Real 'Akira' Motorcycle

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."

TETSUO!!!

[by Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to be the first to say, "TETSUO!"

And I'll be the first to say...

[Necroman (61604)]

KENADA!!!!

Neo Tokyo is about to explode!!!

[dswensen (252552)]

And it goes:

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

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

Re:Neo Tokyo is about to explode!!!

[DenOfEarth (162699)]

Teeeeeeeeetttttttttttttsuooooooooooooooooooooo noooooooo!!!!!

Drivetrain

[The Ape With No Name (213531)]

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

[Moofie (22272)]

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

[good soldier svejk (571730)]

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

[Fzz (153115)]

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

[MajorDick (735308)]

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"

Re:Drivetrain

[MajorDick (735308)]

Actually my step-brother was a stoner. She was deathly afraid of me following in his footsteps. Whats really sad is right now hes worth about a cool 5 million, and I cant find a #%$@^ job.

Re:Drivetrain

[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

[foreverdisillusioned (763799)]

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.

Re:Superpowers not included

[PetoskeyGuy (648788)]

No superpowers, but I bet it includes a free pack of stickers.

Re:Superpowers not included

[Vairon (17314)]

Sure it does. You just have to take massive amounts of hallucinogenic drugs first and play the CD. Scratch that. With the right drugs, you won't NEED the CD.

Want one?

[cybermace5 (446439)]

If you like it so much, then steal one for yourself like I did!

Cost

[CmdrMooCow (213594)]

Wow... I wonder what the price tag will be.

If only I could afford it!

Hey, nice

[Freston Youseff (628628)]

...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.

Cool motorcycle

[General Sherman (614373)]

It's a shame their server wasn't as fast as that motorocycle.

Anyone got a mirror?

Done.

[Adam9 (93947)]

Mirror of the motorcycle [darkfire.net]

Another mirror of the motorcycle, but a different pic [darkfire.net]

Play nicely with the mirror now ;)

impressive.

[Mandrake (3939)]

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.

[the_mad_poster (640772)]

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

Re:impressive.

[botono9 (199523)]

Maybe I'm missing something, but you seem to be saying that octopus rape isn't cool.

Re:impressive.

[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

I doubt that... it's self-healing

[AllenChristopher (679129)]

"the nerd factor of riding any sci-fi reproduction pretty much means you will never get laid again...Ever. ;P"

If all you do is ride a sci-fi reproduction, the girl has to know something about either motorcycles or sci-fi to suss you out.

Where the nerd factor comes in is the nasal bragging about the animation director's signature on the cowling. That keeps you from getting laid. Also not showering for days before or after riding in your reproduction sci-fi leather riding suit. Ewwww....

What are the specs?

[DigiShaman (671371)]

That's badass and all....but how does it handle? Does it take cornering well?...etc.

Or, is the bike merely for show with crappy performance and sluggish control?

All I need now is a Light Cycle from TRON!

[BaumSquad (632811)]

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.

[Orclover (228413)]

Ok after this ill be one millitary issue laser rifle short of living out my childhood dreams of hunting down psychic ex-best friends.

Re:Just one laser rifle short.

[May Kasahara (606310)]

Both... in Tetsuo's case ;)

Tetsuo (the psychic ex-best friend in Akira) could read minds (at least in the manga; can't remember the details regarding the anime), but it appears he was only capable of doing so when the person who's mind he's reading is within a few feet of him. After Tetsuo aquires his powers, Kaneda tends to keep his distance from him (all the better to hit him with military-issue laser rifles).

Damnit...

[Cyno01 (573917)]

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]?!!

Real bike?

[evenprime (324363)]

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?

[cwg_at_opc (762602)]

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!

Here's a mirror

[ErichTheWebGuy (745925)]

http://erichv.com/akira-bike/news040.html.htm [erichv.com]

Re:Here's a mirror

[Jubii (315611)]

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!!!

An experienced 2/3-wheeler-riding lunatic writes..

[Lproven (6030)]

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...

[mobiux (118006)]

All i want is someone to start producing that cool ass jacket with the pill on the back.

Something missing, though...

[kongjie (639414)]

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]...

bike design

[cwg_at_opc (762602)]

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

[farrellj (563)]

The Akira motorcycle always reminded me of the lightcycles from TRON. Tre-cool!

ttyl
Farrell

Where the hell is the Slashdot Mirror?

[-tji (139690)]

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?

[ErichTheWebGuy (745925)]

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

Re:Where the hell is the Slashdot Mirror?

[MemoryAid (675811)]

Google already mirrors everything, though, so why not find an automated way to link to their copy. They have enough bandwidth to destroy the Earth (in layman's terms), so not much danger of shutting them down with traffic.

Put that girl from Chernobyl on that bike...

[Thagg (9904)]

And you have half the geeks in the world dying (happily, but still dying) of lust.

thad

Here's an idea...

[Raetsel (34442)]

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

[by Anonymous Coward]

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.

And In Other News...

[spoonboy42 (146048)]

Networks around the world suffered varying degrees of damage today as 20 million geeks achieved simultaneous orgasm.

Re:249-998cc?

[MajorDick (735308)]

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.

Re:Akira is a cool flick.

[MBCook (132727)]

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.

Re:Bured by the referrer check!

[Ironsides (739422)]

Actually, the problem is they are blocking the links from slashdot. Open a new window and past the link into it and it works. I forget what it is that allows that to happen, but the link is correct.

Re:Dodge Tomahawk..

[johnpaul191 (240105)]

you know the only reason Dodge really bankrolled the Tomahawk was a sexy way to display the Viper's engine at car shows. When they go working on it they decided it had to work well... and it works well enough that the last i heard nobody has dared to go top speed.

it was after a HUGE response they built some to sell. The ones they sell are missing one component... maybe a final drive chain or something? the reasoning on that was liability. the bike is just way too much for anyone to ride full throttle.

Re:Dear God: THANK YOU!

[Ironsides (739422)]

No, No, No. The next Holy Grail will be when I get my perfect fully working replica of Gundam Zero working. All I have to do is figure out where to get the plutonium. Maybe if I traded someone some pinball machine parts....