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Lotus on two wheels?!
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:30 pm
by greedyboythomson
Was at the transport museum in Glasgow last week (its free, it was raining etc. etc.) and whilst upstairs I noticed a Lotus racing bike, made of what looked like carbon fibre. Won a championship of some sort. Said it was built in Norfolk, I know Lotus have an engineering arm, but I didn't know they built bikes at Hethel?!
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:32 pm
by RDH
Was that not the one Chris Boardman won the 92 Olympics on?
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:34 pm
by jj
The crank bearing came from a washing machine or something I recall!
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:37 pm
by mac
RDH wrote:Was that not the one Chris Boardman won the 92 Olympics on?
They bombed me granny?
Mac
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:37 pm
by woody
Lotus Type 108 &110 bikes
Did you not see kelvingrove over the road then?
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:38 pm
by woody
jj wrote:The crank bearing came from a washing machine or something I recall!
That was greame Obree IIRC, from Prestwick.
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:43 pm
by jason
woody wrote:jj wrote:The crank bearing came from a washing machine or something I recall!
That was greame Obree IIRC, from Prestwick.
Yep, it was Obree.
I think Mike Burrows (all things cycling design guru) designed the Lotus bike (that Boardman road in '92) - but there's a story of disagreement and fall-out somewhere along the line IIRC...
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:47 pm
by RDH
mac wrote:RDH wrote:Was that not the one Chris Boardman won the 92 Olympics on?
They bombed me granny?
Mac
EH?
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:53 pm
by Sanjøy
Yah obree on the washing machine, missed the showing of the flying scotsman at the Edin int film fest, I thnk mgm have bought it.
Saw the lotus carbon bike at hethal, sweeet. Olympic bike.
Think it ended up banned as was the superman riding position.
Found this other one on google
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 11:16 pm
by greedyboythomson
The top one is the same as the one in the transport museum. It has some big bold word on a sticker on the back wheel ('HED' I think), but otherwise identical. Wonder when they'll build a bike rack to carry it on the back of an elise?!! That would be an impresive piece of engineering!
Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:42 pm
by johncam
The top picture is the Track (Pursuit) Bike Boardman won the Olympics on. It was built by Lotus at Hethel and each one cost about £15,000 at the time. It was a monocoque design (built from one section of Carbon Fibre) and the wheels were only attached on one side i.e. a monoblade configuration. Its Lotus Type 108.
The bike in the bottom picture is the one in the Transport Museum - it is the Time Trial (Sport) bike. It was based loosely on the Track Bike and was built for Lotus by a South African company called Aerodyne. The fundamental difference being that the wheels were attached to the frame in the same way as you find on a normal bike - twin stays, it also has bosses for brakes / gears etc. It was Lotus Type 110 and cost around £1650 for the frameset. Boardman also one the 1994 Tour De France Prologue riding this bike.
A few years later, Boardman was presented with an S1 Elise complete with a purpose built bike rack to thank him for all the publicity he generated for Lotus.
Cheers,
John C.
Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:36 pm
by jason
Lotus had to design and develop a bicycle that minimised aerodynamic drag. Lotus' brief was to improve the
efficiency and performance of the sport cycle.
That statement's not quite true... a shame they don't seem to credit Mike Burrows anywhere
He was the guy who actually designed the bike (non-Lotus dude) years earlier - monocoque and carbon construction... but I remember a story about him and Lotus falling out during the period Lotus developed the concept... wish I could find reference to that on the web to jog my memory... or tell me I've crossed wires