New British Olympic track bike for Paris 2024 finally unveiled, featuring Hope carbon, Renishaw titanium and Lotus fork

After growing speculation that's been rumbling for almost a year since we first saw the unreleased bike being used in competition, British Cycling has officially unveiled all the details of the new frame British riders will use at the Paris Olympics this summer, called the Hope HBT Paris. Hope and Lotus Engineering were once again on board to develop the frame and fork, while additive manufacturing expert Renishaw was called upon to provide that radical kinked seatpost and a "3D-printed optimised titanium crank".

The Great Britain Cycling Team debuted the original, radical-looking Hope-Lotus track bike at the end of 2019 during the UCI Track World Cup in Minsk. This bike was later used at the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where the British team won seven medals, topping the event's medal table.

At the time of writing, Hope's website listing for the frame still suggests you can buy the 2020 version for the price of £25,000, though we're assured that any deep-pocketed cyclists who decide to invest will now get the new Hope HBT Paris frame. UCI rules deem that any equipment used in competition has to be available to buy, so we can only assume the page on Hope's website is yet to be fully updated. 

Anyway, it's available in Pursuit, Upright or Sprint configurations, all priced at £25,000 a piece. Just get one of each, then? 

Back to the tech details of the new bike: in 2023, an updated iteration of the track bike used in Tokyo was seen for the first time. Now, another release with minor modifications has emerged as British Cycling continues its partnership with Lotus Engineering, Hope Technology and Renishaw. 

“Lotus and GBCT have developed the cockpit of the bike, evolving the unique front fork and handlebar design to allow for greater aerodynamic efficiency,” says Lotus.

“This is coupled with the Hope HBT Paris frame which includes refinements to the headstock and seatstays. Renishaw has provided support in design and production of wind tunnel models and other crucial components on the final bike.”

The fork still has the widely spaced legs – designed to reduce drag and break the airflow in front of the rider – that were seen at the Tokyo Olympics, but there are now serrated trailing edges “that allow for smoother airflow around the rider”.

Other bike designs have used jagged edges to reduce drag recently. Pinarello, for example, uses serrations on the leading edges of the seat tube and seatpost of the Bolide F HR 3D that Filippo Ganna rode to smash the UCI Hour Record. 

Pinarello said, “By studying how humpback whales can do very tight manoeuvres in the oceans, researchers have found that the tubercles (the protrusions in the front of their flippers) contribute significantly to this ability. Working on this shape applied to bicycles, they have also found that ridges can minimise and reduce drag by generating streamwise vortices in the troughs between the bumps, causing the flow behind the peaks to stay attached.”

The other eye-catching feature of the Hope-Lotus track bike is the seatpost. Rather than being straight, it first kinks backwards and then forwards. The key characteristic, though, is that it appears to be split with a large gap down the centre. This makes us think of the seat tube design of the Trek Madone SLR – which the US brand calls its IsoFlow design.

> Trek Madone SLR - The most aero bike in the Tour de France? 

Explaining that technology, Trek said, “IsoFlow is able to increase the energy of the flow around and through the seatstay cluster by providing a clear path for airflow. This improves upon the traditional design in which air must squeeze around the seat tube and seatstays, causing it to interact with your moving legs and in turn increase drag."

The only noticeable difference between this Hope-Lotus bike and the one revealed last year is that the Shell logo that was repeated on the chainring - Shell being an official partner of British Cycling until 2030 - has been removed.

Instead, Renishaw's logo is now displayed on the crank arm, which is made of 3D-printed titanium. 

Ben Collins, Lead Additive Manufacturing Application Engineer at Renishaw said:  

“We have been able to refine the design even further and showcase how additive manufacturing can deliver strong, yet lightweight parts for cycling, while demonstrating these benefits to other industries. Our aim for this Olympic bike is to push the boundaries with AM technology further, whilst still achieving high-performance components that are tailored to the riders and meet Olympic requirements for strength and weight.” 

Top-level British riders have been testing the bike both on the track and in the wind tunnel to optimise the fork and handlebar ahead of the summer Olympics. 

Stephen Park CBE, Performance Director for the Great Britain Cycling Team, said:

“British Cycling has a long and renowned history of being a world-leader in bike technology, and we are continuing to break new ground when it comes to the speed, efficiency and innovation of track bikes.

"For the Paris track bike, the team have continued to look to new and innovative solutions to deliver this impressive machine, which we believe will give our riders the best possible platform to succeed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."

In late 2023, it was reported in some publications that another frame - the UKSI-BC1 - could be used by Team GB at the Paris Olympics. The mysterious UKSI-BC1, priced at a whopping £55,000 on the UK Sports Institute website, bears resemblance to the Hope HBT Paris but is fully 3D-printed, and won't be used in Paris this summer. 

In a statement, British Cycling told road.cc: "...we can confirm the UKSI-BC1 frame was ridden at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.

"The frame was unveiled along with 63 other pieces of kit and equipment that were homologated for the Great Britain Cycling Team at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.”