23 February 2014

A rich man's toy


Yahoo has an article, forwarded by Rico's friend Kelley, about the latest from Lotus (and, no, it's not a car):
Ever since firing its CEO, Dany Bahar, in June of 2012 and reporting a near two-hundred-million-dollar loss, Lotus has sought to find solid footing. One way the British marque planned to achieve this was by entering the motorcycle business, promising to deliver a Lotus "hyper bike," built by German race team Kodewa and the Holzer Group, by the turn of the year.
And there it is, the Lotus C-01 (photo). A true stunner that isn't really a Lotus at all.
The storied sports car maker has become more of a branding company than the automotive innovator it once was, enlisting others to do the heavy lifting while licensing the Lotus name for the sheet metal. This was evident in the 2010 IndyCar season, slapping Lotus logos on the carbon body that covered the Honda powerplant (they did enter an engine in 2012, although I'm not sure Lotus wants to be reminded of that). In Formula One, the Lotus F1 team is powered by Renault and, according to Lotus' most recent press release, the C-01 bike "is not designed, engineered or produced by Group Lotus" at all.
It remains another licensing deal where Lotus plays consultant, with Kodewa producing the bike and Holzer handling development. The glorious retro exterior was designed by Daniel Simon, the man behind the awesome glow-in-the-dark blue Tron: Legacy bike. It features carbon-fiber and integrated titanium, along with aerospace-quality steel. Powered by a two-cylinder, four-stroke V-twin motor delivering two hundred horsepower, weighing a tick under four hundred pounds, the C-01 promises to be as racy as the Lotus name depicts.
Only a hundred bikes will be produced, and Lotus has yet to reveal pricing. (Translation: outrageous.) A range of colors will be available, from the John Player Special black and gold from Senna's early years to the legendary British racing green from Jim Clark's latter. The Martini livery looks more Lancia than Lotus (Lotus had a darker background on its Martini F1 car), but it's nonetheless sensational. No word on whether luminous Tron blue will be an option.
Does it matter that it's not technically a Lotus? Well, that depends on your point of view. What we know for sure is it's about as stunning a motorbike as one could imagine, which isn't surprising given its designer. It may not have the strongest business, but Lotus still knows how to get attention.
Rico says he's long past his bike-riding days, but it sure is pretty...

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