MONTEREY, CA (BRAIN)—Open, the new mountain bike brand designed by Cervélo co-founder Gerard Vroomen and former BMC CEO Andy Kessler, debuted today at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California.
The first model is the carbon fiber 0-1.0 29er, which is billed by open as the lightest 29er hardtail in production. The bike showcases the BBright technology originally developed at Cervélo and fully internal cable routing.
“We’re outliers when it comes to mountain bikes, but in this case I think that’s been an advantage,” said Vroomen. “We didn’t do anything in the process of designing these bikes just because it’s always been done that way. We’ve thought about every single feature to make it better. Every step of the way, we challenged ourselves to do things differently. It also helps that we don’t need to be big; we’re starting with just one model and limited production quantities.”
“Not having that sales pressure means we can make the frames exactly as we want them, and it gives us the chance to really spend time with our customers,” added Kessler. “We see open as part bike company, part community, where we share not just information about our bikes but also about how we are building this company. In return we hope our customers will share their experiences with our bikes as well.”
Vroomen said open will be available in most major markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, and sold consumer direct and through IBDs. In the U.S., Competitive Cyclist is the exclusive online retailer. Framesets will be available in limited quantities and sizes starting in May. Competitive Cyclist will offer production and custom spec test models.
