Lotus motorcycle

they going to make that CF tank ethanol proof? :huh

I'm in the Ferrari business, and spend a lot of time in the FF, and have tracked the car a number of times, including the COTA F1 circuit, and it's a fantastic machine. It's the car I'd pick to own of our current models.

Ask yourself this.

Who owns Lotus?

Is the designer of the Tron bike qualified as a motorcycle designer?

Is this just a design exercise to generate media interest in a concept bike and grab column inches for a brand that has lost its core values?

Are you being manipulated?

Enjoy that fake beer.

Define 'qualified'.

Whether it's a design exercise or not, I'd just like to see it come to fruition at a lower price than MOTUS. Then again, the industry does have a way of waving that carrot without delivering (Sachs Beast, Suzuki Nuda, Yamaha Falcorustyco, recent Guzzi concepts).

'Fake beer'? Tsingtao has more formaldehyde in it than the Beck's I'm holding.

PS, we're ALL being manipulated in some form or another.

Honda, Suzuki, BMW, Audi/Ducati, build both & have had some serious success in both worlds. (Audi/Ducati remains to be seen)

I'm not so keen.

Not good. Colin Chapman is on spin cycle right now.:eek1

Not what I imagined when I envisioned Colin Chapman's philosophy (light weight and supreme handling over raw horsepower) applied to a motorcycle. This looks like a Goodyear blimp on wheels. Can we please just un-see these photos and go back to the teaser shot (when we still had hope)?

Look at some of the pieces:

- A C-F exo-skeleton chassis (lighter and stronger);

- Oval front forks (better at managing flex than round tubes, and more aerodynamic)

There could be some goodness here. It may not result in this particular bike, but maybe some of these ideas could become things we expect in ten years.

Boooring. It's an overstyled steampunk-ish design excercise.

Exo-skeleton = instant frame damage at a minor tip over. And it has been done before with various grades of failure, no one ever saw any chance for it to work and abandoned it. And it is not an exoskeleton, it's just carbon fiber fairings, you can see all the dzus fastener holding them on to the bike.

Oval forks? I wonder why no one has bothered with that, and it just looks like fork covers, like you'd have on a Harley. If someone was actually committed to making oval forks, I'd expect it to be a company with experience designing motorcycle suspensions, like Öhlins, Showa, even Kayaba, not a design studio that has nothing more than a CGI model to show to the world.

Dual rear shocks?

That is some powerful optimism you are sporting there my friend

As to the Colin Chapman references...well, he was a lot like a certain chap named Ferrari. Road going machines were purely built to fund racing endeavors. My first reaction was the same...no WAY Colin would have approved but then I thought better of that. IF he could have turned a buck on this thing, I suspect he might have.

A total disaster:eek1

That must be the touring seat on it.

I heard Morgan is getting into the motorcycle business too.

I don't see how Lotus could do anything more extreme than a Gixxer or MV Augusta. There is no technology they can adapt that will make them stand out from the crowd at the super premium price they will require for a low volume product. Maybe if they could summon John Britten back from the dead.....

"In 1990 the ban was lifted and Lotus became involved in the engineering. In the 1993 Barcelona Olympics the bike was ridden by Chris Boardman when he set a new world record for the 400m pursuit. "

Lots
Of
Trouble
Usually
Serious

Honestly there is nothing "extreme" about an MV Agusta, it's just up there with the other literbikes. What truly stands out is the craftmanship and design, IMHO they make Ducatis and Aprilias looke cheap and unrefined.

I really doubt any new comer could actually make a difference in the superbike market as it stands right now. BMW came up with the strongest engine, but what really set it apart was the electronics package, and everybody is catching up now.

Rumors said it would be this :



I pretty much blow this shit off anymore. MAC Motorcycle has been talking almost a decade of bringing out a thumper road bike. Nothing. Norton ? Still non running showroom models. The Lotus? TALK IS CHEAP. Leaked internet photos? STUPID. Yesterday I got a tire changed at my local dealer and a salesman tried to tell me They'll be selling BSAs. Under my breath with my helmet on I couldn't resist to mildly tell him to f*ck off and he's a liar. And in many cases it's the British Marques with the rumors.