good thing.

Many of the bikes have 3-4cm of spacer stack.



Many owners of expensive bikes are often older and then the number of spacer just get higher...

[R3awak3n]

I see mostly younger people on OPENs, the stack is low for sure, I have 30 or 40mm spacers on mine.

[sparky33]

I feel like the Reach figures are a size too small, but the higher Stack figures look good.

There is a lot to like except for needing a stupid long stem.

[R3awak3n]

also the mounts under the BB are cute but does not seem like a good place to mount anything, maybe on a roadie but that is not what this bike is about.

[weaponsgrade]

I like the dropped stays of the Open much better than the elevated stays of the Allied, that's for sure. I'll be interested in seeing how they market the WI.DE vs Up. Will the WI.DE eventually replace the UP? or is it more of a horses for courses? - pick the UP if you want road-biased and WI.DE if you want dirt-biased.

[fa63]

I see these complimenting each other pretty well, especially since the WI.DE is 1x only.

[R3awak3n]

I like the dropped stays of the Open much better than the elevated stays of the Allied, that's for sure. I'll be interested in seeing how they market the WI.DE vs Up. Will the WI.DE eventually replace the UP? or is it more of a horses for courses? - pick the UP if you want road-biased and WI.DE if you want dirt-biased.

well wi.de is 1x so if you want 2x you have no choice. I don't thin it will replace the UP. Its heavier too I think. I do like the wi.de color but for me I don't need a 61mm tire, 50mm is plenty of everything I ride.

I will be interested to see if they do an UPPER WI.DE

[John H.]

Hence my comment- More stack is a good thing for more riders and low stack is.


Many owners of expensive bikes are often older and then the number of spacer just get higher...