THIS BIKE IS CURRENTLY NOT FOR SALE... BESIDES YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE THE SAME SIZE AS ME OR SMALLER TO RIDE IT. This is my dream bike... sitting in my basement collecting dust. I am
wondering if I should sell it. Perhaps next season if I am in shape
I can ride a fast IM time... I think a sub 4:50 would be in order for
this frame. Below is the add as it was on Ebay when I bought it a few years ago.. I have ridden it a couple of times and the thing FLIES LIKE NOTHING ELSE... (sounds like a Javelin ad) ... seriously, you can feel the aero frame work. My friend and I were going the same speed and we coasted down a hill (I know not very scientific) but I pulled away like crazy and I weigh much less AND HE IS ALSO VERY AERO - he was using a gt vengance with a disk and a hed 3 - just like me.
Here is that ebay ad -- as it was written by the seller a few years back:
I am offering a complete Lotus superbike frame and fork, identical to the one used by Chis Boardman in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and, later, during his career with the GAN team. This frame was purchased directly from Lotus UK, the world famous sports car manufactures, fro their HQ in Hethell, Norfolk. It was used as a display model in their showroom and was labeled as “Lotus Superbike No. 2”. It was also the bike used for the promotional visits and advertising; if you were at the Milan Bike show, this is the bike you would have seen, as well as it being reviewed in Bicycling, Performance Cyclist and Cycle Sport. I must stress, this is an original Lotus; later copies were made, under license in South Africa for Eddy Merckx, but this is one of the first. Designed by the legendary Mike Burrows, the creator of bikes as diverse as the Aston Martin pursuit machine for Tony Doyle to the Giant ONCE team bikes ridden in the tour, the Lotus stands as perhaps the ultimate in bicycle design, with it’s “one size fits all” philosophy and complete use of carbon fibre and monoccoque frame. It is interesting to note, the attention to detail which went into this bike, in that Burrows even varied the number of threads within the carbon fibre so that it was stronger only at stress points, so as to keep weight down to a bare minimum. The bike I am offering was purchased by myself, off a club mate some seven years ago. It was ridden only for a small number of time trials before it came into my possession, and I doubt if it has covered any more than 200 miles in total. The measurements are as follows; Head Tube, 12cm, Seat tube (from centre of bottom bracket to top of seat clamp), 75cm and Top tube, 55cm. I am 6foot tall and I fit this bike fine, using a look ergostem and 170mm cranks. If you are 5’10” to 6’, it can be ridden with a shallow “Flite” style saddle; taller than 6’, then I would simply use a higher “turbo” type saddle. The seat clamp is the original prototype design, drilled into the seat-tube and just the same as Boardman’s, less his trademark Union Jack graphics. (note I bought a forward design from airo international in 2003 and his claim of this clamp being original is backed up by the fact that the new forward clamp works but the old drill holes to fit the original clamp are very slightly too big – it works with both posts, it is just a little off because the new clamp is for the mass-produced version) Likewise the headset is a specially adapted Tange model, which can be adjusted and removed, with a built in grub screw. If you are looking for a design classic of the 20th century to hang over your mantelpiece) which is what I did with it!) or just want to ride and race on the world’s quickest bike, you will not find better. I ship worldwide, buyer pays postage and take pay pal, US$ or UK (do not have the symbol for British Pounds). Payment must be arranged within 3 days of the winning bid and more photographs and information available on request.