Over the last few years, gravel bikes and the offroad movement behind them have been heavily influenced by the Open U.P. and its revolutionary dropped chainstay that allowed a road geometry frame to run mountain bike tires. The innovative company, has just released a new gravel frameset, the Open WI.DE.

The Open WI.DE (Winding Detours) takes gravel grinding to the next level of gnar. Instead of one, both chain stays are dropped, allowing 2.6" 650b and 46mm 700c tires! If a road bike is like a Ferrari, and the UP is a Ford F-150, then the WI.DE is Mercedes G-Wagon that's been lifted.

The geometry has changed as well. Along with a zero setback seatpost, the WI.DE employs what Open calls "tall road geometry. It is about a 20mm stack increase across all the sizes, eating up unwanted spacers and making the bike more stiff and stable. Speaking of sizes, Open also added an XS frameset size due to popular demand. 

Open also added a third bottle cage to the underside of the downtube as well as a toolbox mount underneath the bottom bracket (shown is the Fabric Cageless Tool Keg). Combined with the WI.DE's ability to mount (strapless) frame, top tube, saddle, and handlebar bags, your carrying capacity is about the same number of liters as this guy:

 It's not all good news though. The price of larger tires means the WI.DE is 1x only. Of course, with Sram AXS allowing an enormous range of gears, this isn't the worst thing in the world. That and the fact that the bike only uses 160mm discs (according to Open, its the only size you should be using for gravel) and the bike feels less like a road bike that can venture offroad and more like a mountain bike with drop bars.

The WI.DE will be available in Grey and RTP (Ready To Paint). The frame is a reported $1,040 grams and will be on sale for $2,900. Go to our listing here.

Specs below:

And a quick comparison to the Open U.P/UPPER