Home > Bike Types > Cyclocross

EB15: Open Cycle’s Unbeaten Path gravel road bike hits the ground (UPDATED)

17 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Open Cycles UP Unbeaten Path gravel road bike

Like so many other products at the fall shows, the Open U.P. (Unbeaten Path) gravel/cyclocross bike was first shown at Sea Otter. Since then, it’s seen a few minor tweaks and headed into production. Claiming to be an all purpose bike capable of running wide gravel tires, aggressive CX tires and even mountain bike knobbies when fitted to a 650B wheelset, the lightweight frame aims to be your all-purpose drop bar bike…

Open-Cycle-Unbeaten-Path-gravel-road-bike06

The production bikes look virtually identical to the prototype shown at Sea Otter. The top-tube bento box mounts remain, but the bright orange paint scheme unfortunately didn’t and the bright orange paint scheme is shipping now. This brown color will be available in limited quantities later this year.

Open-Cycle-Unbeaten-Path-gravel-road-bike05

The U.P. boasts clearance for 27.5 x 2.25, which they demonstrated here. That clearance comes with a caveat, though, that some tires may run wide for the stated size and not really be the best choice. Case in point: The Onza Canis, which barely has 1.5mm left between it and the chainstay.

Open-Cycle-Unbeaten-Path-gravel-road-bike02

Still, though, it’s impressive that they are able to make that fit. To do so, the bottom bracket is a very wide 386 EVO, and the driveside chainstay is dropped much lower than the non-drive side. That lets them keep it close in at the front to clear the chainrings and spread it out before it hits the tire. The layup was changed here a bit since they showed us the first ones to improve lateral stiffness.

Open-Cycle-Unbeaten-Path-gravel-road-bike03

Both sets of stays are flattened to provide vertical compliance. Those combine with a straight 27.2 seatpost to maximize the amount of bumps the bike can absorb. The dropout is a fine example of co-founder Gerard Vroomen’s engineering. Usually, thru axle systems add a bit of weight to a bike compared to QR, but they’re stiffer. Their solution was to build the derailleur hanger directly into the threading for the axle, which saves weight and looks impeccable. They recommend the Syntace X12 tooled thru axle, but any compatible thread pitch will work.

UPDATE: Frameset is $2,900, frame weight is 1,150g.

Up.OpenCycle.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

17 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
bikeduder
bikeduder
8 years ago

yes please.

Bicycle Steve
Bicycle Steve
8 years ago

The comments on the model page of their website says they have NO idea when it will be produced. The factory they were going to use cannot deliver. They have no production on track. This is vaporware right now.

Sully
Sully
8 years ago

I would ride that.

Rocky Gardeno
Rocky Gardeno
8 years ago

saw these at Eurobike, truly beautiful!!!

badbikemechanicx
badbikemechanicx
8 years ago

open even make sh#t brown look cool

Ajax
Ajax
8 years ago

Big tires. Drop bars. Disc brakes.
Check. Check. Check.

I am buying one.

Major Glory
Major Glory
8 years ago

It’s brown…no

jnr_seahorse
jnr_seahorse
8 years ago

Occasionally on Bikerumour there is a bike where I just go “Wow, I want that!”

kt
kt
8 years ago

I love my Onza Canis tires, I can only imagine how awesome they would be on this bike!

Andrew
Andrew
8 years ago

I don’t get why you’d buy a beautiful gravel/CX bike like that and put ridiculously huge tires like that on it….

Awesome
Awesome
8 years ago

It’s taken drop bar mountain bikes over thirty years, but finally someone has made them look cool.

scentofreason
scentofreason
8 years ago

do they do custom sizing on this model…????

Gerard Vroomen
8 years ago

@Bicycle Steve, the U.P. is already shipping. I think you’ve got the U.P. model mixed up with something else.

jimmy dean
jimmy dean
8 years ago

I feel like tires that size warrant a downtube protector, for the fun and all.

clive de sousa
8 years ago

# 1 bike on my list. I love everything about this

Bicycle Steve
Bicycle Steve
8 years ago

@Gerard My mistake, I guess I was referring to the One, the hardtail 29er? That is the something else, right? On Sept 14 it was posted on your site: “The ONE development was a real roller coster and at the end we had to admit to ourselves that the current frame maker can not produce to our expectations. It is tough to make such a decision as we have invested a lot of time and money. We still want to produce this frame but honestly no idea when and where this will happen.”

http://opencycle.com/hardtail/specs-prices

i-ride
8 years ago

Which Ral is the color of the bike? Thank you!

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.