When you think of the classic road bike, what do you picture in your mind? With an OPEN MIN.D, you end up with something with classic road bike lines, but modern performance and fitments. Something OPEN refers to as MINimal Design, or MIN.D.
OPEN has made their mark on the world of cycling with bikes that can accept large tires and occupy the sort of all road/gravel and true off-road spectrum of bike design, but the company’s founders Andy Kessler & Gerard Vroomen have a deep road cycling background from their time at Cervélo and BMC. While gravel is certainly an exciting new world, they mention that they will always have the road bike bug. So the OPEN MIN.D was sort of the answer to what kind of road bike would they want to ride? It’s hard to beat the classic lines of traditional road bikes, but the final product needed modern pure road performance without sacrificing comfort.
The resulting bike offers what they refer to as Minimal Design – a light weight, sleek road frame that offers comfort without resorting to “gimmicks”, with a “restrained appearance, that underneath is all business.” OPEN claims that for medium frame only with paint, uncut seat mast, and without metal parts, you can expect a respectable weight of 870g.
Running 100 x 12 and 142 x 12 thru Carbon-Ti thru axles at each end, the frame offers clearance for up to 32mm tires on modern, wide rims for added comfort. A BB386EVO pressfit bottom bracket is found, and the frame has provisions for 1x mechanical, 2x mechanical (Shimano only), and Di2, eTap, and EPS drivetrains.
Up front, the new R-Turn fork brings their U-Turn fork design to the pure road segment. OPEN’s Smartmount system allows for the use of 160mm rotors without any adapters, meaning the caliper bolts directly to the fork. That means you can’t run 140mm rotors, but OPEN says you should be running 160mm anyway given the better braking performance with minimal weight penalty. The same system is used for the rear brake mount as well.
The full carbon fork uses a tapered steerer with a Cane Creek Integrated IS42/28.6 upper, and OPEN-Custom integrated IS47/38 headset lower headset. With an uncut steerer, the fork has a 335g claimed weight.
In order to get to the comfort desired for the bike, OPEN opted for an integrated seat mast approach with a vert skinny 25mm diameter. Thanks to the lack of seat post/seat tube overlap, and the thinner profile that extends all the way to the saddle, OPEN claims this design is much better in terms of comfort.
However, you do have to cut it to fit which gives you 15mm of adjustment after the cut. If you adhere to the ‘Measure Once Cut Twice design’ principle, then OPEN offers their MOCT saddle clamp which gives you 15-35mm of adjustment, which may come in handy if you ever want to sell the bike to someone with longer legs. The Ritchey saddle rail clamp includes side plates for standard round and oval carbon rails as well.
Giving it what they refer to as ‘New Road Handling,” the MIN.D geometry started as a steel test mule with adjustable dropouts and headtube angles. Sold in four sizes, most use a 72.5° head tube angle and a 73.5° seat tube angle, 71mm BB drop, and a fit that is somewhere between racer and full comfort road.
Offered in a single stock Midnight Blue color, the framesets are also available in their popular RTP or Ready To Paint Option – which allows you to create your own custom finish design with a painter of your choice.
OPEN frames usually command a premium price, and this one is no different. The frameset is priced at $3,600 and includes the frame and fork, a headset, seat tube top clamp, rail clamp, thru-axles, 2 RD hangers, 2 MultiStops (Di2, eTap), cable exit stop, noise-reduction foam sleeves, bottle cage bolts, and manual. Available for pre-order now, framesets will begin shipping in July 2020.
