British Cycling can today reveal the cutting-edge bike to be ridden by Great Britain’s track cyclists at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, ahead of its competition debut at next week’s 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow.
The Hope-Lotus track bike is the product of a long-standing collaboration between British Cycling, Lotus Engineering, Renishaw and Hope Technology. This is an evolution of the bike that Team GB rode to take the top spot of the track cycling medal table at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Since then, British Cycling has continued to collaborate with the best of British engineering, culminating in a bike that has been meticulously designed and optimised to deliver improved track performance at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The bike has been through rigorous testing to optimise its individual elements, including unique Lotus forks and handlebars that allow for increased aerodynamic porosity, coupled with the Hope HBT Paris frame which includes refinements to headstock and seatstays. Additive manufacturing experts Renishaw provided additional support in the design and production of wind tunnel models and other crucial components.
Eagle-eyed spectators will be able to see the bike in action with less than a year to go until the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, as part of seven days of track cycling action in Glasgow, which will see a squad including five of the track cycling medallists from the Tokyo Games, fight it out amongst the best in the world for the coveted rainbow stripes.
Nations are required to follow a homologation process which requires teams to register track cycling equipment and textiles with the UCI to permit legal use at the Olympic Games, by a specified deadline. The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships will see 64 pieces of kit and equipment in total homologated for the Great Britain Cycling Team for potential use at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Great Britain Cycling Team Performance Director, Stephen Park CBE said:
“To continue to win medals year-on-year at the highest level, we need everything to come together at exactly the right time: the best riders, the best equipment, the best technology. We have been working with Lotus, Hope and Renishaw for the past two Olympic cycles as we believe that together we have the world-leading expertise needed to deliver what we believe to be the fastest track bike in the world.
“Homologating the bike at these momentous world championships is the next step to getting the bike track-ready for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where we hope to surpass the table-topping seven medals we brought back from Tokyo 2020. A huge amount of work has gone into the bike, from our valued partners, our in-house team and testing in our state-of-the-art wind tunnel, in order to make sure our riders get to the start line of the biggest sporting event there is with the best possible chance of standing on the top of that podium.
“Our relationship with Lotus Engineering, Hope Technology and Renishaw is going from strength to strength. Their combined high quality manufacturing standards, renowned lightweight design, aerodynamic efficiency and their keen eye for finer details help us to unlock valuable marginal gains, which make all the difference come race day. This is the most advanced bike that has ever been ridden by British athletes.”
Mark Stringer, Commercial Director, Lotus Engineering said:
“Lotus is proud to have again played its part in helping British Cycling push the boundaries of sporting performance in the quest for Olympic medals. It’s the perfect demonstration of our ability to transfer the skills and knowledge we’ve gained through 75 years of automotive development to bring a new perspective to other industries. Through the deployment of our expertise, innovation, tools, techniques and processes developed to engineer high-performance Lotus cars, we’ve been able to deliver efficiencies to give British track riders the best possible opportunity for success.”
Lotus has a successful history in cycling through its Lotus Engineering division. Innovations include the early Lotus sports bikes used by cycling legend Chris Boardman in the nineties, the iconic Lotus type 108 in the noughties, through to the Hope-Lotus collaborations.
Ian Weatherill, Co-owner of Hope Technology said:
“Hope continued to work with British Cycling to further develop the HBT track bike frame following its initial success at the Tokyo Olympics. The whole Hope workforce, based in Barnoldswick, Lancashire is proud to have helped design and then manufacture the frame in house in the UK to continue British success in international competition.”
Louise Callanan, Director of Additive Manufacturing, Renishaw said:
“We have been busy designing, testing and building components for the new bike and we are really excited to see it in competitive action for the first time at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. Working with British Cycling is a fantastic opportunity to showcase how our additive manufacturing technologies can help improve the performance of the bike and ensure that it is optimised for individual riders.”
The delivery of the Hope-Lotus track bike would not be possible without the support of UK Sport and National Lottery funding. UK Sports Institute also work with the Great Britain Cycling Team to research and refine bike design. This research and development work covers all aspects of bike design from aerodynamics to ergonomics.
