EB17: Redesigned OPEN U.P. improves on the original with an U.P.P.E.R. influence

Gravel bikes were big at Eurobike. A number of brands that were new to the space had bikes of their own, while those who have been building fat tire drop bar bikes for awhile were tweaking their designs to take advantage of new standards and bigger tires.

Among those brands, one of the originators of the “GravelPlus” concept was at it again, as well. For two years now, OPEN has offered the cutting edge of gravel builds with their U.P., followed by the incredible U.P.P.E.R. Now, Andy Kessler and Gerard Vroomen are back at it with a revised version of the OPEN U.P. Reintroducing a lot of the features found on the U.P.P.E.R., the new U.P. is now essentially just a slightly heavier (and less expensive) version of its lighter sibling.

That includes the move to the U-Turn fork instead of the 3T, which drops 65g from the build and moves to their unique flat mount brake set up which bolts through the front fork leg.

The frame moves to flat mount brakes as well, and both front and rear axles move to the super light Carbon-Ti bolt. Andy says the axles alone are responsible for a 100g weight savings compared to the previous quick release axle.

The frame is almost an exact copy of the U.P.P.E.R. now with a BB386 bottom bracket, front derailleur capability and clearance for up to 650b x 2.1″ tires – just with a different carbon layup that results in a new frame weight of 1040g. That’s still a far cry from the 880g frame weight of the U.P.P.E.R., but combined with the 100g savings from the axle, and 65g savings from the fork, that’s an appreciable difference while moving to flat mount brakes.

Available in early October, the new OPEN U.P. will sell for $3,200 for the frameset in green or blue. Don’t care about the new fork or flat mount disc brakes? OPEN will continue to sell the original U.P. (now the U.P. Classic), for a reduced price of $2,600 for the frameset.