Bike of the Week: Blue Di2 UP

The day's are getting shorter, the temps cooler, and roads getting slicker. It can only mean one thing—winter is upon us. If we're being honest, the seasonal transition has gotten us feeling a little blue. No, no. We're not sad and depressed. Quite the opposite, actually. We're excited and fired up about this beautiful blue Open UP. There are a lot of cool little details on this bike, so read on as we dive into this single track slayer.

While the Open UP has been around for a little while now, it's still always worth taking a deeper look at this impeccable all terrain machine. The difference between an alright bike and a phenomenal bike really comes down to the details, and it's in the details that Open shines. Nailing the massive tire clearance, incredible light weight, and spot on handling (both on and off road), it's really hard to come across a bike that fills the gravel segment the way an Open does.

Let's carry on to the rest of the build. On the top of the bike, the cockpit is a Zipp SL affair. The stout SC SL stem keeps the SL70 Ergo carbon bar affixed, a quite useful and comfortable shape for all-terrain riding. Out back, an SL Speed carbon seatpost holds up a Brooks Cambium saddle.

Breaking things up a bit, the drivetrain is full Shimano livery, featuring a unique blend pieced from their various lines to properly suit the needs of this build. At the handlebar, Ultegra Di2 levers do all the controlling. The different shift points are a welcome feature, making it a breeze to change gear, no matter where your hands might be during a ride. The neatly tucked e-Tube connects the two shifters to a single derailleur, an XTR Di2 mech to be exact, enabling a wide range cassette and added beefiness for off-road abuse. At the center of the bike, a Dura-Ace crank converted to a single ring with the use of a Wolf Tooth chainring and absoluteblack bolt covers to finish off the clean look.

The final bits to the drivetrain are the Ultegra flat mount calipers and Ice Tech Freeza 140 rotors.

The Shimano theme continues on to the wheels. We went with the Dura-Ace C40s. A fantastic all-around performer. We haven't put too many of these on gravel bikes yet but they are just perfect for a bike like this Open. Light, strong, and sleek are just what this bike needed. We wrapped them up in some new Vittoria rubber. The Terreno Dry tread has been around for a little while, but until recently was only available in a 33c. The tread translates wonderfully to the bigger 40c size, and it's quickly become one of our favorite performing all terrain tires.

And that wraps up the build of this perfect gravel steed. Feeling blue never felt so good. As always, give us a call if you've got any questions on getting your own custom build going on an Open UP!