The death of a visionary Norfolk bike designer who helped Chris Boardman win Olympic gold has prompted tributes from around the world.
Mike Burrows revolutionised bicycle design when he created the Lotus 108 bike.
It was the bike Chris Boardman rode to Olympic gold in 1992 and he expressed his sadness at the news of Mike’s death, calling him the ‘godfather’ of modern bicycle design, and saying the bicycle he rode to Olympic glory was, ‘The most elegant, beautiful piece of machinery that’s ever been designed.’
Members of cycling forums have also been paying tribute to the 80-year-old engineer from Thorpe St Andrew, near Norwich, who was still designing and repairing bikes in his workshop in nearby Rackheath earlier this summer.
A spokesman for Lotus, said everyone had been saddened to hear of Mike’s death and called the bike, built at its Hethel factory, near Norwich, ‘The most recognisable bike ever built, an iconic design which rewrote the rule book on what was possible on two wheels.”
Richard Hill, chief aerodynamicist at Lotus, worked with Mike and said: “I’m so very sad to hear this news.
“Mike was a true visionary, way ahead of his time. Without his original concept for a monocoque frame, the Type 108 would never have come into existence.
“Mike thought beyond any rules – he was a ‘what if…?’ man – and was famous for transforming his ideas into reality, riding and testing them himself. It was privilege and honour to work with him.
“Focused, determined and single-minded, he would always come up with a solution to any problem. A talented engineer, his place in the history of cycling is secured.”
Mike’s engineering training began early. Born in St Albans in 1943, he learnt craft skills from his father who ran a toy and model shop.
He grew up making model aeroplanes and moved from the family business into making boat parts, and then packaging – including a machine to wrap coins which was installed by banks across the country.
Mike and his wife, Tuula, moved to Norfolk in 1969. Mike had a job with a boat builder and his fascination with bikes only began when his car broke down and he borrowed Tuula’s bike to get to work.
He went on to buy his own bike and with an engineer’s eye for what might make it go faster he set to work, creating bicycles with sloping top forks and very long seat posts, which were lighter, stiffer and more aerodynamic.
The Lotus 108, with its carbon composite frame designed to minimise wind-resistance and drag, was so far ahead of its time that it was actually banned by the world governing body of cycling after Boardman’s success
It was succeeded by the Lotus 110 which Chris Boardman rode to win the first stage of the 1994 Tour de France, achieving a record time trial average speed of 55.152kph which stood for 21 years.
Mike said he had originally come up with the 108 concept a decade before, but no-one in the cycling industry had been interested. “I hadn’t even thought of Lotus, but they understood it; they understood why the bike was made like that,” he said.
Now a model is part of the permanent collection in the Science Museum in London and the medal Chris Boardman won in 1992, Britain’s first cycling gold since 1920, sparked a national resurgence in elite cycling.
Mike went on to work for the world’s biggest bicycle maker, Giant, as well as continuing creating his own designs.
In 1983 he helped found the British Human Power Club. Current chairman Alan Goodman said: “He was a lovely bloke and a great friend.
“He attended most of our events and races until the end of 2018.
“He was an incredibly inventive designer and builder, and a very good racer. He was always very interesting and fun to chat to and always more than willing to share his vast knowledge.”
Mike won his final cycle race at the age of 75 and also wrote books about bicycle design.
His super-fast sleek recumbent bikes won races and set records and included a record-breaking recumbent tandem he co-built for Guy Martin’s 2014 television series Speed.
Despite a diagnosis of lung cancer Mike continued cycling throughout Norfolk, and designing, building and repairing bikes, until just weeks before his death, sharing his genius and expertise with customers who often became friends.
Norwich cyclist Simon Freebrey, who knew Mike, said: “Every cyclist knows about the Lotus bikes and they know how significant they were. I would go as far to say that they are arguably the most iconic bike and quite rightly so.
"And to think it all started with a radical idea from Mike, a local engineer, and potential recognised by a forward-thinking car manufacturer all home grown here in good old Norfolk."
Andy Pegg, of Thorpe St Andrew, was a friend for more than 40 years.
“Whatever he did, he was a champion at, from designing and flying model planes when he was young, to the bikes,” he said.
He met Mike through amateur bike racing and said: “I was his test dummy before Chris Boardman came along.
“He was opinionated, outspoken, maverick – and always turned out to be right! He was well ahead of his time.
"Things he was doing 30 years ago, companies are now saying ‘Look what we’ve invented!’ and he’d rummage around and find the designs he’d made!
“With the Lotus bike, it had never, ever been thought of before. Mike said, ‘Why does a bike have to be made of tubes, why not from a lump like an aeroplane wing?
“He will be missed. So many people knew him. They would see this guy with the mad hair and funny bike out on long rides to the coast or to go bird-watching.
"Even his shopping bike was out of the ordinary. And unlike most people he carried on getting faster as he got older because the bikes he built got better and better.
“He was a proper eccentric genius.”
Mike Burrows died of lung cancer, aged 80, on Monday August 15. He is survived by his wife, Tuula, and their son Paul.
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