Jon visited the Boardman Performance Centre in Evesham in the UK. Now this place offers wind tunnel testing, fitness testing and even bike fits, we sent Jon to check out three totally custom bikes, that only fit one rider in the world Chris Boardman, a rider who took technical advances to the next level and combined with his fitness and obsession of numbers broke world records.
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A few more geeky stats about this bike.
Believe it or not, it wasn’t all plain sailing to build this bike up
Originally only eighteen frames were made in total, one in 1991, four in 1992 and some more thereafter... I've managed to find out the serial numbers of some and a few facts about them.
1a was an unrideable prototype used in a wind tunnel,
2a was used at the Barcelona Olympics, presumably used by Boardman on the 27 July -when he broke the previous 4km individual pursuit world record by 4 seconds during qualification. And I cannot confirm, but I think he used it again during the quarter final ride the next day when he broke the world record, again. this time taking almost another 3 seconds off of his current world record.The 2a bike was also used in Leicester in August 1992 and set a 5000m world record! And was sold at Bonhams auction house!
2c was used by Boardman during the gold medal ride in Barcelona. Interestingly, no world record was set during this ride as Boardman caught his opponent Jens Lehman in the final and the race was over.
2b was used by fellow british pursuiter Shaun Wallace - In September 1992 he took a Silver at the world individual pursuit champs and there was a lot of pressure on him as the bike was deemed the original superbike, all the other nations seemed to want to beat Shaun because he was on one of these bikes and it appeared other nations had a point to prove.
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Photos: © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Bettiniphoto / www.bettiniphoto.net/
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I was hoping that you were going to ride it at an insane speed
Arispil really
No shit i was expecting it. Quick scroll through. All dribble.
Right? it's like reviewing the new fastest porsche car ever and not driving it nor even sitting on the driver seat
So glad I saw this comment before watching over 4 minutes. How annoying
Same
I was Rudy's technician at Lotus during the time he was involved in the Lotus bike project. I worked on the Boardman bike with Burrows and Hill, another ridden by Shaun Wallace and Byran Steele, and I built the 15 "replica's". I also spent some time on the 110. Good video.
You must be very proud, I'm not the biggest cycling fan but I love these videos. Amazing designs.
Sadly where are the brakes
@Bailey Watson Aight thanks for that now i understand
@@meowxsquared8678 it's a fixed gear i think...
MeowX Squared yes also as Phantom Noir says, the chain doesn’t ever shift (fixed gear) so movement of the pedals directly corresponds to movement of the rear wheel. To stop you just slow your pedaling until you can stop the pedals
Can some rich person or group just create a competing organization to the UCI and fund their own races that are counterpart to those of the UCI but without all the stupid rules to have more innovative bikes?
Braŭljo isn’t that what Ironman is doing in triathlon?
That would result clearly in recumbent bikes.
HPV - Human Powered Vehicle Association
Leroy Bishop Depends on the stage
It would just be recumbent cucumber racing
“Track cyclists are household names around the world” Me watching this while not knowing this sport even existed.
Lol
Yeah think household name was the incorrect phrase
do you know what velodrome is?
@@dleestrike5437 I do now :)
Ugly weak armed no chest men are sexy? To whom?
There was probably some guy hiding in the grass who tackles those people coming up from behind because they keep disappearing.
Well he is showing it off on an off-road track. Talk about showing a bike out of context. 🤣
@@girlsdrinkfeck bring a gun shoot all the other racers then drive to the finish line in a gocart
Hahahaha.! That got me, that did. Superb ! 😅
@MrXelium Hahaha wtf. Thanks for the giggles mate.
"track cyclists are almost household names around the world" Whats track cycling?
Yeah it mus t be only households with pro cyclists...
Fixed gear, no breaks.
Lol
@@jkjkhardcore666 ya same
Ohhhhhhh now I get it!. I thought track cycling was those kids you see riding along the side of railway lines.
to think that bike is nearly 30 years old, yet still looks so futuristic - hats off to lotus - timeless.
