I mostly ride cyclotouring bikes, and they work very well for me. But I’m always curious about other bikes. Years ago, I ordered a custom-built steel road bike with 23 mm tires to find out what that feels like. I’ve ridden a few modern carbon gravel bikes for Bicycle Quarterly tests, but I’ve never owned one. So when OPEN made a WI.DE. frame for me, painted in the colors of our collab, I was excited. Why the WI.DE.? If I get a modern gravel bike, I want to go all the way—to the widest tires possible. Beyond that, the WI.DE. is also the only OPEN that comes in a small enough size for me. (I am 156 cm / 5′ 1.5″ tall.) Thank you, OPEN, for thinking of us smaller riders. Since the other collab frames were based on the U.P.P.E.R. and MIN.D., I’ve got a unique frame, truly one of one!
How to build it up? I feel I need the best bike I can imagine. My bike should not hold me back, but push me forward. It’s more fun that way, and it allows me to go a little further and opens up more course choices. The OPEN WI.DE. is a great starting point, of course. It’s hard to imagine a better bike. It’s light, it has huge tire clearances, it’s everything I’d want in a modern gravel bike. I also like the design. That’s very important for me.
For the components, I wanted electronic shifting, because my hands are small. Mechanical shifters require moving my entire upper body to push the levers far enough. I wanted a reliable groupset, and I’ve had good experiences with Shimano Dura-Ace drivetrains on my other bikes. However, the OPEN WI.DE. frame is designed for a one-by crankset.
This combination of features wasn’t available until last summer, when Shimano introduced the new XTR wireless, which integrates seamlessly with their road groups. My new bike runs an XTR rear derailleur and cassette with a Dura-Ace road crankset—Shimano’s gravel cranks don’t come in the 165 mm length I prefer. A Gabaruk chainring converts the cranks to one-by. The shifters and brakes are also Dura-Ace.
Enve G27 wheels pair up perfectly with 650B x 55 Umtanum Ridge Extralight tires and TPU tubes. An ultra-short Enve mountain bike stem clamps Rene Herse Professional handlebars in a narrow 40 cm width. It’s nice that road and mountain components can be mixed and matched so easily today. And it’s also nice that many mountain bike components don’t weigh more than their road bike counterparts. My new OPEN WI.DE. weighs a little under 8 kg, complete with pedals and bottle cages. I think that makes it the lightest bike I’ve ever ridden!
I can’t wait to take my new bike on some big rides in the Cascade Mountains. A full report on the build and how it rides will be in the next Bicycle Quarterly.
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