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Anime Toys

Real 'Akira' Motorcycle 320

Posted by michael from the head-turner dept.
News for nerds writes "At Tokyo Motorcycle Show in Japan (2/3/4 Apr.), the official licensed model of the motorcycle in the anime movie Akira (poster) is displayed. This Kaneda bike is not a mere replica, but a full working model (more pics at ITmedia) with twin-steering system and 249-998cc water-cooled 4-cycle engine, and on its cockpit is DVD-navi-system + trackball & ten-key + custom computer-controlled LED meters - all licenced by the author and the publisher of Akira. Though at the show only miniature figures are sold and real price or release date is unclear, you can check out the manufacturer's website for later info."
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Real 'Akira' Motorcycle More

Real 'Akira' Motorcycle

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  • TETSUO!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:31PM (#8752586)
    I'd like to be the first to say, "TETSUO!"

  • Neo Tokyo is about to explode!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dswensen ( 252552 ) * on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:31PM (#8752588) Homepage
    And it goes:

    Kaaaaaaaaaaaaa...
    neeeeeeeeeeee....
    DAAAAAAAaa aaa....

    Oh, shush, someone had to do it...

  • Drivetrain (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Ape With No Name ( 213531 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:33PM (#8752600) Homepage
    I would absolutely hope there is an ample shield on that seat in case the rube-goldberg-ish chain came off. Otherwise cool.

    • Re:Drivetrain (Score:2, Interesting)

      by BoringNickName ( 730863 )
      No shit. Three chains to transfer drive power housed inside the body. Chain just below your butt and two chains right behind your back, at an axle no less. That just screams 'unexpected surgery' to me.

      Enclosed like that it's probably not too fun to maintain either.

      Cool looking bike however, if a bit too red.

      • Re:Drivetrain (Score:2, Flamebait)

        by Usquebaugh ( 230216 )
        Oh you clueless idiot, mods as well.

        Most bikers are killed/injured/generally fucked up by sudden impacts, either with other vehicles or the scenery. The chain failing is just not an issue.

    • Re:Drivetrain (Score:5, Informative)

      by Moofie ( 22272 ) <lee AT ringofsaturn DOT com> on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:04PM (#8752760) Homepage
      Lots of motorcycles are chain drive. A thin aluminum frag-guard would keep the driver perfectly safe in the (unlikely) event of a chain failure.

      That's not a nelly little bicycle chain. Motorcycle chains are stout stuff.

      • Re:Drivetrain (Score:5, Informative)

        by good soldier svejk ( 571730 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @11:19PM (#8753157)
        A thin aluminum frag-guard would keep the driver perfectly safe in the (unlikely) event of a chain failure.

        That's not a nelly little bicycle chain. Motorcycle chains are stout stuff.

        I've broken a couple. It is annoying, since it tends to strand you and/or lose races, but I have never been hurt or seen anyone hurt as a result. Can't say the same for any number of other component failures (coolant hoses for instance). For me the worst thing about chains is the constant lubing and adjusting. I'd like to see more kevlar drive belts (no adjustment necessary) like Harley-Davdson uses.

        That said, some olde tyme designs had three chains: one timing (to the cam), one primary (to the gearbox) and one final drive. But I have never seen a motorcycle cam or primary chain break through a case.

        • Re:Drivetrain (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Fzz ( 153115 ) on Saturday April 03, 2004 @07:48AM (#8754989)
          That said, some olde tyme designs had three chains: one timing (to the cam), one primary (to the gearbox) and one final drive. But I have never seen a motorcycle cam or primary chain break through a case.

          I had a primary drive chain fail on a old Honda 400 Four under full throttle while banked over somewhat in a low-ish speed bend. It didn't break through the case, but the engine sure stopped fast. The 10ms before I pulled in the clutch, and almost getting high-sided afterwards were one of those slow-motion moments I won't forget in a hurry. Fortunately no injuries other than a few pulled muscles from putting my foot down at 40mph.

          I'm sure it would have been very interesting at a higher speed.

    • Re:Drivetrain (Score:5, Informative)

      by MajorDick ( 735308 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:28PM (#8752858)
      Actually several chains on mororcycles is not uncommon, Harleys have in some case 2 , a Primanry and a Secondary, I can think of several vintage brit bikes that had 2 and 3 .

