BoTM My_Teenage_Self's 1994 Lotus Monocoque is the November Bike of The Month for 2022

November was an 'Amnesty Special', where people got another chance to enter a bike that had tried, and failed, previously. If you take look at the line-up you'll probably be surprised that many of them hadn't already won; a testament to the standard of bikes on the site. We got a bumper crop of 27 entries but, as usual, there can be only one. @My_Teenage_Self took the crown with his 1994 Lotus, kitted out with a Pace fork and an XTR groupset.
Almost 30 years ago this was a real head turner, and nothing much has changed!

 

[Max Velocity]

Wow - I never knew this page existed!


It is, with yours, I'm now aware of 5, although I'm sure there are more.

As Raidan said, It's being buried with me in an undisclosed location! No joke, you're the third person to ask me to sell this year

Well, if one doesn't ask one doesn't get

 

[yakboy]

I know of 2 or 3 overseas but again I doubt they are for sale. I also know of one in the UK that needs a lot of restoration and may be for sale, if you PM me I will give you the heads up

 

[CTK]

With so many people after them I wonder if there is a market in repros? Like the Yeti C26

 

[yakboy]

With so many people after them I wonder if there is a market in repros? Like the Yeti C26

Not the easiest thing to reproduce with their titanium dropouts and the construction is not just carbon fibre sheeting.

 

[CTK]

3d printed dropouts? I assumed sheeting in mould tbh

 

[yakboy]

3d printed dropouts? I assumed sheeting in mould tbh

You can 3d print titanium now I believe

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

The dropouts are/were investment cast titanium. They were a carbon sheet layup in a mould, but it was a complex specific layout, and there was a bladder inside. All cooked in an autoclave. it's a true monocoque too, not a clamshell.

Yummy

 

[Max Velocity]

With so many people after them I wonder if there is a market in repros? Like the Yeti C26

I would take a 108 replica, Provided it was built in a tiny run by a gifted artisan. There's less appeal in a repro mtb though for me. Some production processes like 3D printing would make reproducing them easier, but to deliver the same quality level in a small run would still make them very expensive - likely above the price of an original