Lotus launches £20,000 performance road e-bike inspired by Olympic gold medal-winning track bikes

Lotus has today launched the Type 136, a new performance road e-bike inspired by its track designs ridden by Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics and available for purchase, if you've got a spare £20,000 kicking about.

The Type 136 features a 1.2kg e-bike motor system from HPS with the battery disguised as a water bottle and has a battery length of three hours, the bike itself coming in at 9.8kg and also featuring aerodynamic "design and engineering excellence from more than 30 years of road and track cycling success".

Lotus says the model is inspired by its gold medal-winning successes, perhaps most iconically the Type 108 ridden by Chris Boardman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and the Hope Lotus bike used at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Handmade in Italy, the carbon fibre frame features wing-shaped forks and vaulted chain stays recognisable from Tokyo, and is matched with V-shaped handlebars in a "striking aero design".

The motor weighs 300g, the whole Watt Assist Pro Motor system coming in at 1.2kg, with Lotus to release 136 individually numbered limited first edition bikes costing £20,000 before the standard model goes on sale next spring.

The limited edition models will feature a "heritage gold and black colourway", with Campagnolo Super Record and Ultra wheels. From early next year the other two models, costing "a little over £15,000", will also be released and come with SRAM Force or Red, and DT Swiss wheels.

Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy has joined Lotus as a brand ambassador and told the launch event at the company's London showroom the "incredible" bike "says so much about the pioneering endeavours of Lotus and the iconic status of its bikes over the years".

"I've been waiting to ride a Lotus bike since I was 16," he told the event. "Watching the Barcelona Olympics, Chris Boardman winning a gold medal on that iconic 108, and my career kind of missed out on those bikes, there before my career started and then Tokyo when I was retired.

"It's been a first opportunity to ride a Lotus bike, a massive amount of anticipation, and it didn't disappoint. It's hard to overstate the impact the 108 had on my career, my life, I still remember sitting in a hotel in France on holiday with my family in 1992. It inspired me so much."

Danny Barnes, the project leader, told the launch the bike was "truly inspired by the pioneering and rebellious track bikes that adorne the front covers of the history books".

"The Type 136 pays homage to this extraordinary heritage," he said. "It is engineered with the perfect balance of aerodynamics, lightness and technology. The Type 136 is truly unique with its dual-use functionality, it's a lightweight thoroughbred road bike, but when you need it most it's also a super light electric e-bike.

"We also offer a flight-safe battery meaning you can take the Type 136 anywhere in the world and this is a real game changer and opener to possibilities."

Feng Qingfeng,  the CEO of Lotus Group, commented: "I am proud to launch the Lotus Type 136 as the next chapter in our high-performance journey. For the past 75 years, Lotus has been relentlessly pushing the boundaries of innovation on the road and track. Type 136 shows that we continue to do so. Launching alongside Eletre, Emeya and Evija, it will further expand global perceptions of what to expect from Lotus."