Welcome to Matus1976's Akira Bike Project - Building a fully functional high performance recumbent motorcycle inspired by Kaneda's ride in "Akira"

<< Next Update

• Update 1

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  And so it begins... Here is my welding cart, the first project every welder is supposed to do. Not too shabby... but not to great either. Above the cart you can see some of the first cut pieces for the frame.

  Practice Practice Practice...Here is the first major practice piece I have done. It takes a lot of practice to get weld beads looking good and being structurally sound. Here my cat Emma is checking it out, it turned out to be a pseudo modern art sculpture. I don't think I will quite my day job anytime soon though.

  Here is a shot of my workshop so far (a bit messy) to the left is the Honda in-line 4 cylinder, sans cowlings and gas tank. To the right midway back is the welding cart, toward the rear is the chop saw, grinder, and jigsaw.

  Here is a close up of a second practice piece. The metal is 1" square tubing, mild steel. This is the metal I will be using for the frame of the prototype.

  Here I am at work on a practice piece.

  Well, finally, construction has begun. I decided to stop practicing and bite the bullet, If I screw up I can get more metal and do it again. Here is the first piece of the frame spot-welded together. It ended up being pretty square, I think the inner piece was about 1 degree off from a right angle but it will not dramatically affect the design, I have intentionally left room for error.

  Here is that same frame piece now placed on the platform I will be assembling the bike on. Eventually the full bike will sit on this and its wheels will rest on the floor at full extension. This rectangular section is under the engine.

  Here is the start of the next part of the frame.

  The frame is held in place now waiting to be spot welded. It took a good hour to line these pieces up well.

  Here is the end product (at least today) This constitutes the bottom most portion of the frame.

  Here is the rendered frame compared with the so far constructed frame. The highlighted portion of the frame on the left is the same portion that was constructed today. Construction has officially begun!

  1 - 11

  <

  >