Many new motorcycles appear with reasonable fanfare. Some create a buzz even before they are officially launched, while others trickle onto the market completely unnoticed.

The original Hope x Lotus track bike caused an unseen stir when it was launched in 2019 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics; with the Paris Olympics coming up in 2024 and the Glasgow World Championships being the last opportunity for teams to use new equipment to meet registration requirements and so we will get a glimpse of a new beast.

Like the debut album, the first iteration is a tough one to follow, but the difficult second album seems to bring the "wobbly parts" while retaining the tried and true madness of "ridiculously wide set fork legs". This also follows the 3D printed and very bonkers looking Tout Racing track bikes used by the Argentine track troops. Is track the new technology of the year?

The press material we received did not include any real technical details, but given the secrecy that often accompanies Olympic-level technology, where 1/1000th of a second can make the difference between winning and losing, this is no great surprise. Briefly, the bike is a collaboration between Hope, Lotus, and an additive manufacturing company, Renishaw (called 3D printing in titanium).

As for the changes from the old bike, we can only rely on visual clues. At the front, the most obvious change is the handlebars. Whereas the old handlebars were quite ordinary (in terms of the entire bike) with flat crossbars, the new ones rise from the top of the headtube like the horns of a ram. Lotus Engineering, which was responsible for further development of the front end, claims that the bar and fork are now more integrated than before, making them more customizable.

Without a geometry chart it is hard to say, but this may indicate that the bike's front end is lower, compensated for by the raised bars. This is also seen on the Cervelo S5 and Bianchi's new Oltre.

If your eyes are not immediately drawn to the front of the bike, they will be drawn to the rear, especially the seat post. The Renishaw logo and surface texture suggest that this component was 3D printed from titanium, which in itself is not unusual as we have seen bikes like the Sturdy Cycles Fiadh printed almost entirely from titanium, but the Y-shaped, backward leaning The holes created by the set of Y-shaped backward leaning blades are certainly completely new, but they are definitely reminiscent of the IsoFlow holes found on the rear of the new Trek Madone. This is intended to allow for smoother airflow at the rear of the bike and is supposed to have the same function. Given that it is above the top tube, between the rider's legs, and blocked by the bar thanks to the V-shaped bar, it is conceivable that a cylinder of clean air could pass through the bike and under the rider completely unimpeded.

Back to the front again, an area of the bike under the purview of Lotus Engineering. The fork legs have an uneven surface, similar to that seen on the front of the seat tube of Filippo Gannas's Hour Record bike. According to Lotus, the wavy trailing edge was inspired by the design of fighter planes. It is a similar pattern, albeit on a smaller scale, to those found on wheels like the Princeton Carbon Works wheels and the Zipp 353NSW. We are told that the carbon used for the fork legs utilizes the same manufacturing process used to make the Rotis Evya Hypercar.

Finally, as far as can be read from the dark photo, the seatstays are straight rather than slightly curved, but interestingly, they lack the wavy trailing edges on the fork blades. This may be cosmetic, but it would not be a great surprise to learn that some sort of more aerodynamic or photodynamic speed coating has been applied down the road.

There is no factual basis for the specific improvements. Despite this, Lotus Engineering claims to have achieved "significant aerodynamic improvements" over the previous model.

The overall stance itself seems to be similar between the two models. Wide fork legs, seatstays that join over a gently sloping top tube. While the general silhouette remains basically the same, the details have been refined once again for 2024.

The use of 3D printed titanium is still a common theme, although it seems to be used more in some areas and less in others. The crazy seat post, while not seen in all photos, suggests that it is an option rather than a requirement.

In addition to the general shape, the two features that can be used as either a mass start bike (with drop bars) or an individual/pursuit bike (with TT bars) simply by changing the front end are still present. To maximize the aero advantage, riders are also expected to install individually adjusted bar extensions.

Details are still unknown, but be sure to check back as we will update this page as soon as we know more.