Open Demo Bikes now available in the New Forest

Well the wait is finally over and here we have our 2 Open demo bikes- a WiDe in size Extra Large and an UP in size Large.

Give us a call to book a test ride on 02380 282028 or email us – info@thewoodscyclery.co.uk.

Pricing is £100 for a day’s hire, this amount is then given back to you in the event of a purchase of any bike worth over £3000 from us. We require both an in-date bank card and a photo ID (eg. drivers licence/passport) as a form of deposit for the bike whilst you’ve got it.

We have miles of premium gravel riding starting half a mile from our shop door which you can explore at your leisure.

But what’s the deal with Open? Why should you be excited about them? Why are WE so damn excited about them? Read on to find some info on their product lineup- and a story from a very happy customer!

The WiDe:

WiDe stands for Winding Detours, reflecting the burly nature of this beast. It’s for you if you like having maximum width tyres and want to be able to ride anywhere whilst sacrificing little to no speed. Big old rough gravel bridleways and sections of singletrack are a breeze upon this but yet it still feels uncompromisingly quick on the roads too.

The tyre clearances are 2.4″ on a 27.5″/650b wheel or 46mm on a 700c. I’d definitely recommend the WiDe over the UP if you are gravel riding and your preference is the 700c wheel size- as the UP only clears a 40mm tyre on a 700c rim. I’d recommend it in general if your riding is on the rowdy side and you like to rip your gravel bike about like a mountain bike, or if you’re into bikepacking.

The WiDe and the UP have very similar geometries, a main difference in terms of fit being that the WiDe has slightly higher ‘stack’ (the handlebars are a bit higher) and slightly shorter ‘reach’ (the handlebars are very slightly closer to you within a size.

Overall the thing rides tight and agile whilst looking tough as nails, due to Opens dialled geometries and the layering of their premium carbon- “The right carbon in the right spot” as they call it. The idea here is that different sorts of carbon have different balances of stiffness and strength- so calculating where to put which type results in a perfect balance of responsiveness, comfort, strength and insane light weight.

Note that the WiDe is 1x only- it will not take a front derailleur.

Frame only size M, ±3% 1,040g (same as an UP)
Fork only weight, ±3% 390g (same as an UP)

And that finish! Half matt, half gloss grey… A ‘ready to paint’ frameset is the other colour option.

RRP on the WiDe frame and fork is approx. £2850- pricing varies slightly depending on the exchange rate to euros at the time of purchase.

The UP and UPPER:

Open’s first U.P. combined road bike speed with go-anywhere capabilities to start a whole new category. Now some original U.P. features like dual wheel size compatibility and a dropped chainstay are the standard for performance gravel bikes. This was the bike that put Open in the league they’re now in.

RRP on the UP frame and fork is approx. £2600- pricing varies slightly depending on the exchange rate to euros at the time of purchase. And £4000 for the UPPER.

Frame only weight size M is ±3% 1040g UP and 880g for the UPPER.
Fork only weight ±3% is 390g for the UP and 370g for the UPPER.

Colours are Green, Blue, Ready To Paint for the UP and Matte Black or RTP for the UPPER.

To summarise- WiDe is for you if you’re a singletrack sender and your rides have a tendency to wind down some serious detours but you don’t want to loose any speed on smooth surfaces, the UP is for you if you’re not going to ever go any bigger than 700c x 40mm or 650b x 2.1″ tyres.

Both are very similar at the end of the day and are damn capable off road and make outstanding fast road bikes; many people run 700×28-35mm tyres on them and compete in all-out road races. And the UPPER? If weight saving is utterly king to you then that’s the way to go.

OPEN do also make a mountain bike- a super light, no compromise cross country frame with clearances for 29×2.4 or 27.5×3.0. We can get these too, but don’t stock any for demo at the present. Weight is 869g size M (!!!!) and RRP is £2850.

To finish – here’s a story from one of our recent customers, the proud owner of an UP:

“Having moved from 15,000 Road miles accumulated since 2012, I was bored of the same old tarmac and close shaves with belligerent drivers, it was time to go gravel. This lead to the purchase of a high spec specialized carbon x1 Pro Diverge, which was purchased October 2018. After 2000 or so miles around Test Valley, Purbecks and New Forest, there were shortfalls in the overall weight, responsiveness and handling that OPEN has appeared to overcome in their range of bespoke Carbon gravel bikes that could take far fatter tyres.

This led to discussions with Woods Cyclery and I was fortunate to meet Oscar who had certainly more than qualified to assist with good advice after many miles and hours of gravel across Canada and USA to Mexico.

The dream build was enhanced with the announcement of 60 special edition OPEN frames in conjunction with ENVE who make quality wheels and components.

The build decisions were left to Oscar who used his knowledge of components and gravel, together with direct contact from Andy who runs OPEN in Switzerland to ensure the frame was the right size, and ensure the right stem was ordered for optimum set up.

The combined knowledge of Oscar and Andy from OPEN along with the sourcing of great SRAM AXS and ENVE components has led to a bike that far exceeds the expectations. The OPEN x ENVE delivers on absolutely all surfaces you will face in the south including rocky harsh descends in the Purbecks to fast new forest gravel, and technical single track though the woods where balance, steering and grip are so essential.

I would like to say big thanks especially to Oscar and the outstanding team at Woods for sourcing the ingredients to put this super gravel bike together. I won’t be changing this bike for quite some time! “

Cheers for reading,

Oscar