Hope Technology and Lotus Engineering have announced that they will be working together on future projects and we wonder if a new Lotus 110 could be one of them?
Cracking open the old email inbox this morning revealed a press release from a PR company working for Lotus Engineering and Hope Technology telling us about a coming collaboration. In true style press release style, the email doesn’t actually go into much detail and simply tells us what we already know about the 2 brands, but it doesn’t take much of an imagination to have a guess at what the collaboration could be.
Although we’re all fans of off-road cycling, I don’t think there is anyone reading this post that hasn’t heard of the legendary Lotus Type 108. The 108 project was started in the late 80’s by Mike Burrows with a final bike eventually being raced during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona where Chris Boardman won the 4000m pursuit and even set a new world record. From that moment on the Type 108 became a cult classic and a celebrity in its own right.
The publicity garnered by the 108 proved to Lotus that there was the possibility of producing and selling it to the public. This production bike became the Lotus 110.
If we fast forward to a few years ago then you might remember that another legendary British brand started to dabble in carbon fibre production. Hope Technology, a brand best known for British made CNC’d products, kicked off production of the HB160 enduro bike, followed by the HB130 this year and a collection of carbon components too.
Now, with the 2020 Olympics just around the corner, and these two brands announcing a partnership it doesn’t take much to imagine that Hope Technology could be manufacturing a modern carbon Lotus 110 using current manufacturing methods and technology.
Not only could a modern version of the Lotus 110 frame be more advanced, lighter, and stiffer, the components hanging off the frame could be custom made by Hope to make the most of new technology, for improved performance and aerodynamics.
I have already reached out to Geely, the Chinese brand which owns Lotus, to see if they can confirm any of the details and we will also be in touch with Hope to see if they can shed any light on the project too.
In the meantime, the official press release is pasted below, and the comments section is open for you guy’s to speculate with us.
(Hethel, UK – 22 October 2019) – Internationally recognised automotive consultancy Lotus Engineering and world-leading bicycle component manufacturer Hope Technology have announced an exciting new partnership.
The joint venture has been established to explore new ways to push the boundaries of bicycle design and technology. At its heart will be a collaborative programme of research and development, data analysis and knowledge-sharing, covering topics such as lightweight engineering, aerodynamics and advanced material manufacturing.
Lotus Engineering is the internationally recognised automotive consultancy division of Group Lotus, best known globally for its iconic British performance cars. The current range – the Elise, Exige and Evora – are the spiritual successors to legendary Lotus models such as the Esprit, Elan and Elite, still much-loved around the world. Earlier this year Lotus revealed the Evija, an all-electric two-seater that will go on sale next year. With a target figure of 2,000 PS, it will be the world’s most powerful series production road car ever. Other new Lotus models will follow.
Group Lotus is based in Hethel, Norfolk, where it employs more than 1,000 people. The innovative engineering approach and problem-solving expertise of Lotus Engineering consultancy has covered sectors ranging from aerospace and medical research to furniture, boat-building and many other aspects of industrial design.
While Lotus is best known as a car company, it has a proud and highly successful history in cycling through its Lotus Engineering division. In the Nineties, Lotus was instrumental in the design and development of bikes for cycling legend Chris Boardman at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, where he won gold, and in the 1994 Tour de France, where he won the prologue time trial to the famous yellow jersey. The Lotus Sport bike – instantly recognisable for its aerodynamic design – remains to this day an iconic symbol of outstanding British sporting success.
Hope Technology is a well-established and highly regarded British brand that’s fully ensconced within the cycling industry and has always built its business and its reputation on making top-quality products. It has been designing, creating, manufacturing and testing innovative components for bikes at its Lancashire HQ for 30 years. Countless British bikes and riders have benefitted from Hope products and today the business exports around half of its output. After years of success in racing, it has recently moved into making complete, ready-to-ride bikes.
Phil Popham, CEO, Group Lotus, said: “Lotus is thrilled to be back in cycling for the first time in 25 years. Innovation and ingenuity have always been part of the Lotus DNA, and working in collaboration with Hope is a fantastic illustration of how the Lotus Engineering consultancy can support projects outside of the automotive sector.”
Ian Weatherill, Managing Director, Hope Technology, said: “When we started making innovative, highly-spec’ed disc brakes, back in the late Eighties, we didn’t imagine that Hope Technology would evolve into what it is today – a company with more than 150 employees hand-crafting components for both mountain and road bikes, 24-7. We are proud to have stuck rigidly to our philosophy, relentlessly pursuing only the best possible products. To be partnering with Lotus is certainly a great place to find ourselves in 2019, and it’s an exciting time for us all.”
To find out more about Lotus Engineering visit www.lotuscars.com/engineering
To find out more about HOPE visit www.hopetech.com
Lotus Cars
Comments (11)
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What about Hope using the Lotus hydro-forming extrusion technology and epoxy bonding techniques as found on the Elise monotub chassis?
Why would they do that? Better choice would be to use Hope to make a Carbon elise tub (yes I know there is already a third party one).
In principal it’s lighter than welding but a lot cheaper than carbon. Not sure it would be novel enough to warrant a joint project though, plenty of motorbike manufacturers do similar things.
Team GB are on Cervelo’s till the end of 2020 though, so it’s not for this Olympics if it is a track bike. But given the nightmare they’ve had with Cervelo it wouldn’t surprise if they were going back to an in house bike.
Visited the Hope factory last month, saw some interesting big CNC moulds…. 🙂
“Better choice would be to use Hope to make a Carbon Elise tub”
The bonded, extruded aluminium chassis Lotus use for their cars gives away very little to a carbon tub so its far more economically viable to carry on using that. I believe I’ve read the old CEO of Lotus, Jean Mark Gilles say the Elise tub is only 4kg heavier than Alfa 4C tub. I don’t know about comparable stiffness but I’ve not read any reviews wanting more stiffness from a the Elise chassis. Or an Evora chassis for that matter, so the system has the ability to scale upto the bigger heavier cars and still perform.
@bollox64 – ohh tell us more! CNC moulds for bike stuff or car stuff?
They definitely aren’t making the wheels or hubs I know the man who is.
New TT bike ? Sack off the backward looking UCI and make a mega tidy UK made tri specific bike…. please.
After all you dont really want aero to come into Mtb do you ?
It all sounds very interesting but there are other designers and manufacturers out there working on designs inspired by the 108. Checkout Collin Allie on Instagram for his look into the future
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4As17hhlOc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Typo: “Collin Allin”
Collin Allin image looks like a cross between a Ventum and a speedmax (or Scott Plasma… or several other bikes). But without the useful hydration tank of the Ventum or storage options on the Speedmax or Plasma.
A rip off of a patented design from a few years ago it transpires, and from another source it seems planet x even once had a concept time trial bike with a similar fork.