"They came up with this amazing innovation which revolutionised the spor-AND THEN IT WAS BANNED"
@John What's the point of all the rules? Either give every athlete the same bike to rule out all mechanical advantage or let them innovate new technologies to their content.
They (UCI) kind of decided: " Lets have rules where the best CYCLIST *can* win, and not the richest team "
@Lucas de Abreu bro, there's no use in arguing with these people, it's a complete slippery slope. ''this thing should be banned because it gives an 'unfair advantage' or 'this undermimes the human aspect of the race'. Using their own logic, you can quite easily argue ''training should be banned because it gives an unfair advantage over people who don't train'' or ''people with amazing genetics should be banned because their potential gives them an unfair advantage over the less gifted''.
Welcome to my life as a F1 fan lol
@@bearsoundzMusic it doesn't take a rich team to build a recumbent bike, or to have longer handlebar extensions. Banned anyway. The UCI just bans anything that doesn't fit their arbitrary definition of "true bicycling"
I didn’t think Road bikers would use that many stickers it would weigh them down too much
@Flowasky brown lol
Lol
"Race bikers"
Or too must wind resistance.
It was Chris Boardman that loaned Obree his helmet for the world championship final. Boardman was knocked out I recall by Obree. Obree was to face Emenault as I recall in the final. Boardman reckoned his custom helmet was better than Obree's so loaned it to him. He later said that at least he had something in the final. Obree won. You can see the helmet in use on a youtube video. Obree is often seen as a bit of a joke, not helped I thought by the whimsical image of him in British newspapers, wearing leggings, stood cross legged shouldering Old faithful. In contrast Obree, when he broke the hour record was treated to pages of heroic images in L'Equipe celebrating his record. The British press focussed on the washing machine derived bike, in fact it was only the bearings the bottom bracket ran on, rather than the supreme athlete Obree was. Those days were ace, I loved them, but I was much younger and faster too.
Steve Bretnall Boardman did a test recently on his positions. The tuck, the Superman, and a modern day TT position. I think the findings meant that the main reason Obree was soo good is because his position was much, much better than others. He didn’t win because of his athletic abilities, but because of his incredible ability to think outside of the box. (But I could be misremembering)
@@AKindChap I agree the positions were a big part of Obree's winning ways. But, applying the logic that the positions were the main part of it suggest anyone could win a world title on a bike with a radical position. I do take your point though. I do remember in 1992 at a weekend '25 in Cheshire talking to one of my competitors saying, and due to the passage of time I paraphrase a little, "Boardman would have beaten Lehman had he been riding a childs trike". Good debate matter though and you are quite right. I still reckon Obree was a super athlete. I saw him once at a time trial with his skin suit tied around his waste. He had veins on the outside of his body. he was that lean. I bet he could still ride most national TT champ riders under the table.
@@AKindChap, Obree was an incredible innovator, but a supreme athlete. I'm pretty sure that when he went to Norway to try to break the hour record and failed, he came back the next day and then beat it. 2 hour record attempts on consecutive days? That must take phenomenal mental and physical strength. Obree was every bit the athlete that Boardman was, and did it without the help of coaches and scientists and with next to no money either. A remarkable man.
@@alastairmerrill9349 Amen brother. It was Hamar, I think. In the film and book, The flying Scotsman Obree told the story of the first failed attempt. As a long time admirer of Obree and advocate of his methods I was only ever suspicious of Obree because of the night after the failed attempt, but before the successful attempt. Obree told how he trained every two hours to prevent stiffening up. To ensure he woke, Obree drank a pint or so of water, his bladder would then wake him. At that time in the nineties, the accepted method of preventing heart failure due to blood thickening was to do exactly that, blood thickening we now know was due to the presence of EPO in the blood stream. Rival teams reported how they could hear Dutch riders using turbo trainers in the dead of the night and that followed a spate of deaths suffered by otherwise very fit young Dutch riders. Did Obree dope? we'll never know. What I do know is that if I had a daughter, Obree would be welcome to marry her any time.
