The iconic Lotus 110 reimagined for today

The iconic Lotus 110 reimagined for today

Classic Z-shaped monocoque design brought up to date by Local Bike Chop

Daniel Gunnarson / Local Bike Chop

Published: June 26, 2019 at 9:57 am

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzJ2_W8lfO0/

Daniel Gunnarsson — the man behind Local Bike Chop and the illustrator of our insane vision of the mountain bike of the future — is at it again, this time designing a modern reimagining of the Lotus 110.

Lotus Sport 110
Even nearly 20 years later, the Lotus Sport 110 still looks sleek, modern, and undeniably fast - James Huang / Immediate Media

For a full history of the Lotus’ radial series of Z-shaped bikes, check out our beautifully-illustrated Throwback Thursday post the Sport 110 from way back in 2014.

However, as a brief overview, Lotus and the bike’s chief designer, Mike Burrows, took full advantage of the pre-Lugano Charter era freedom to design… well, pretty much whatever they pleased, utilising the (then new) wonder material that is carbon to full effect.

The resulting bikes were outrageously fast and stack up well even when compared to today’s modern aero road bikes.

Fast forward to today and Daniel has been busying himself reimagining the bike as a modern, more angular kind of Tron-lookin’ speed weapon.

As with all of Daniel’s designs, the bike toes a delicate line between real-world potential and fantasy. To our mind, this makes them all the more compelling and his audience clearly think so too, with a number claiming they’d go as far as buying one should it become reality.

If you don’t already, make sure you follow Daniel’s Instagram and be sure to check out our early article detailing some of our favourite designs.

What do you think of Daniel’s design? Would you like to see the bike become reality or is the Z-shaped frame something best consigned to history? Let us know what you think in the comments.