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

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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