@@Servicevelo , I didn't know that about (Obree) getting up repeatedly in the night in between the 2 record attempts, but I do remember the stories of riders spinning on turbos at night to stop their blood thickening due to EPO. At the time, and still now, I never doubted his integrity as an athlete. His lack of results for the short time he rode for Le Groupement suggested to me that the reason he wasn't competitive amongst the Pros was because he wasn't juiced. I also interpreted his sacking by Le Groupement for 'unprofessionalism' as a euphemism for not getting with the programme and doping like the majority of the peloton at the time (although I don't doubt for a minute that he was a challenge to manage - I think it's likely he was very insular, not much of a team player, and probably quite a prickly personality. Similarly with Boardman - he did well in (I think) the Dauphine, but anything longer than a week and he was right off the back. His inability to recover in longer races suggested to me that he didn't have the 'help' that the other Pros did. For me there are no question marks over their cleanliness as athletes.
That was great, thank you Jon and the GCN Tech team. I love these in depth historical pieces and the enthusiasm with which they are presented. Any chance of a chat with Mike Burrows, I seem to recall that he was something of a character? Keep up the great work.
OMG, from 11:13 I realized what I have watched was just half of such a packed, full detailed, informative video. Hats off to you Jon and GCN.
Give this video an award! That was fantastic. So much eye candy and so much detailed history of the sport we all love. Great! Well done.
I hate it when better tech gets banned. I want to see insane speeds.
The talks are faster than the Bike.
HAHAHAH burn
slow ears likely
Well that's the only thing moving... 😜
Oooooffffffffffff
Faster than john green 🤔?
Really enjoy Jon's passion for bikes. Such a good episode.
Niiiice! Awesome video Jon, one of your best yet! 👏👏👏 Probably mentioned already in the comments but a vid on Obree would be great. And other track history too like the Cinelli Laser pista and the Nitto brand too #thanks
Finally, finally, someone explains the full history of the best bike ever. Finally. You forgot to mention that the wheels were not aligned in the lotus, they were not tracing the same line, one wheel was a few millimeters parallel to the other one, parallel, not in the same line. Burrows knows this. Prototypes.
faster =/= best
What does that achieve? Not really expecting an answer tho tbh
@@sleepdeep305 ye, why parallel tho If aligned wheels are more aero
@@aurboda indeed, this one was the best=most innovative. fastest, I dont know, I don't have data, but probably wiggins bie was less innovative and maybe still faster than this... I don't know. This one was banned. New track bikes too restricted.
@@honeydewbadger832 it was an error on the hub production, not intended, made the bike worse, a tiny little bit worse.
This should have a sub title: "The history of Lotus Bikes"
Few things I love more than these looks at the golden era of two wheeled weapons. I've got to say that I'd sell my left crank for a Graeme Obree special. Always been an idol of mine.
I raced against Rudy in FF1600 in the mid 80's - he had a few tales to tell, so not surprised he made a successful pitch to the board.
Great to hear
Graeme Obree made some of the most incredible pioneering bikes. He practically invented the ‘superman’ position.
Love videos on the history of cycling, keep it up! Also Ive probably made this comment before but those Lotus bikes are just stunning, and the Lotus 108 is the greatest of them all.
One of the best things you lot have ever done! That was emosh! ✌️❤️
How about the Australian RMIT superbike? 3 beautiful track bikes there John great video. When do we get to see the private collection at home in your bike cave?
Fantastic video Jon! Very interesting, and fascinating stuff. A suggestion for another video would be the tech involved with Marshall “Major” Taylor and how he set records in track cycling in 1899 and before. That is something I would love to see you or the GCN show do, and now that you have Jeromy in New England, it should be an easy shoot. No visa issues, although we would love to see you in the US.
Michael Albany || Fully agreed. I'm surprised how many people don't know about Taylor tbh, but this would make for a fun video
Yeeeeeees pls!!!