      Losing a chain is not the danger , not even getting whacked with a broken chain at 60-70mph, a chain guard will stop almost all damage, it hurts but its not too bad with no chain guard like when my race bike let loose..

      The REAL problem, and I give you this from a lot of riding and racing experience is when a chain catches in the back wheel/brake assy, one of my WORST ever accidents was due to exactly this, I had laid the bike down earlier and apparently bent the rear sprocket. I lost the chain at 50 or so mph, it catapulted me over the handlebars , then the bike ran over me, I was OK when I first hit the ground but the bike running over me broke 4 ribs, my jaw, my left elbow and my right wrist. I was 16 I walked home the rest of the way (1/4 mile) leaving the bike in the ditch, collapesed on the couch and called my mom and said mom im really f***ked up and hung up , she got home in like 10 minutes flat (normally a 30 minute drive) came in saw me bleeding all over and writhing in pain and said "OH Thank GOD I thought you were f****ed from drugs or something"
      • Apparently all this happened before 911 :-)
        • No it was in 85 we had 911 (at least I think so), I just didnt think to use it, I was in way too much pain and frankly exhausted from limping home.MOM was always good to pull your ass to the hospital when you broke it up on your cycle and boy did we break ourselves up.
      • Lol, great story. Looks like those "Drug Warriors" at least got your mom's priorities straight. Drugs == bad. Bleeding son == oh well.
    • The only issue I see with the chain drive is the loss of efficiency you would get with 3 chains. The photos are too small to tell where and how they adjust the chain tension. Belt drive would have a lot less maintenance here.

      Looks cool. but Impractical as hell, wonder what the turn radius is with those funky wheel-covers?

    • Re:Drivetrain (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nacturation ( 646836 )
      It should also come with something to fix that problem where it stalls if you let it drop below 10,000 RPM.

  • Superpowers not included (Score:5, Funny)

    by foreverdisillusioned ( 763799 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:34PM (#8752604) Journal
    Does it leave neat glowy trails in the air? And what about the background music? I want to hear drums and people yelling "DAH... DAH... DAHDAH!" in the background whenever I crank this baby up.

  • Want one? (Score:5, Funny)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:34PM (#8752606) Homepage Journal
    If you like it so much, then steal one for yourself like I did!

    • Re:Want one? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      MOD IS RETARD, parent was quoting from the movie
  • has enough bicycle chains on there to make the Wright Brothers proud

  • Cost (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CmdrMooCow ( 213594 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:35PM (#8752611) Journal
    Wow... I wonder what the price tag will be.

    If only I could afford it!

  • Hey, nice (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Freston Youseff ( 628628 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:36PM (#8752617) Homepage Journal
    ...on its cockpit is DVD-navi-system + trackball & ten-key + custom computer-controlled LED meters...

    Yeah...that's, uh, a great investment for a motorcycle.

  • Dear God: THANK YOU! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sithkhan ( 536425 )
    This is THE Holy Grail, until someone builds an EVA .... God, how I am glad I am entering the job market this year! All that cash, burning a hole in my pocket! Where do I sign for one?

  • Cool motorcycle (Score:5, Funny)

    by General Sherman ( 614373 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:38PM (#8752623) Journal
    It's a shame their server wasn't as fast as that motorocycle.

    Anyone got a mirror?

  • impressive. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mandrake ( 3939 ) <mandrake@mandrake.net> on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:38PM (#8752626) Homepage Journal
    I have never been inspired to sit on a motorcycle before, except possibly by the Robotech Cyclones. I wonder how long it will be until someone licenses and produces those ;)

    This is why the japanese should build up a military. We'd have mechs walking around and defending tokyo from alien invasions in no time. Except they'd have to be piloted by children who were finicky and subject to teen angst.

    • Re:impressive. (Score:5, Funny)

      by the_mad_poster ( 640772 ) <shattoc@adelphia.com> on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:43PM (#8752651) Homepage Journal

      Yea, and they'd probably get raped by an octopus or something. Not everything about Japanese culture is cool.

    • But they'd have to watch out when the invading countries prepare for the onslaught by blasting some pop music to confuse and diffuse the robot mecha defenders.

