Great read.

https://theradavist.com/2020/08/britain ... e-burrows/

Had a brief encounter with him once when track cycling was my thing. Never had anyone bluntly tell me how poor my bike setup was (which it was in retrospect). Early 20s me brushed it off until someone told me who he was (I was mildly obsessed with the Lotus bike) and I went very, very silent. Changed a lot of things on my bike after that. Eventually led to me going into sports science and writing papers on aerodynamics :)

What a guy. What a workshop.

Reminds me a bit of Doc from "Back To The Future" . Or someone who knocks around Here now and then.

Excellent article, thanks Greg.

I had a Burrows 'bent for a year or so. Lovely, crazy thing.

So much going on in that man's head it amazes me. One of _the_ all time greats in our sport.

Also, pretty sure that's a Santa Cruz Superlight at the top of the last photo.

Did anyone else read that article and found him to come over arrogant and overly confident/dismissive of other peoples abilities? Definitely doesn't come over as a modest character. Great engineer but...I'll won't go on as he's a hero to many.

On a positive note he's definitely had a big impact on design and materials within the industry.

Certainly didn't seem to "suffer fools gladly" or be overly bothered what people think of him - not that those are negative points particularly. Also acknowledged his own foibles. Of course we don't really know how much he was playing up for the gallery, since the interviewer said that's what usually happens . Maybe I'm just feeling charitable today and the reality is in fact as you say .

He definitely looks like Doc Brown though.

I had some dealings with him in the late '90s when he worked for Giant. I was sponsored to ride/test the carbon framed MCM race hardtail which he had designed. They reckoned that me racing 5hr Trailquest events was a stiffer test of real world durability than employing ex roadie whippets to ride around a field for 2 hrs. They were right, I destroyed 2 frames before they beefed up the headtube and BB area. I eventually got a MCM Team Issue frame which I still have in the back of the bike store. I agree he is not troubled by self doubt but better that than being modest with plenty to be modest about.

Did anyone else read that article and found him to come over arrogant and overly confident/dismissive of other peoples abilities?

Yeeeep. Like most visionaries, he's a bit of a prick. I met him once about 15 years ago - I think in Manchester - and simply wanted to say hi and shake his hand. Little w@nker told me to piss off.

At the height of Lotus bike mania as a teenager I saw him on Norwich platform with a similar looking creation. I didn't muster up the courage to go and chat, sounds like I didn't miss out!

more burrows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAau2pC_Nxw

edit: with some terrible camera work