Lotus shows off its work on British Cycling’s Paris Olympics bicycle
Carbon fork blade inspired by fighter jets
Lotus Engineering is one of the key players in the development of British Cycling’s latest track bike for the forthcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The latest Hope-Lotus is an evolution of the radical bicycle that competed at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and continues a collaboration between Lotus Engineering, Renishaw and Hope Technology.
The new, upgraded model has big shoes — or tyres — to fill, as the British Cycling team picked up seven medals at the 2020 games and topped the event medal table as a result.
Fighter-jet fork
Lotus Engineering has used all its nous and know-how in optimised aerodynamics, advanced materials and lightweight build techniques, and brought it to bear in developing the 2024 Hope-Lotus.
One of the key features is the new front fork. Inspired by fighter-jet design, it has a serrated edge that promotes smoother airflow around the rider. Lotus worked closely with Hope Technology to integrate this into the overall design of the bike.
The fork is made from the same high-grade carbon-fibre and single-cure manufacturing process as used in the production of Lotus’ mighty Evija hypercar — the Norfolk company’s astounding 2,012bhp electric vehicle.
Beyond this, the new Hope-Lotus has customisable handlebars that can achieve a more efficient aero position for the rider in longer races, while its integration with the serrated fork reduces drag.
Lotus’ long cycling association
One of those from Lotus Engineering working on the project for the 2024 Olympic Games is Richard Hill, the carmaker’s chief aerodynamicist. Hill has a long history in developing legendary bikes for the Olympics, as one of the brains (along with Mike Burrows and Rudy Thomann) behind the Lotus 108 — the radical machine on which Chris Boardman took gold in the 4,000m pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, winning Britain’s first cycling gold for 72 years.
Hill was also behind the Lotus 110 Tour de France bike of the mid-1990s, as well as the Tokyo model
“Lotus is proud to continue working with British Cycling, Hope Technology and Renishaw in offering unrivalled engineering expertise to produce the most efficient and beautiful bike to support our national team,” he said.
“We’re extremely excited to have played a part once again to continue pushing innovation in the pursuit of performance delivering efficiencies to give British track riders the best possible opportunity for success. We wish the team all the very best for Paris.”
Three-year condensed project
Mark Stringer, Lotus’ commercial director, added: “Lotus’ longstanding collaboration with British Cycling has been pivotal in advancing the frontiers of sporting performance and engineering with the 2024 Hope-Lotus Olympic track bike.
“This ongoing partnership has enriched our depth of knowledge, further enhancing and embracing the innovation that proved successful in Tokyo. We’ve been able to continue pushing engineering boundaries in the pursuit of performance to deliver efficiencies and to give British track riders the best possible opportunity for success.
“The Hope-Lotus bike is the perfect demonstration of our ability to transfer the skills and knowledge we’ve gained through over 75 years of automotive development to bring a new perspective to other industries. We wish British Cycling the best of luck in the upcoming Olympics.”
Lotus says it has collaborated with all partners at every stage of development, testing and manufacture of the Hope-Lotus bike, to condense the project into a continuing three-year Olympic plan — hopefully giving the British athletes in Paris the best opportunity of topping the cycling medals table once more.
‘Best possible platform’ for Paris
Stephen Park CBE, the performance director of the Great Britain Cycling Team, said: “British Cycling has a long and renowned history of being a world-leader in bike technology, and we are continuing to break new ground when it comes to the speed, efficiency and innovation of track bikes.
“For the Paris track bike, the team have continued to look to new and innovative solutions to deliver this impressive machine, which we believe will give our riders the best possible platform to succeed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
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