> That is: if regulation was dropped, would pro cycling be filled with weird looking CF monocoque designs, or is the traditional design still optimal for some u

> That is: if regulation was dropped, would pro cycling be filled with weird looking CF monocoque designs, or is the traditional design still optimal for some use cases (e.g. for weight and events with team ridning and lots of climbing)? The original Lotus bike mentionned above was introduced and used in olympic events. Chris Boardman held for a long time the speed record in a grand tour time trial that he set with the original road Lotus Bike (the track version he used at Barcelona olympics predates it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjJ60Kx2j8I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjJ60Kx2j8I Also Miguel Indurain in the 90's used the "Espada" time trial pinarello bike and some of his rivals used also non diamond shaped carbon bikes.