Lotus was a name owned by Sid Star, of Long Island. There never was a Lotus factory. Sid contracted with Japanese and Taiwanese manufacturers to make bikes to his specifications, much as Schwinn and other manufacturers did in the '70s. They were generally nice bikes, but warranty replacements and special orders were problematic, due to the small size of Sid's company. I cannot recall off the top of my head what the actual name of Sid's company was, but I did spend a day in his office in the early '80s. I never visited his warehouse.
There were times during the boom when promised shipments were very slow in coming. I recall one year when we were told at various times that our season order was delayed due to a shipwreck, a train crash and finally a warehouse fire. Many frustrating weeks and irate customers later, the bikes finally arrived in time for those "brisk" late-season sales. Caused quite a cash flow problem for us. Of course, we didn't believe any of the calamities ever really took place.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont
> Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 9:55 PM
> To: Bikerdaver@aol.com; ksbittner@yahoo.com;
> classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR]Lotus Bicycles
>
>
> A friend of mine in the md-80's had a couple of these. Pretty nice
> mass-produced Japanese bikes on a par with the beter Nishikis or Fujis.
The
> paint jobs were a bit better than some.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos