RE: Lotus gets back on its bike

RE: Lotus gets back on its bike

Wednesday 30th October 2019

Lotus gets back on its bike | Update

A Lotus bike won Gold at Barcelona in 1992; here's the one they hope will repeat the feat in Tokyo



Lotus Engineering has released new details of the results of its partnership with Hope Technology, a collaboration which sees the company return to the world of cycling. The new track bike co-designed by the two British firms is said to have been built to "deliver medals" for the Great Britain Cycling Team at the 2020 Olympic Games - which sounds like as good a goal as any.

Riders have been testing the bike in secret over the past few weeks, and are set to continue evaluating the new design with a view to riding it in Tokyo next summer. Based around a Hope frame, the unique front fork and handlebar designs are Lotus' main contribution; both elements having been created to maximise strength while minimising weight, improving stiffness and front end feel in order to increase rider confidence.


The new partnership, and resulting design, was made possible by a change in the rules surrounding bike development following the 2016 Olympics. To qualify to be ridden at the 2020 games, however, the new design must still be approved by cycling's governing body, the UCI, and must also be ridden by Team GB in the Track Cycling World Cup series before the end of this year. To that end the bike will be ridden by British athletes at the Minsk-Arena velodrome in Belarus this weekend, as well as at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on November 8-10th.

Tony Purnell, head of technology for the Great Britain Cycling Team, said of the new bike: "It's a dream team of engineering prowess - Hope Technology bring high quality manufacturing standards and Lotus Engineering is renowned for lightweight design and outstanding aerodynamic efficiency. Both have been supported and advised by additive manufacturing experts Renishaw, who have ensured that Lotus and Hope have access to the most modern and fastest turnaround process from design to usable pieces."

 





 



ORIGINAL STORY, AS REPORTED 22/10/2019:

Lightweight engineering, aerodynamics and advanced material manufacturing; all pillars of Lotus' automotive business that are directly applicable to countless other industries. From aerospace to furniture and medical research to boat-building, the marque's consultancy division, Lotus Engineering, helps capitalise on knowledge gleaned from over 50 years producing some of the world's finest driver's cars.

One of its most noteworthy forays came in the nineties, the company swapping four wheels for two to create the Type 108 bicycle. It was upon a Type 108 that British cyclist Chris Boardman claimed gold in the 4,000m pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, catapulting the innovative bike, and its maker, into the limelight. In the modern era of Hoy, Wiggins and Froome, Cavendish, Cooke and Pendleton it seems unthinkable, but at the time the win marked Britain's first Olympic cycling medal for 72 years, a huge coup for a struggling Lotus.

With its innovative design - a development of Mike Burrows' original concept - carbon-fibre construction and world-beating ability, the Type 108 provided the then-beleaguered manufacturer with a much-needed good news story.


Today the company is thankfully in significantly better shape. Nonetheless, it has today announced a return to velodrome in the form of a new partnership with Hope Technology. The British car and bicycle manufacturers entering into a collaboration to "explore new ways to push the boundaries of bicycle design and technology." At its core, says Lotus, will be a "collaborative programme of research and development, data analysis and knowledge-sharing, covering topics such as lightweight engineering, aerodynamics and advanced material manufacturing."

Lotus CEO Phil Popham said of the development: "Lotus is thrilled to be back in cycling for the first time in 25 years. Innovation and ingenuity have always been part of the Lotus DNA, and working in collaboration with Hope is a fantastic illustration of how the Lotus Engineering consultancy can support projects outside of the automotive sector."

While Hope Managing Director, Ian Weatherill, added: "When we started making innovative, highly-spec'd disc brakes, back in the late Eighties, we didn't imagine that Hope Technology would evolve into what it is today - a company with more than 150 employees hand-crafting components for both mountain and road bikes, 24-7. We are proud to have stuck rigidly to our philosophy, relentlessly pursuing only the best possible products. To be partnering with Lotus is certainly a great place to find ourselves in 2019, and it's an exciting time for us all."


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Author
Discussion

V8 FOU

Original Poster:

2,970 posts

146 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
Excellent news!
Any publicity to bring the Lotus brand to the masses is great.
With the bonus of a good British company like Hope.

cookie1600

2,094 posts

160 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
'Lotus - clinging on to Hope'.......

FA57REN

1,012 posts

54 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
V8 FOU said:
Excellent news!
Any publicity to bring the Lotus brand to the masses is great.
Offering a car cheaper than £41,230 would be a more effective way of bringing the brand to the masses.

Frimley111R

15,536 posts

233 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
Interesting but hopefully not a big investment in time and resources, Lotus are on a big build strategy and this could be a distraction. I'm not sure I'd have bothered with it at this time, unless it's more something that is done by the bike manufacturer and they mostly tweak/put their name on it.

