Home > Other Fun Stuff > Prototypes & Concepts

Fork Scallops, Split Post, Swoopy Bars make a Wilder & Faster Hope x Lotus HB.T Track Bike!

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, teaser
15 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

UCI Worlds are around the corner in Glasgow, and a new generation of the Hope x Lotus HB.T carbon & 3D-printed titanium track bike promises to make British Cycling faster than ever. The HB.T was already wildly – and widely – innovative with its uniquely splayed-out fork legs and seatstays, but it’s even wilder-still in 2023 with new scalloped fork blades, a bent & split aero seatpost, and several new customized swooping carbon bars for sprint & pursuit racing…

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T carbon track bike

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, Tem GB training in velodrome
c. British Cycling, all photos by SWPix

The UCI Cycling World Championships kick off this week in Scotland, and we’re starting to see more new track bike tech than we’ve seen in a while. And that essentially boils down to the fact that any company looking to race new bikes or components in next summer’s Paris 2024 Olympics have been informed by the UCI that they must be raced this summer at Worlds in order to be eligible to race next summer in Paris. So some national teams have been scrambling with their equipment partners to get next-gen track bikes ready, with the Olympics on the line.

According to British Cycling, “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“, including bike and clothing.

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, angled

On the track bike update, that includes a new version of the Hope x Lotus HB.T track bike where the wide-set frame appears mostly unchanged since it was ridden by Team GB to the highest tally of medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, albeit with some apparent seatstay and headtube refinements. But it gets an all-new fork, and all-new seatpost, and at least a couple of new handlebars, as well.

What’s new?

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, split seatpost

Let’s start with new split aerodynamic seatpost since that was the first that caught our attention – adorned with the name Renishaw, the additive manufacturing company behind the track bike’s 3D-printed elements. With a new kinked and hollow shape, it somehow reminds me of the new Madone, even if it’s almost an opposite design.

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, split Twin Seat Post

But the idea is similar to the bike’s wide stays – let smooth air move unrestricted in the middle, and move turbulent airflow out near the rider’s spinning legs.

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, new scalloped fork

Even more interesting though, might be the reshaped fork where the entire trailing edge of the fork legs now get biomimicry-inspired scallops designed to smooth and extend laminar airflow off the fork by moving the air’s separation point further back on the airfoil shape. Interestingly, it looks like the scallops extend both in carbon & 3D-printed titanium off the entire rear length of the fork and its crown.

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, new dropouts

The new fork also has a much cleaner curve at its lowest point, now curving its carbon legs down just to meet the axle, with the bolt-on axle now more smoothly integrated in an arc at the hub.

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, sprint bar

Up top, a new sprint dropbar curves forward and up out of its integrated stem to meet grips for the rider, with no traditional crossbar for the handlebar. Again, it appears that the bar is a single piece that includes the upper extensions of the fork legs, the top crown of the fork, the stem, and the bars themselves.

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, pursuit bar

There is also a less dramatically-shaped pursuit base bar, onto which custom risers & extensions are made to fit each athlete. While the base bar is painted black and appears to be made of some 3D-printed metal, various photos of different Team GB pursuit bar setups could suggest either 3D-printed ti or carbon for different racers.

Hope x Lotus HB.T – Pricing, options & availability

2023 Hope x Lotus HB.T next-gen custom 3d-printed ti & carbon aero track bike for UCI Worlds Glasgow, complete

Another iteration of the Hope x Lotus HB.T carbon track bike is here, and it is still made-in-the-UK, and still a bike you can actually buy… if you have the budget. The standard frameset sells for £25,000 +VAT in either a pursuit, omnium, or sprint setup. Adding either the new “Twin Seat Post” or the new ” Standard Lotus 3D printed fork” will add another £2000 each, plus tax. Hope disc and a tri-spoke front wheel are also available for £5200-5400 for a set.

HopeTech.com & BritishCycling.org.uk

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

15 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Andreas
Andreas
1 year ago

for sale for compliance only it seems, but who can argue with aero AF? =)

Oliver
Oliver
1 year ago
Reply to  Andreas

You could certainly buy the old one if you had the cash. I know someone with one hanging on their wall – they wanted it as art rather than to ride.

Bob Flemming
Bob Flemming
1 year ago
Reply to  Oliver

Like nailing a fish to the wall as art… Coulda had an 80s Cinelli for way less, way nicer looking than this thing.

JNH
JNH
1 year ago
Reply to  Andreas

If you’ve got £37k-ish sitting around (inc tax) they will build you one to order. Although I’d rather have the HB130 for about £30k less.

K.M.
K.M.
1 year ago

No 27.2 version for the seatpost!? Bummer.

blahblahblah
blahblahblah
1 year ago

plenty of room for 230mm tires

Oliver
Oliver
1 year ago

Price is an incredible bargain compared with the mass produced identikit stuff produced for big brands (at $250-300 a pop) in Chinese factories and sold for $6-8k.

Fake Namerton
Fake Namerton
1 year ago
Reply to  Oliver

I mean if you’re at the level where you need a bike like this then it’s paid for by sponsors. I guess this is like those GYTR Yamaha R1 WSBK bikes where other race teams in lesser series can buy them but I mean are there really lesser series in Track racing?

JNH
JNH
1 year ago
Reply to  Fake Namerton

Here in the UK at least there is plenty of club level track racing. I pity anyone who turns up on one of these if they fail to destroy the competition.

Last edited 1 year ago by JNH
Fake Namerton
Fake Namerton
1 year ago
Reply to  JNH

Yeah but that’s like amateur racing right? The motorcycle example I’m using is like the British super bike championship teams which are professional teams. If you’re at that level surely you’re a pro.

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

The UCI would regulate the length of socks because of “unfair aerodynamic advantage” but when it comes to the bikes…..

Brian B
Brian B
1 year ago

I’ll wait for the gravel version. Then complain there is no suspension.

Tom
Tom
1 year ago

so disappointed – no mention of vertical compliance, or lateral stiffness.

Neo
Neo
1 year ago

At least you can buy the simmons racing saddle

Doc Sarvis
Doc Sarvis
1 year ago

Or about 12k per crash.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.