      (alternate ending quote in Tora! Tora! Tora!)

      "I fear all we've done is to awaken a sleeping Minmae attack"

      Yeah, that'll be the day. :)

    • Re:impressive. (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by Cryptnotic ( 154382 )
      The Japanese have built up quite a military, mainly to defend themselves against the potential threats of North Korea and China. Their military (especially their navy and air force) is quite high-tech and well-funded. Because of their large military strength, the international community (especially the U.S.) wants them to help out with expensive international peacekeeping missions such as those sanctioned by the U.N. Unfortunately Japan's constitution (which the U.S. helped draft in something like 7 day

    • Re:impressive. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dJCL ( 183345 )
      Well, the mechs may not be that far off... Take the article about the powered backpack that was on a few weeks back, and extrapolate the technology over a few years. First you get loading assistants like seen in the Alien movies. Then, as the military (or militant corporations like the RIAA) get into it, larger versions with heavy weaponry as standard features. Not too long later you will have people make some simple transforming ones, think new dominion tank police. The more advanced transforming onese com

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:45PM (#8752665)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • All I need now is a Light Cycle from TRON! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BaumSquad ( 632811 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:46PM (#8752673)
    And this thing and my collection of Kick Azz Moto Bikes would be complete!

    I've been watching American Chopper and just dreaming of the day I could have enough cash to order a custom light cycle.

    It would be the PERFECT thing to go with my TRON costume: TRON Costume by BaumSquad [tron-sector.com]

    Until I can make that happen, I'll just have to save up for this thing! Kaaannaaaaeeeedddaaaaa!!!!

  • Just one laser rifle short. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Orclover ( 228413 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:49PM (#8752684)
    Ok after this ill be one millitary issue laser rifle short of living out my childhood dreams of hunting down psychic ex-best friends.
  • ...that bike would chew you up and spit you out!

    (Also: wow. Nice.)

  • Damnit... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Cyno01 ( 573917 ) <Cyno01@hotmail.com> on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:50PM (#8752693) Homepage
    Already taken a wicked slashdotting... Anyone grab the pics? Also, anyone have a rough translation of the site that isn't down? This is really cool, kinda reminds me of that concept [peugeot-avenue.com] peugeot did that was a warthog from halo. But when can i get one of these [google.com]?!!
  • So is it -749 CC, 249998cc, or some indeterminate displacement between 249 and 998cc? No I've got it, it has a head with variable displacement, so it can vary compression, right?

    I'm guessing it's around 2.5 liter. Can anyone shed any illumination?

    • Re:249-998cc? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MajorDick ( 735308 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:04PM (#8752761)
      Well not if its going to be sold in Japan, there is a 500cc limit on motorcycles, hell it take many,many years to be even allowed to ride the 500cc big iron, you have to start at 5cc, liscences are issued accordingly, its funny they cant buy the big bikes they sell abroad new, BUT there is a lookhole that allows them to re-import used bike > than 500cc, I solg my 83 GPZ 1100 to a broker that specalizes in exactly doing that he made a million in the late 80's early 90's doing that.
    • i get the impression they will be making models with 250cc engines all the way up to 1 liter models..... i don't think it's some crazy inline 4 that you can selectively turn off cylinders.

      I guess anything over 500ccs is intended for export? maybe people that use the loopholes or buy it as a showpiece. There is someway to get larger bikes there but it's weird. I know Harley-Davidson somehow imports at least some bikes to Japan. I learned that on the factory tour. That says something since the smallest HD is

  • Real bike? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by evenprime ( 324363 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @09:59PM (#8752732) Homepage Journal

    It has been a looong time since I saw that movie, but I seem to remember the bike being an electric vehicle, and this is not one.

    • Re:Real bike? (Score:5, Informative)

      by cwg_at_opc ( 762602 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:29PM (#8752864) Journal
      tetsuo is seen muttering about the mecanicals of of the bike, something like:

      "...ceramic, double-rotor two-wheel drive, computer-controlled anti-lock brakes, 12,000 rpms"..."

      so i believe there's an electric motor(s) in each wheel hub
      and a battery(ies) underneath the bodywork, probably under
      the seat. remember that this movie was made in 1987, so a
      ceramic rotor electric motor wasn't quite practical yet.

      a fan page is here: http://www.bbakira.co.uk/kanbike/bike.htm

      googling for "anime akira motorcycle" nets you 6,960 hits,...
      many sites think that there are any number of working prototypes
      and an even larger number of non-working models.
      i can't wait for the real deal!

