{"id":40301,"date":"2022-08-15T22:30:49","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T20:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/?p=693675"},"modified":"2022-08-16T10:20:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T08:20:10","slug":"the-most-elegant-beautiful-piece-of-machinery-thats-ever-been-designed-chris-boardman-pays-tribute-to-mike-burrows","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/rss_feed\/the-most-elegant-beautiful-piece-of-machinery-thats-ever-been-designed-chris-boardman-pays-tribute-to-mike-burrows\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe most elegant, beautiful piece of machinery that\u2019s ever been designed\u201d | Chris Boardman pays tribute to Mike Burrows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By George Scott\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 15 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Legendary engineer and bike designer Mike Burrows \u2013 the mastermind behind the Lotus 108 \u2013 has died.<\/p>\n

Burrows was best known for designing the ground-breaking 108 with Lotus, ridden by Chris Boardman to individual pursuit victory at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona \u2013 and a bike Boardman today described as \u201cthe most elegant, beautiful piece of machinery that\u2019s ever been designed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Burrows\u2019 influence extended from the track to the road, via recumbents and cargo bikes, with his designs including the original Total Compact Road (TCR) for Giant, with the sloping top tube he pioneered now commonplace on every modern road bike.<\/p>\n

But the 108 remains the framebuilder\u2019s original masterpiece, with its sculpted monocoque frame, single-sided chainstay and mono-blade fork.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BikeRadar, Boardman said: \u201cOf all the marvellous bikes we\u2019ve seen over the past 30 years, and even further back, there\u2019s only one that sticks in the mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone would disagree that it\u2019s the most elegant, beautiful piece of machinery that\u2019s ever been designed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Mike Burrows, who designed the Lotus 108 ridden to victory by Chris Boardman, has died aged 79.<\/span><\/figcaption> Paul Grogan<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Burrows had been working on the design that became the Lotus 108 through the 1980s but it wasn\u2019t until the UCI overturned its ban on monocoque frames that the bike became a competitive reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw that bike in the 1980s, at Bassano del Grappa [in 1985], when I was riding the World Championships as a kid,\u201d said Boardman. \u201cHe\u2019d gone to get it ratified by the UCI, but they didn\u2019t allow it at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burrows worked with Lotus to forge the 108, before Boardman took gold in 4:27.357 minutes at the Vel\u00f2drom d\u2019Horta in Barcelona on 29 July 1992.<\/p>\n

\""Lotus\"<\/picture><\/div>
Burrows was the original mastermind behind the Lotus 108 ridden to victory by Chris Boardman in the individual pursuit at the 1992 Olympic Games.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Lotus<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Lotus\"<\/picture><\/div>
Burrows worked with Lotus to make the design a reality.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Lotus<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Lotus\"<\/picture><\/div>
The revolutionary bike had a monocque frame, mono-blade fork and sindle-sided rear stay.<\/span> <\/figcaption> Lotus<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

\u201cThat\u2019s the bike that defined him,\u201d said Boardman. \u201cHe went to Lotus because he wanted to see it become something bigger but in some ways it was sad that it became known as \u2018the Lotus bike\u2019, because it was \u2018the Mike Burrows bike\u2019, in polished form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boardman\u2019s result in Barcelona\u00a0 \u2013 Great Britain\u2019s first gold medal since the 1920 Olympics \u2013 put British cycling and the 23-year-old track and time trial specialist on the map, and helped pave the way for the success that has followed, according to Boardman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a thread between Mike and the success that Great Britain has achieved over the decades that followed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s made cycling into a story. The thing he designed was a shape that cut through beyond bicycle design.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave Peter Keen credibility when lottery funding came along to start the World Class Performance Programme. Peter Keen employed Dave Brailsford and brought him into cycling, then he started Team Sky. You can connect so many things with Burrows \u2013 he was part of that story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Boardman says Burrows helped pave the way for the success that followed the 1992 Olympics.<\/span><\/figcaption> David Cannon \/ Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Burrows was an engineer \u201cjust way ahead of his time\u201d and his approach to bike design is still evident in the thinking that dominates today\u2019s technology, from aerodynamic know-how to the use of monocoque frames<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike was talking to me about putting ridges down the front of tubes in the 1980s \u2013 that was trip technology that \u2018we\u2019, in inverted commas, discovered 25 years later in a wind tunnel,\u201d said Boardman.<\/p>\n

Burrows was a bike designer intent on carving his own path, bringing his visions to life from his Norkfolk workshop.<\/p>\n

Boardman added: \u201cHe very much did everything on his own terms and accepted the consequences of that as well. It didn\u2019t put him in the limelight and it didn\u2019t put him into the everyday life of people. He was a fascinating bloke.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Boardman, seen here in pre-Barcelona testing, describes the Lotus 108 as \u201cthe most elegant, beautiful piece of machinery that\u2019s ever been designed\u201d.<\/span><\/figcaption> Lotus<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t do emails, he didn\u2019t do mobile phones, so people communicated to Mike on his terms, which was infuriating but also quite endearing. He was just a character that never quite got the credit he deserved, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gold in Barcelona on Burrows\u2019 bike put Boardman on track for a career that went on to include the UCI Hour Record and three Tour de France stage wins, including a 1994 victory on the Lotus 110<\/a>, a road-going version of the 108 designed by Burrows. At the time, Boardman\u2019s victory came at a record average speed \u2013 55.152kph \u2013 for a Tour de France stage win.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life wouldn\u2019t have been the same without Mike Burrows,\u201d said Boardman. \u201dThere wouldn\u2019t have been a pointy helmet and the amazing bike I rode at the Olympic Games in 1992. Without that, it would have just been a bike race. I can\u2019t imagine \u2013 my life would have been very different without Burrows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Very sad to hear Mike Burrows, the designer of the Lotus bike, passed away today. He was the godfather of modern bicycle design and my life would not have been the same without his influence.<\/p>\u2014 Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) August 15, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>