If we have to characterize what OPEN means to us in one word, it’s freedom. Ultimately that is the feeling we get when riding our bikes, and we hope you do too. This feeling you experience as a kid when you get your first bike and you can venture into the world so much farther. We want OPEN to be the grown-up version of that, finding ways to go farther by creating fast, capable and comfortable bikes to all your adventures. We truly believe that sense of freedom keeps us healthy and sane. When injuries forced both of us off our bikes for months last year, those around us let it be known this didn’t necessarily make us easier to live with! OPEN also represents freedom in a different way. For us, it means being free from the usual pressures of the bike industry, of incessant “new and improved” product launches, sales targets or minimum order quantities. We develop bikes until we are completely happy with them (or scrap them), we build what we want to build, we try to stay close to our customers. After 13 years of OPEN, it was time to evaluate how things are going. Freedom is still our guiding star and with everything that is happening in the world, we concluded that freedom needs to permeate everything we do at OPEN. While we are under no illusion that a tiny bike company can change the world, we simply didn’t want to support anything „un-free“ anymore, not even tangentially. There was a time when the thought was popular that trade and prosperity would lead to more freedom. Could have happened, but it didn’t. So we need a different way. Concretely this means our new designs will be “Made in Freedom” in countries such as Portugal, Italy and Taiwan. Of course production costs are higher that way, but we don’t really care (free from the pressures of the bike industry, remember?) To be very clear, we do this because WE want to do this. We hope you agree, but it’s totally fine if you don’t. This is not a virtue competition, everybody should run their life and business as they see fit (that too is freedom), but for us, this is how we create the ultimate sense of freedom for every ride we go on. We realize this solution is also far from perfect and open to lots of criticism, whataboutisms, concerns for people who have nothing to do with politics, etc, etc). To get the first question out of the way, we decided to use the Economist Democracy Index and the Freedom House Global Freedom Status for guidance.

The new OPEN U.P.PER. CONCEPT

This frame will show the direction for OPEN in the coming years in a very pure, minimalist concept. New shaping for headtube and downtube We (and our customers) love the ride quality of our frames, so that remains sacred. We don’t have anything against aerodynamics, as you may know from my other designs :-). But for us, gravel riding is about endurance, and saving a few seconds in frame drag while losing minutes in rider drag due to a lack of comfort is foolish. So, we had a very clear objective: improve aerodynamics without compromising comfort in any way. The front half of the bike is most important for aerodynamics, so the focus was mostly on the headtube and downtube. The downtube gets an aero profile but with severe truncation to preserve comfort, while the back section of the downtube keeps its well-known OPEN shaping. The headtube becomes much deeper aerodynamically but with a layup that focuses all its stiffness on the front of the tube, not the gusset. The result is a more aero frame while preserving our trademark comfort. New shaping for everything else as well immediately obvious are the straight chainstays for a snappier ride, which is a direct result of our 700c-only decision. On the seatstays, you mayappear the curvature is gone. But in effect, it’s still there, just rotated 90 degrees. So, there is no curve visible in the side view, but when viewed from behind it’s still obvious. The toptube also gets more extreme tapering seattube is paired down and now features an integrated seatpost clamp. Besides the cleaner look, it also increases the exposed seatpost length for more comfort. 700x44c tires Tire clearance for up to 44mm tires (as always, measure before you ride as the tire labels can be off). Fully internal cable routing without the fuss Of course we like the looks of internal cable routing and that it can keep the brake hoses out of harm’s way. But adjusting your cockpit can be a real hassle, even more so with integrated stem/bar systems. Some bikes now offer „fake integration“, where the hoses are somewhat hidden but not really, and still exposed to the elements. We’ve thought long about what we desire in an internal cable routing system and we are super excited to show you on the new UPPER ZEN Micro-adjustment integrated cockpit Internal cable routing is one thing, but the most important element of a bike and in particular its cockpit remains how it fits the rider. One-piece stem/bar combinations are notorious for this, with limited size choices and adjustability. The new OPEN B.A.R. (Break All Rules) solves these problems with micro-adjustability. No superfluous bits This UPPER CONCEPT is designed specifically for SRAM Red 1×13 XPLR Transmission or Shimano GRX DI2 groupset. So, it does not feature anything you don’t need for 1×13 Transmission. No FD mounts, no cable exits, nothing. Just one clean riding machine and because the aerodynamics matter most at the front end of the bike, we made a special aero gravel fork for the UPPER CONCEPT.