Lotus's legacy lives on

31 years on from Chris Boardman's pursuit gold in Barcelona, the car company enters the high-end e-bike market

- Simon Richardson

Lotus launched its latest bike last week, first at its car showroom in Mayfair and then the following day at Rouleur Live bike show in East London. The 136 is a brand new design, although with its wide fork legs and seatstays it looks like a slimmed-down road-going version of the current British track bike that itself was a joint project of Hope Technology and Lotus. The 136, however, is an e-bike, and the limited editions, all 136 of them, are on sale for £20,000.

Weighing in at 9.8kg, the frame houses a new drive system from Monaco-based HPS, which at just 300 grams (without the battery) could claim to be the more eye-catching piece of tech on display. Designed by long-term race car engineer Gary Anderson, the motor sits inside the bottom bracket shell with the brains located in the carbon tube that extends up the down tube. Used with a standard chainset, the unit is built to extremely tight tolerances and drives the chainset axle that slots through it.