Yes, Taylor a total legend and encountered such dreadful prejudice and still it carries on. Cycling very white. We need a Tiger Woods. Without the crashes……
Mike Burrows brought the Lotus bike to a recumbent meet and informal race, back in 1992. At the time, I was on a Kingcycle Bean and Mike was on his usual wonderful WindCheetah. He had brought along the Boardman Olympic Lotus bike and offered to let any of us try it. Bloody difficult, but a great experience nonetheless. Thank you Jon for your fascinating video that has brought back some wonderful memories for me.
Love your knowledge of these bikes. You are very entertaining with your clear crisp voice and I thank you for this vid.
Great video Jon and GCN team! Loved the history behind the bikes and seeing Jon's passion. Well done!
The uci is like the teachers pet that tells on everyone for things they shouldn’t even get in trouble for and thinks that something is wrong as soon as the classmates get comfortable and start having fun
Your enthusiasm makes this video even more watchable. Spot on!
Valve positions on the Corima, just a nice.
That bike(the Lotus) screams PERFORMANCE!!! Beautiful, thanks for sharing. The flat tires are killing me!
I got to ride the Lotus on Manchester velodrome when I was 17 back in 99 doing some testing for junior GB team. Keith, Chris's dad lent me the bike and it was so stiff and fast to ride. Great times :-) I was also there when Chris broke the hour record in Manchester, fantastic atmosphere - truly electric :-)
Great video made even better by Jon's passion for these bikes.
I wish they had a bike race where the only rules are: - Has to be entirely manpowered with 1 rider - Can’t be more than 5 feet wide - Cannot come with features to intentionally sabotage/harm other racers You would probably get a whole bunch of wacky innovative designs that way setting new worlds records for the fastest manpowered road vehicle every year. Now that would be something truly fascinating to watch as a spectator and a lot of fun to be apart of as a designer.
Fantastic video, I remember the Lotus bikes from my childhood and it was great to find out so much about them. Such a shame the UCI banned them.
“Brittan had what could only be described has a heat wave, i guess the weather was over 20°” 😂
I don't know who Brittan is, but if he lives in Britain, he rarely gets a suntan.
Best GCN Tech ever! Great job!
Can't believe that the Bryan Steele versus O'Bree race was omitted, Steele on Boardman's Lotus, O'Bree on 'old faithful pulling his foot out of the pedal allowing Steele a massive advantage. However O'Bree pulled him back and next time out he had bonded his shoes to the pedals, sheer genius!
I've seen that Corima Cougar IRL and, even with the... 'funky' yellow paintjob it is one damn machine!
Very interesting. I would love to see a clip on Moulton bikes and their use in racing. Moultons are much underrated road bikes IMHO.
Very nice video. thanks a lot for the truckload of information. I love the 90's timetrial-bikes. Maybe you can get a hand on some of the pinarello-TT bikes used by team telekom?
Learnt loads from this video. Very informative. Thank you
Amazing bike! I saw one of them at the design museum and it's truly awe-inspiring. Also it's ok to say Union Jack, in 1902 the Admiralty declared the terms to be interchangeable so either is fine! 🇬🇧
that was one hundred and twenty years ago elisabeth
@@lean4real_11 So?
Watching Chris at Barcelona in 1992 got me into cycle racing, Chris and Graeme were hero’s of mine. Then in 1997 I had the honour to ride for the North Wirral Velo team. But secretly I wished I’d got to ride for Leo Shorter Rochford which were Graeme’s team. I had a sneaking suspicion were also interested. 😉 If you’ve covered Boardman bikes it’s gotta be Graeme’s next.
Watching a video of Obree in 1993 is what got me into cycling, except I saw it around 2015!!
This guy really did his homework and even recognizes the "dudes who woke up early" to work on the remarkable composite frames. Fantastic video.
Chris Boardman became a cycling hero of the 10 year old me when watching the 92 Olympics on TV, and remains a cycling hero of mine to this day - increasingly so now for his work off the bike. A bona fide legend.
Agree. Chris was/is the real deal, a national treasure.
You are so passionate! I love it!
After watching this video, I really would like the UCI to relax their frame design rules. Just imagine the many innovative bikes people would think up and create!
