BIKES which Team GB is using in the velodrome in the Tokyo 20202 Olympics have been made in Barnoldswick.

Hope Technology sales and marketing manager, Alan Weatherill said: “This is the first major competition that we have been part of.

“It’s so prestigious as a UK manufacturer to create a bike with a team GB branding - it’s an honour.”

The Lotus x Hope HB.T – a collaboration between Hope Technology and British car manufacturer Lotus – was originally released in October 2019 but has not yet been used in a major competition.

The bike weighs a total of 7.5kg, with just 1.5kg of that weight accounting for the frame which is made of carbon fibre and 3D printed titanium.

The wheels are made of single piece discs meaning the whole wheel can be made in a single mould – a new concept invented by Hope.

The companies will be supplying all the teams’ bikes which they have specially manufactured as they are normally a mountain bike manufacturer.

Alan added: “Ourselves and Lotus have been working together on the bike.

“The manufacturing is not too different to what we normally do with mountain bikes but it is totally different technology for what the bikes will be used for.”

The bike was debuted in by the Great Britain cycling team at the UCI Track World Cup in Minsk in 2019 which saw it pass the Union Cycliste Internationale inspection which has allowed it to be used in a major competition.

Hope Technology was established in 1991 and is one of the world leaders in engineering bicycle components.

The factory was originally based in Colne but the business moved and has been settled in Barnoldswick since 1997.