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Great Britain’s £15k Lotus/Hope track bike debuts at UCI Track World Cup eventEthan Vernon Alex Whitehead:SWpix.com

Great Britain’s £15k Lotus/Hope track bike debuts at UCI Track World Cup event

Spanking new track bike gets first competitive outing at Track World Cup last weekend
by David Arthur @davearthur
Mon, Nov 04, 2019 14:24
10

The new Lotus/Hope track bike has its first taste of race action with Ethan Vernon and Kian Emadi using it in the scratch race, and it passes UCI inspection

The Great Britain Cycling Team debuted the brand new Lotus/Hope track bike at the UCI Track World Cup in Minsk over the weekend where it got its first taste of competition at the hands of Ethan Vernon and Kian Emadi, and it also passed the UCI’s inspection.

We can also reveal that Hope has set a provisional price of the complete bike at £15,000. The frame on its own will set you back £5,000 and the wheels are £4,000. Start saving...

- The Lotus track bike is back! Hope Technology develops new Team GB track bike for 2020 Olympics

Alex Whitehead:SWpix.com5_

While the new bike has been rolled out for action for the first time since the big unveil last week followed by being on display at the Rouleur Classic, not all the riders are on the new bike, with Laura Kenny and others electing to stick with their Cervelo track bikes.

Speaking to British Cycling today, it’s apparent there are good reasons why not every member of the squad is on the bike. “Things are very much still in the early testing, evaluation and feedback stage, so the new bike is being introduced to the squad very gradually - it wasn’t a case of riders not electing to compete on it,” explains a British Cycling spokesperson.

Alex Whitehead:SWpix.com1_

Ethan Vernon and Kian Emad are two riders aboard the new bike, pressing into it action for the scratch race. Being asked for his first impressions on the new bike, Ethan Vernon said:  “It was really good. I really enjoyed riding it. I felt fast on it, it was nice.”

“It felt good! Seeing all the photographers crowd round you before you go off, and even in the race, the European champion was just following me everywhere.”

Alex Whitehead:SWpix.com3_

The stunning new bike has already been given the UCI thumbs up - there’s the UCI sticker on the seat tube - but it was given another thorough inspection at the track event. This is the special rig that the organisation uses to ensure the bike doesn’t break any of its strict rules governing all the key dimensions of the bike.

Alex Whitehead:SWpix.com4_

The new bike will get its next competitive outing in Glasgow this weekend.

Photos © SWPix.com

Lotus/Hope
track bike
British Cycling
Lotus
Hope
David Arthur @davearthur

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes. 

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10 comments

Avatar
English Cyclist | 5 years ago
0 likes

Super looking bike. Love it when someone tries some proper innovation. You know if they start winning everything the UCI will change the rules to ban it though 2

Avatar
check12 | 5 years ago
1 like

Maybe British cycling saw hambini’s Cervelo video? 

Avatar
CyclingInBeastMode | 5 years ago
2 likes

Can't say I'm into the short seatstay racing frame look but this is another level of design, the aerofoil stays and ovoid fork/head tube integrated design are just epic. It just reminds me of a trimaran.

Avatar
Merchant of Cool | 5 years ago
0 likes

Doesn't matter what the price is.........delivery won't be until 2035 

Avatar
Miller | 5 years ago
0 likes

Not quite as mad expensive as expected although still mad expensive.

Avatar
Nick T | 5 years ago
2 likes

£5000 for the frame sounds pretty reasonable, as long as it's not a noodle like the old Cervelo. 6 grand sounds a bit steep for a chainset, 1 cog and some finishing kit though

Avatar
Liam Cahill replied to Nick T | 5 years ago
2 likes
Nick T wrote:

£5000 for the frame sounds pretty reasonable, as long as it's not a noodle like the old Cervelo. 6 grand sounds a bit steep for a chainset, 1 cog and some finishing kit though

That bar/stem combo looks like it'll be custom for each rider. So there's a few grand

Avatar
Mybike replied to Nick T | 5 years ago
0 likes
Nick T wrote:

£5000 for the frame sounds pretty reasonable, as long as it's not a noodle like the old Cervelo. 6 grand sounds a bit steep for a chainset, 1 cog and some finishing kit though

They won a lot of gold with Cervelo

Avatar
Nick T replied to Mybike | 5 years ago
1 like

Mybike wrote:
Nick T wrote:

£5000 for the frame sounds pretty reasonable, as long as it's not a noodle like the old Cervelo. 6 grand sounds a bit steep for a chainset, 1 cog and some finishing kit though

They won a lot of gold with Cervelo

Cervelo were contracted with Team GB up until 2020 (according to British Cycling, the Cervelo deal was made specifically for Tokyo), but I guess the fact they couldn't provide a frame that wasn't either too flexy or prone to shattering and left them back riding frames from 2004, spurred on the development of this replacement

Avatar
Yorky-M | 5 years ago
2 likes

I just love it. 

Home grown innovation.

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