[CR]Orange Lotus Aero Super Pro

(Example: Framebuilders:Rene Herse)

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:56:24 -0500
From: "Daniel Dahlquist" <daniel.dahlquist@gmail.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Orange Lotus Aero Super Pro

Hello Group, I have a question that Aero expert Alan Bernstein couldn't answer, so here goes: Has anyone on the list ever seen an original paint Lotus Super Aero Pro (the Aero Pro was made from 1981 to 1983). Some of you may have seen the bike on ebay, as the auction ended June 10. The gold production model is the most common Super Pro, of course, and a rare prototype in pink recently sold on ebay to listmember David White. Please help me with some detective work here: The brass lotus badge on my bike has no "ears" for rivets, and must be glued on; the bike is missing its decals, save for two on the seatmast: one says "Shimano Aero Dynamics," and the other is a shop decal from Terry's Bikes in Countryside, Illinois. Do you think this rare color is original, a custom paint order, or a repaint? All the parts are Shimano AX and Dura-Ace, and the bike has the Nitto "Crystemblue" stem, with later ttt Aero bars. Could this Lotus be one of the last Super Aero Pros produced? Does the fact that the seatmast has the Shimano decal and the shop decal suggest originality, or no? Thanks in advance.

Daniel Dahlquist
Galena, Illinois