I guess they are afraid dangerous bike designs might emerge, or something.
Sadly I think they would be super ugly. We know too much about aero now, and aero ain’t pretty.
Wonderful piece of history Jon, many thanks mate!
you're welcome. Jon
Always good stuff, Jon.
Oooh JonnyTech, you're a fan of Sir Roger Moore too? You keep raising the bar!! Nice vid.
7:30... WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU! . . . Thx. Great video as usual.
Great video and topic Jon!
Great video! I must say the reason my son and I live bicycles are the Tour de France winners. Greg Lemond fir my son and all of the great riders of the 50's for me. Thanks 👍
'front fork' - more like 'front knife'
love those two marvels, thanks for yet another very interesting video, time to subdcribe!
This is an excellent video, a job very well done. Boardman and Obree (and Lemond) inspired me at the time, and still do now.
Glad you like it
Good vid, to add:- The picture you have of Obree @16:06 was not when he set the hour record, this was his first attempt on a bike built by Burrows. Obree packed on that run and went again the following day on ''Old Faithful'', his bike which he built famously using the bearings from his washing machine. His recovery that evening between the two runs was doing a load of stretching, eating some cornflakes and drinking a load of water. He would get up needing a pee, afterwards was then a load of stretching, cornflakes and water. The following day history was made at Hamar, Norway. That third bike's design ''Superman'' was taken from Obree after the UCI outlawed his tuck position so he went away and came back with the superman position - which was then banned.
"The only way Germany could keep up was to supply the tyres." Lmao 😆👌
I dont even follow this kind of cycling but found this video fascinating. Well done.
I need to find someone who loves me as much as Jon loves bikes 🥰 Good stuff @GCN !!
Fantastic, thanks for this video
My favorite fast bike was the obrees bike. Just amazing out of box thinking and performance too.
You've overlooked the No. 1 washing machine bike designed and ridden by the genius Graeme Obree.
Naah, Mike Burrows Lotus is better. And Graeme Obree cant beat Mike Burrows genius in thinking outside UCI rules, because Mike embrqces recumbents and fairings
@@taufikabidin412 But then Mike Burrows never held the one hour record on any bike, and Chris Boardman didn't design and build his own record breaking bike. Both of which Obree himself did. I have a lot of respect for all three men and their individual achievements.
@@another3997 Officially maybe, but we dont know unofficial ones, especially if UCI rules are thrown out of the window as Mike Burtows himself participate in races and also train. Knowing recumbents and fairing, he probably has some persobal records. Furthermore, this is about the bike. Obree might be the better athlete, but Burrows bikes, either UCI legal or illegal are superior and have lasting impacts
Hello. Please make a video about the Battaglin Piranha and similar bikes that were used in open road time trials during the grand tours, back in the day. Thank you. This was an awesome video btw :)
Fantastic piece of info and history 👍
Love those retro time trial bike. Still got my old giant ocr timetrial bike and ride it almost every week. Great video :)
Had that Lotus outside my office door for a couple of years, always smiled when I looked at it
The Lotus bike that got me into cycling. I remember Halfords owned one and they would have it on display in a glass case for few weeks on the opening of their stores. The 19mm Continental Olympics B’s back in the day were £100 each!
Hello great great video! I'd love to see like others suggested the history of Nitto, maybe some info on framebuilder Yamaguchi, for sure a video on Graeme Obree's bikes and one on the whole fiasco that ensued every time he went too fast! Can you link to that photo of Obree and Boardman sitting with that red bike in the background? Can't find it on bettiniphoto Thanks, keep it up Jon your videos are always my favourite!
The corima's shape almost look like the trek madone frame. This has to be the one that influenced the trek madone frame. Thank you corima I guess😂👍
The first lotus was just pure beauty
Great video. I do miss Jon and his enthusiasm for bicycles.
