fully functional high performance recumbent motorcycle inspired by Kaneda's ride in "Akira"

 

Other Akira Bike Builds

Many other people have constructed bikes inspired by Kaneda's ride in "Akira" ranging from quick chopped builds to faithful recreations from the film, down to every scratch and sticker. The bike from the film is difficult to translate into a real world functional vehicle, so you'll see things like fake wheel coverings and general size issues.

Claimed as the only "Officially recognized" replicate of Kaneda's motorcycle, Shinji Tejima from the Showa Studio automobile repair shop spent a reported seven years and 120,000 dollars to complete his Akira inspired build. Google it and you'll find numerous videos. Though the build and styling is executed superlatively, I point again to the general size of the vehicle as an issue. It is not scaled appropriately. The headrest and windsheild should actually extend over the riders head.

Duca Craftwork's Akira Bike is another of the form over function builds - expertly crafted but focused on looks and style over functionality. Notice a fake tire surrounding a smaller real inner tire. It also seems to be built on a scooter platform, but the body work is exceptional and it seems to have the best finish of any models I've seen yet.

With limited resources Brazilian Higor Santos has been doggedly pursuing his Akira Inspired build, check out his you tube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/snmasterss/videos

BSU / Neo-Fukuoka's "Akira Bike" is also reported to be the 'official' production bike and though it is reported to be for sale I can find no instances of prices or purchases. This is definitely one of the best translations of the bike from Akira yet. Neo-Fukuoka's bike has two steering columns linked with a tie rod bar and a trellised frame with a series of chains running from a smallish single cylinder engine (my guess 500cc - 650cc) under the rider and up to the pivot point of the rear single sided swingarm.

Another excellently executed build is the Red Mole, obviously built from a scooter drive train and components its a little small but the body work is superb and the styling is pretty decent as well. Stays much closer to the Akira Bike design than the Stingray model does.

This is obviously not a build intended for production, and is another of the "Form over Function" builds. Saitaniya Factory's build looks like a spitting image of the cel shaded bike from the anime movie, but the styling, fake scratches, and airbrushing are a little over kill for my tastes. The fake tires hiding real but smaller tires inside them are...interesting.

The Stingray is as obviously inspired by the Akira Bike but seems to be more of a scooter than a motorcycle from its general proportions. Looks like it has a dual swingarm setup in the rear and an interesting hub centered steering in the front.

The earliest and one of the best Akira Bike builds is the Whitehouse build, which looks to have been produced for one of the re-releases of the Akira anime. Its a great looking bike but with a 250cc engine I don't think it's performance specs will be enviable.

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Help bring a fully functional high performance production version of Kaneda's bike  into existence...