      • Double rotor could be like many of Mazda's rotary engines. I'd think if they were made of ceramic, 12k RPM wouldn't be a problem. Lightened aluminum rotors can easily reach 10k now.

        If they put a rotary engine in one of those things, then I'd buy it.

        (Yes, I know my site is down, I'm trying to find CPU fans that'll work with Alpha 21164s.)

        ((Yes, I know owning rotary powered vehicals, and Alpha powered servers puts me into a totally other class of nerd, with an even lower chance of getting laid.))
  • ...a reverse gear? static lightning on it's wheels? liquid cooled brakes?
  • without the corporate decals on it. I want one!
    • From the site:
      faeuAKIRAvAB---I"OEzdc-sEi"eZalOEoEa"cI^AOEoCNB ISF`bNEga"coCNhAS(R)'SEZA"(R)ZOAEArbOTCgASJA'Iu"OE z[^[TCNVf[vE"oe1/2B

      That is informative!!! Thanks!!!


    • Thanks for the mirror. But this is what Babelfish had to say:

      With movie "AKIRA" near future Tokyo, the deep-red motorcycle of protagonist Kanada which runs in length and breadth mutual loan and comes out.

      Mutual loan??? Will someone who speaks Japanese please provide a sane translation?

      Thank you.

    • HA! Sorry guys, I just copied the page with original Japanese text. I'm as lost as you all are, but shit, the pictures are cool enough to make up for it!

  • An experienced 2/3-wheeler-riding lunatic writes.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lproven ( 6030 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:17PM (#8752817) Homepage Journal
    I actually do ride motorcycles, including a sidecar outfit -- the most evil-handling form of vehicle mankind has so far invented -- a triked superbike (ZZR1100: incredibly fast in a straight line, terrifying in corners) and even a recumbent bicycle (Linear LWB) in city traffic.

    From this, and from reading reports of earlier home-made customs in the style of Kaneda's bizarre feet-forward bike, I believe that thing is going to handle like an utter, utter pig. Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow.

    Despite this, I want one desperately, right now.

  • what about the jacket... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mobiux ( 118006 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:26PM (#8752843)
    All i want is someone to start producing that cool ass jacket with the pill on the back.
  • ...they begin selling anime monocycles with the one big ass wheel and all that other cool stuff that anime monocycles with the one big ass wheel all have.
  • I have to say that Akira is such a cool movie that I'm surprised Disney hasn't ripped off the way they ripped off Kimba the Jungle Emperor when they made The Lion King.

    Uh-oh, did I just jinx it? Is there going to be a Disneyfied ripoff of Akira on the way now?
    • I don't know how Disney could possibly rip it off and make it into a "Disney" movie and have it make any sense. It is SO far past something that could be easily turned into a little kid's movie with singing animals and such.

      You know what, now I almost want them to do it just to see how utterly WEIRD it would be.

  • Something missing, though... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by kongjie ( 639414 ) <kongjie@ma c . com> on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:34PM (#8752900)
    Now that we have the bike, all we need is a post-apocalyptic landscape in which to ride it. Considering the way things are going, I won't have to wait long.

    Of course, I could always pair up with the Chernobyl gal [angelfire.com]...

  • This is very safe.
  • Motorcycle enthusiast killed when operating system on his overly expensive and complicated bike crashed, very quickly resulting in a crash of another type, his head into the pavement.

    I always worry when they start to put too much technology into something that is inherently better the simpler it is. I can just see it now, the media coverage about how it is now illegal to watch DVDs while biking because some idiot gave it a try and killed himself.

  • bike design (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cwg_at_opc ( 762602 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:50PM (#8752977) Journal
    i commented below about the drivetrain specifics, but i
    forgot to add these notes:

    if anyone is doubting the stability of a "recumbent" design
    such as this needs to look at Dan Gurney's Gator(see his
    website:

    http://www.allamericanracers.com

    it's been tested by a couple of the mtorcycling mags with
    generally favorable reviews.