He he! I've ridden that lotus Carbon bike. The bike that Boardman took to the Olympics. It was on tour round Halfords after the win. Guess where I worked in the 90's. One night after closing the glass cabinet got opened and a few of us took turn riding around the warehouse and store. Wicked memories!
awe inspiring crime!!😳😳😳❤️❤️❤️
That Lotus bike is a beauty! Also, it must be worth a little fortune nowadays.
lol i know i'd pay a mint for it if i could
i just want to say Tony Romingers time for the hour record is better than any of the recent attempts and record. he rode a STEEL bike and his only modern sin was a 650c front wheel. please some love for Rominger.
I would like to see an episode regarding the history of recumbent bikes and UCI racing. My understanding is that they were once legal and began to dominate all races sometime in the 20's or 30's, at which point the manufacturers of traditional diamond frames lobbied the UCI to ban them because the manufacturers simply couldn't compete and wanted to protect their market share.
Banned 1934
$$$
I really do not have any idea about cycling, but that is a damn good video, and an eye opener. Thanks.
After seeing this I’ve checked Wikipedia page about hour record and my mind have been blown 🤯 There is 105+ years old guy with an OFICIAL HOUR RECORD (let it sink in)... I would love to see material about those old guys... And other age groups of course... Maybe guys from GCN would try to break one in the specific age group 🤔
abosolutely painful event!!! dont ever do it!
UCI staff are not as erudite as they sound. This was a perfect racing machine.
Memories...... I've sold and built so many. The look stem, campy headsets, mavic wheels corima frames ect. I've been blessed to have built and test riden almost everything in this video but in the end it's just memories now.
a fine life well lived....❤
make one yourself now!!❤
That first bikes design is badass. Very kool looking. It looks fast as hell.
"Track cyclists are almost household names around the world." 😂
Im riding at my trainer on my vitus 979 right now and i recognised i got the same pedals and saddle as the lotus! Isnt that cool?
Was never into track but I do remember each of those bikes from my younger years. I was surprised to see that Vetta SL saddle on the Corima. I can member buying my first saddle and it was a Vetta, but an SP. What ever happened to Vetta anyway. They made some neat stuff back in the day.
The only reason I clicked on this video is that I have a Boardman Road Comp as my main bike. But the story of these bikes - absolutely fascinating - is the reason I watched it all the way to the end. Thank you!
10:20 "Lotus didn't have any experience with carbon fibre" Umm, they'd been building carbon fibre F1 cars for over 10 years by this point. In the same factory. Also, I'm sure they were using the F1 autoclaves, so ambient temperature really shouldn't have been an issue regarding resins etc. More likely they had to work early shift because the F1 team would have been monopolising the autoclaves etc producing car bits. Beautiful bikes tho, I remember watching.
He made it seem like Lotus is actually just a couple guys in a shed lol
@@vulekv93 at some times it almost is.
I was about to post the same about Lotus experience on carbon fibers parts manufacturing.
Hmmmm. I wonder how well these bikes fair against today's TT bike. However, I loved the look of the Burrow bikes, the Giant MCR in particular.
Yamaha TT600?
Nice to get a mention for Borwells cycling shop, its my local!
Back in '92 I had a Boardman autographed Poster of Boardman riding the 108 to his Olympic victory. Loved the bike! Wish I still had the poster tho.
in the early days of ebay i found a lotus track going for sale but never bid stupidly thinking i already have too many bikes, the winner got it for less than £500....!
ouch! always press BUY on those gems!
£500 ??? Are you kidding
you will feel that regret near the moment of your death....
That Lotus is still the best looking bike of all time.
Brilliant video although one minor point at 10:28 you said Lotus hadn't any experience with CF at that point. They had used it in the Lotus 87 (1981) chassis and in other parts from its predecessors.
Congrats to the editor who did what he could with all the focus - diverting upstaging. Location is to extemporaneous filming as point-of-purchase is to retailing.
a true Lotus: Running on 0 cylinders.
That's funny 🏁👌
And on rotary
"3 rule breaking rules" *visible confusion*
The whole video I was just like bloody get on it! We wanna see you ride
As a mountain biker i was blown away by the technology of these bikes "200 PSI?" "Damn that sprocket is huge" "There are wings on the forks?!"