Mafffew

2,149 posts

110 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
FA57REN said:
Offering a car cheaper than £41,230 would be a more effective way of bringing the brand to the masses.
Can't see it happening any time soon. But should they keep growing, it would be interesting to see them produce something to rival the MX-5 and GT86.

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
FA57REN said:
V8 FOU said:
Excellent news!
Any publicity to bring the Lotus brand to the masses is great.
Offering a car cheaper than £41,230 would be a more effective way of bringing the brand to the masses.
In 1996 when the Elise was released it was £22,700, which in today's money is £41,857.84 so I'd say they're doing OK

dibblecorse

6,872 posts

191 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
p4cks said:
In 1996 when Hethel released the Elise it was £22,700, which in today's money is £41,857.84 so I'd say they're doing OK
EFA

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
The bikes are very useful to Lotus - they provide ideal transportation for departing CEO's
  • Mike Kimberley (his bike was a niche product - the 2+2 sports bike)
  • Dany Bahar (the bike with the bling)
  • Jean Marc Gales (the bike with matching beret, striped shirt and string of onions)
  • Phil Popham (the £2m bike still in development.....)

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
dibblecorse said:
p4cks said:
In 1996 when Hethel released the Elise it was £22,700, which in today's money is £41,857.84 so I'd say they're doing OK
EFA
?

SpudLink

5,669 posts

191 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
p4cks said:
dibblecorse said:
p4cks said:
In 1996 when Hethel released the Elise it was £22,700, which in today's money is £41,857.84 so I'd say they're doing OK
EFA
?
It’s the ‘Hethel’ joke. Again.

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
SpudLink said:
p4cks said:
dibblecorse said:
p4cks said:
In 1996 when Hethel released the Elise it was £22,700, which in today's money is £41,857.84 so I'd say they're doing OK
EFA
?
It’s the ‘Hethel’ joke. Again.
Oh I see. One I'm blissfully ignorant of, unlike the frozen sausages quip which coincidentally is older than an Elise and about as funny as standing on a plug

Alexxtreme

47 posts

150 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
worked on a carbon mountain bike that was meant to be a Lotus bike.. can probably find the images somewhere. It was pretty neat.
Anyway, Lotus did not do anything other than add over 25% for their branding / name to the bike which killed it off

gkeele

17 posts

60 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
FA57REN said:
Offering a car cheaper than £41,230 would be a more effective way of bringing the brand to the masses.
They go together like two peas in a pod, Hope bicycles are about £10k!

LotusOmega375D

7,580 posts

152 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
The jealous French will only complain that the wheels are too round.

TerryFarquit

92 posts

126 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
are Lotus working with the secret squirrel club?
I hear there are some interesting ideas afoot.

Sandpit Steve

9,885 posts

73 months

Tuesday 22nd October 2019
quotequote all
Wow, 27 years since the iconic Lotus Mavic bike with Chris Boardman winning Olympic medals, for many of us the start of seeing F1 technology filter down to other elite sport, and also the start of the fabulously successful Team GB Cycling effort. Best of luck to Lotus with this latest venture, maybe a few more medals in Tokyo next summer!

Sway

26,070 posts

193 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
quotequote all
I'm really trying to remember the name of the singer, but I used to work in a bike shop in Hammersmith in my youth, and he bought Boardman's bike at auction.

Brought it into us for a service. Simply beautiful, and funnily enough needed nothing doing except some lube on the chain.

dhead singer then tried to use it in West London as a flash commuter (pre-dating the fixie hipster movement by a good few years), crashed rather swiftly, and destroyed it...

Arsecati

2,284 posts

116 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
quotequote all
p4cks said:
Oh I see. One I'm blissfully ignorant of, unlike the frozen sausages quip which coincidentally is older than an Elise and about as funny as standing on a plug
I'm still lost - maybe it's my age. EFA wha'?

dibblecorse

6,872 posts

191 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
quotequote all
Arsecati said:
p4cks said:
Oh I see. One I'm blissfully ignorant of, unlike the frozen sausages quip which coincidentally is older than an Elise and about as funny as standing on a plug
I'm still lost - maybe it's my age. EFA wha'?
EFA - Edited For Accuracy ...

The Hethel thing is a dig at the constantly crap journalistic skills displayed on PH where EVERY article namechecks the geographic origin rather than the manufacturer.

Wasn't intending any offence smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 23rd October 2019
quotequote all
dibblecorse said:
The Hethel thing is a dig at the constantly crap journalistic skills displayed on PH where EVERY article namechecks the geographic origin rather than the manufacturer.
I think you're behind the ball. In the long list of Lotus cars whose names begin with "E" there's going to be a new, more mainstream hybrid sports car to benefit from the hype around their £2m Evija.

It will be the exciting, new, Lotus h-Ethel.