Lotus on two wheels?!
- greedyboythomson
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:23 am
- Location: Stirling
Lotus on two wheels?!
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?!
Yep, it was Obree.woody wrote:That was greame Obree IIRC, from Prestwick.jj wrote:The crank bearing came from a washing machine or something I recall!
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...
- greedyboythomson
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:23 am
- Location: Stirling
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.
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.
JohnCam
Lotus Esprit Turbo SE
Mercedes Benz E63 AMG
Merlin Extralight
Merlin XLM
Lotus Esprit Turbo SE
Mercedes Benz E63 AMG
Merlin Extralight
Merlin XLM
That statement's not quite true... a shame they don't seem to credit Mike Burrows anywhereLotus had to design and develop a bicycle that minimised aerodynamic drag. Lotus' brief was to improve the
efficiency and performance of the sport cycle.

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
