Lotus 110

About 4 years ago, I started collecting bikes with the view to opening a free entry museum/coffestop/workshop in my retirement.
I decided to concentrate on the 80's and 90's, as there was an array of steel,alloy,carbon and titanium, and bike designs were free, as was wheel size.
Well the collection has grown quite quickly , to where I now have around 65 bikes, including pro team bikes,Olympic games road and track bikes, and a lot of ground breaking (at the time) bikes.
But one had always eluded me....the Lotus.
I was fortunate enough recently, to have been put onto someone who had one. He was selling complete (modern build) but I negotiated frame/fork only, as I knew a 'period' build was the way to go.
And so, I finally have a Lotus 110, and decided on a 'Chris Boardman' build, similar to what he rode at the 1994 World Championship TT.
So the build is:
Lotus 110 frame and fork
Mavic Comete carbon rear disc wheel
Mavic 3G carbon front wheel
Mavic Starfish (631) cranks
Mavic Zap Electronic rear derailleur
Mavic Zap (862) front derailleur
Mavic Zap (451) brakes and brake levers)
Look ergostem
Mavic Bullhorn handlebars
Mavic (357) aero bars (cut down)
Shimano bar end shifter
Mavic Zap electronic button shifter
Selle Italia Flite saddle (wil put a Flite Max saddle on if I can find a good one)
There are a few details still to complete...the tape is too thick so bars need retaping, Gears are operational, just need some fine tuning, and the all carbon fork required a couple of the stainless steel dropout protectors, so these are being machined

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More pics

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Handlebars sit a lot lower than in first pic, more like in the shot here

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Having trouble loading pics, so sorry for all the posts......

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And more

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Hipster thread >>>

Fantastic!

Sweet Jesus - never mind the frame, that collection of Mavic must've cost as much as Liberia's defecit!

Where's your museum?

So this

Whatever happens, don't let the Third Reich over in bike porn see this...

Holy crap. Where is this bike museum/cafe!!? If the rest of the collection is anywhere near this it will be outstanding....

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this, respect to your dedication in collating

Unfortunately for most of you, I am in New Zealand. But whenever you are down this way...come and see me!
If you want to see the bikes we have so far, check out Forza Bikes Classic Collection on Facebook, slowly managing to document most builds....including road and TT Lemond TVT92's (TT bike signed by Lemond) Look KG196 with Mavic Mektronic, NZ built Pearsons used at Barcelona Olympics, ex team MBK lotto SuperClub Lo pro, ex team Rock Racing De Rosa TT bike, Merckx Motorola,Concorde PDM, Vitus Carbone Lo pro 'KAS', ex team Polti TT bike, Moser Lo Pro's etc....... Currently adding a Kirk precision, Trimble Prototype with 24" front wheel (Brent Trimble...Pre Kestrel), BT Superbike .too many to list👍👍👍

did you source locally, or import?

Too much awesome in one thread...

Outstanding! Facebook page liked.

About 50/50, source local to importing. Surprising what people have in their sheds...my idea...get it out for everyone to see. All bikes have been ridden and will be available for others to ride.
It is hard to find bikes down here, hence having to import a lot.

where abouts in nz boss? is the museum open?

I'll pop round to ride this lotus asap :)

well done with the shed finds!, like the idea of you making bikes available to ride, an interactive museum!

liked on facebook as well. Great collection and concept!!

This is great. Thanks for sharing

Absolutely one of the coolest things on here. UCI seriously need to allow innovation back into the peloton, I don't get why everything has to be conformist now and to all look the same, meeting the same specifications etc...progress, huh?

Anyway, she's a lovely bike. Great find.

New Zealand you say? I've never been that far for a coffee before, but there's always a first time.