2025 OPEN Upper

[jayjay]

First pictures of the new 2025 OPEN Upper.

[Requiem84]

Cool!!

[RDY]

Open Upper or the weird limited edition thing which doesn't share the specs of either the new or old one? Seatstay and chainstay clearance looks massive, but seat tube clearance minimal. Unfortunately it looks like seat angle is still just as slack, head angle may be a little bit less steep. But both hard to tell because of the rear wheel stand; maybe not much changed there, FC and WB still look short.

Are the BBs still garbage and the frames still regularly cracking, or better now?

Edit: I assume this is what they've now renamed the CONCE.PT - since it looks like other frames made by CarbonTeam in Portugal. €4600 +€1000 for the cockpit etc. They've now deleted their post about the new UP(PER) and limited edition half way house, which claimed they'd be different. This seems to just be the made in PT new Upper, at a price much higher than other CarbonTeam stuff (Parlee excepted - who are outrageous) ... they say in the new blog it costs twice as much to make there - which begs the question why it's so expensive, since their usual suppliers are definitely not making stuff for more than $300-400 a pop for frame and fork only. Add $300 cost, add €2000 at retail

[Yoln]

Open Upper or the weird limited edition thing which doesn't share the specs of either the new or old one? Seatstay and chainstay clearance looks massive, but seat tube clearance minimal. Unfortunately it looks like seat angle is still just as slack, head angle may be a little bit less steep. But both hard to tell because of the rear wheel stand; maybe not much changed there, FC and WB still look short.

Are the BBs still garbage and the frames still regularly cracking, or better now?

Edit: I assume this is what they've now renamed the CONCE.PT - since it looks like other frames made by CarbonTeam in Portugal. €4600 +€1000 for the cockpit etc. They've now deleted their post about the new UP(PER) and limited edition half way house, which claimed they'd be different. This seems to just be the made in PT new Upper, at a price much higher than other CarbonTeam stuff (Parlee excepted - who are outrageous) ... they say in the new blog it costs twice as much to make there - which begs the question why it's so expensive, since their usual suppliers are definitely not making stuff for more than $300-400 a pop for frame and fork only. Add $300 cost, add €2000 at retail

And seattube clearance has always been the issue with Opens. Could never fit 44s on the previous version because of it (fitted when dry, but went on a muddy ride and it scratched all the paint on the seat tube, nothing structural but will never put anything bigger than 40 or 41 again), despite massive clearance everywhere else...

Also, hate that they can't provide weight

[charirider]

Raw carbon frame looks uber cool!

[Spurdo]

That head tube looks really out of place.

[liam7020]

That's a very ugly, obscenely expensive thing.

[Aeo]

For comparison, the Bike Ahead Composites THE FRAME hardtail MTB frame is under 2000€ and also manufactured at CarbonTeam in Portugal

Bike Ahead is currently developing a gravel frame of their own

[LeDuke]

For comparison, the Bike Ahead Composites THE FRAME hardtail MTB frame is under 2000€ and also manufactured at CarbonTeam in Portugal

Bike Ahead is currently developing a gravel frame of their own

That’s something to keep an eye on. They make nice stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DrimeOser]

For comparison, the Bike Ahead Composites THE FRAME hardtail MTB frame is under 2000€ and also manufactured at CarbonTeam in Portugal

Bike Ahead is currently developing a gravel frame of their own

That sounds very interesting! Any details about it? Will it be a conservative or progressive geometry?

[London9921]

That's a very ugly, obscenely expensive thing.

*including that horrendous handlebar

[ill principe]

Some new renders on the Open website: https://opencycle.com/eu-en/new-upper

Edit: and geo charts for the two Concept sizes available, which will most likely be the same as UP/UPPER

[Aeo]

For comparison, the Bike Ahead Composites THE FRAME hardtail MTB frame is under 2000€ and also manufactured at CarbonTeam in Portugal

Bike Ahead is currently developing a gravel frame of their own

That sounds very interesting! Any details about it? Will it be a conservative or progressive geometry?

You can read more about it here: https://bike-ahead-composites.de/the-superfast-en.html

Have to use the translate feature of your browser: https://www.bike-ahead-composites.de/th ... reich.html

They also invite customer feedback what they want from the bike, scroll down for the input form

[Nohands83]

The headtube really isn't a looker! Solid rather than standout specs, with 46mm tyre clearance feels like it's potentially a bit dated already...

[Upcountry]

Honestly this bike kind of appealed to me as a somewhat aero tweaked wide tire all-road type bike. I've drank the wide tire koolaid years ago, and as such, my "gravel bike" is a drop bar Epic World Cup, so the 46mm clearance isn't something I'd look at as a limitation in the same way others would. Unfortunately, after reaching out for some more details, it sounds like the fork and stem are a very proprietary pairing. Initially they are only offering the bar stem combo(limited to wider widths), but said they'd likely offer a stem only option adaptable to normal handlebars. Without them saying so, and along the lines of other brands doing similar, I'm imagining a single stem angle of something like -6d, which is just too restrictive for my fit needs these days.