  • TRON Lineage (Score:3, Funny)

    by farrellj ( 563 ) * on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:55PM (#8752998) Homepage Journal
    The Akira motorcycle always reminded me of the lightcycles from TRON. Tre-cool!

    ttyl
    Farrell

  • Where the hell is the Slashdot Mirror? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by -tji ( 139690 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @10:56PM (#8753004) Journal

    How many articles will it take before slashdot implements a simple mirror?? It could be automated as part of the publishing process.. just do a simple static mirroring of the image or page linked from a story. If a server becomes unavailable or otherwise in error, add the mirrored links.

    Sure, some sites might love all the hits of a "slashdotting". But obviously there are many others that die under the load, or get disabled by bandwidth limiters, or various other problems.

    If the site owners want to know the stats of how many hits they got, you could include stats for mirror hits.

    This is not rocket science.. This problem occurs every day. In the current story, the server for the main article is barely responding, and the link for the image is responding with a "don't steal bandwidth" message.

    • Re:Where the hell is the Slashdot Mirror? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ErichTheWebGuy ( 745925 ) on Saturday April 03, 2004 @01:12AM (#8753733) Homepage
      One reason why not to do it is for copyright issues. More often than not there is a condition in the Terms of Use (usually after the "we own your firstborn" clause) that says you cannot save their stuff to your computer (I know, cached content, temporary internet files, etc etc but bear with me here). Such a move would almost instantly get some shitass lawyer with nothing better to do all in a hissy-fit and the lawsuits would fly.
      Also, consider this:
      • slashdot has a story about sco and mirrors sco.com/whateverpage.html
      • Boies seees it
      • osdn, slashdot, etc. become targets for stupid lawsuits
      • all that is good in the universe ceases to exist, yada yada yada
  • It looks like one of these [poster.net] with a lot of plastic cladding stuck on.
  • IANAM (Motorcyclist), but I would like to see a picture or some footage of someone actually driving this thing... it looks like it would be really difficult to balance and steer... maybe it's just me

  • Put that girl from Chernobyl on that bike... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Thagg ( 9904 ) <thadbeier@gmail.com> on Friday April 02, 2004 @11:02PM (#8753046) Journal
    And you have half the geeks in the world dying (happily, but still dying) of lust.

    thad

  • Here's an idea... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Raetsel ( 34442 ) on Friday April 02, 2004 @11:19PM (#8753160)
    I have Akira sitting on my DVD shelf. The nice one, in the metal tin... fun movie, love the music.

    So, anyway... I was watching American Chopper [discovery.com] a while back, and I got to thinking:

    • "I wonder what would happen if I went to OCC with one of the turboshaft engines that MTT uses for their bike [marineturbine.com], a copy of Akira, and asked Paul Jr. to replicate the Kaneda bike..."
    And then I remembered... they're artists. They're not really engineers. Making that bike work would require so many engineering challenges to be overcome that, well... they'd have to outsource a lot of it.

    But I'd sure love to watch them build one!

    (Too bad I can't afford it... anybody else want to join in and start a pool? We could have the 'Slashdot Bike' built! (Anyone remember the 'Slashdot PT Cruiser'?) Too bad the .com boom is well and truly dead, or we'd be looking at a fleet of the things!)

    The version in the article... it looks a bit fat and heavy. I don't know how much fun it'll be to ride. As much as I like the appearance, it's just pointless if all it does it look pretty.

  • Suzuki G-Strider (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 02, 2004 @11:25PM (#8753192)
    Try this [mcnews.com.au] out instead. Looks better, almost definitely lighter, and it seems to have better cornering clearance. Plus it stands a good chance of making it to mass production for under $10k.
  • Am I the only one that thinks it looks too big, bubbly and plasticky?

    I would envision something more metallic and a little tighter...

  • when you could be riding one of these [dodge.com]

  • And In Other News... (Score:3, Funny)

    by spoonboy42 ( 146048 ) on Saturday April 03, 2004 @12:24AM (#8753521)
    Networks around the world suffered varying degrees of damage today as 20 million geeks achieved simultaneous orgasm.

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