Joined
·
13,452 Posts
One of the guys over at Milwaukee vintage moto spotted this build. Seems interesting.
http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/status.html
![]()
http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/status.html
Interesting Cx500 build.
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
Joined
·
1,574 Posts
One of the guys over at Milwaukee vintage moto spotted this build. Seems interesting.
http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/status.html
![]()
That looks a little like a combination of the ratbike, the batmobile, and an old russian bike with those front shocks. I wonder how it'd handle with those wide, square tires?
Joined
·
4 Posts
Joined
·
9 Posts
From the title of his project (akira_bike) it looks like he's going for a similar style to the motorcycle from the anime Akira.
Here's a picture of the bike from the movie:
![]()
And it will actually be turned into a live action film for 2013 I think.
~Mike
Yeah, if the finished version looks anything like what the anime looked like, that would be mega hottt. He'd have to get the red pill jacket and everything though.
Joined
·
3,509 Posts
Joined
·
1,574 Posts
That'll be something to see when it's finished. That was one crazy movie, I haven't seen many anime' full length movies, mainly watched the Robotech stuff back in the day, but that movie I watched back in high school and it kinda freaked me out a bit. Maybe I need to go back and watch it again and see if it makes more sense now.
Joined
·
101 Posts
not only that, but with as much weight as the bike will have, i would have picked better brakes up front. looks like a single piston caliper.
Joined
·
592 Posts
thats the most beautiful rolling death trap i have ever seen. can't wait to see what happens when hes driving it and gets to a stop light.
Joined
·
85 Posts
Joined
·
14 Posts
Hey everyone, thanks for your comments about my project. I thought I'd answer some of the points brought up.
First the tires, yeah, you guys are very observant they are in fact aircraft tires (rated 300+mph) when I bought them I asked the guy a dozen times if they had rounded profiles or square ones, obviously he did not understand what I meant as they were much more square than I anticipated. The reason I went with those tires in the first place was because at the time there were no motor cycle tires that were large enough to keep the proportional aesthetic of the Akira Bike look, some builders have even resorted to making fake tiring looking shells to hide the small size of the real tire
![]()
Others build it around typical sport bike tire sizes, but scaled to that the overall bike is way to small
![]()
so my options were either it looked ridiculous yet was functional or it was way too small and not functional. I assumed at the time that in the intervening years a larger motorcycle tire would be made that matched the size of this, and in fact one has. One of my earliest changes will be to convert to those tires.
Overall though this is just a prototype I undertook to not only test some of the major aspects of the design but also learn how to build a motorcycle, I had no welding or metal working experience prior to this, just a deep interest in physics and engineering. Some of the major differences with this bike is the fact that, just as in the movie, the entire front cowling rises up, also you can deploy a low speed castor system to keep you upright when you come to a stop. Along with quite a few other things, this is much of the reason the build is taking a long time, I'm not just assembling off the shelf parts and giving it a pretty paint job while yelling at my kid
![]()
Once this prototype is done, I'm going to operate it in a small controlled environment just to get the functional testing done and then build an entirely new bike properly, with a focus on weight reduction and with newer and better performing parts, incorporating all the results of my testing and things I've learned during my build. Here is a pretty accurate rendering of what it will look like (this is modeled down to the level of each individual fastener)
![]()
Timothy_d - when I started this I wasnt familiar with the CX500 and a friend just gave me his, I lucked out as there are so few motorcycles with transverse V-Twins it was great that was the one I started with. It fits so nicely as a rear engine. I've been looking for a good deal on a CX650 since I heard about them, as I understand they have them same exact mounting dimensions, is that true? I plan on upgrading to one as soon as possible.
The single pot calipers up front are underpowered, and this machine is heavy, but again it will only be used for a short period of time for a few tests then probably never ridden again, as I'll be making a newer better one. But one thing worth noting is that with that long low geometry you can get your rear tire to do a lot more braking since there is much less load transfer going on.
Novalox I have no fear of electrical systems, I just havent gotten to the point where I need to focus on those yet on this build, as actually I'm very interested in electronics, when I was in high school I scared the crap out of dad by building a tesla coil.
![]()
There is alot more going on with this build that I can't publish details on, for example the final version will have *two wheel steering* among other innovations, I also have serious interest from investors in actually manufacturing these, as well as a decent chance that I can get my production version in the upcoming live action Akira movie. Keep an eye out and check back if your interested! If there are any CX500 gearheads in New England who want to swing by and check it out let me know. I'm in CT.
Kingston73 - my next project will be the cyclone from Robotech
![]()
An earlier conceptual 'work in progress' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_BjsMwYf8
First the tires, yeah, you guys are very observant they are in fact aircraft tires (rated 300+mph) when I bought them I asked the guy a dozen times if they had rounded profiles or square ones, obviously he did not understand what I meant as they were much more square than I anticipated. The reason I went with those tires in the first place was because at the time there were no motor cycle tires that were large enough to keep the proportional aesthetic of the Akira Bike look, some builders have even resorted to making fake tiring looking shells to hide the small size of the real tire
Others build it around typical sport bike tire sizes, but scaled to that the overall bike is way to small
so my options were either it looked ridiculous yet was functional or it was way too small and not functional. I assumed at the time that in the intervening years a larger motorcycle tire would be made that matched the size of this, and in fact one has. One of my earliest changes will be to convert to those tires.
Overall though this is just a prototype I undertook to not only test some of the major aspects of the design but also learn how to build a motorcycle, I had no welding or metal working experience prior to this, just a deep interest in physics and engineering. Some of the major differences with this bike is the fact that, just as in the movie, the entire front cowling rises up, also you can deploy a low speed castor system to keep you upright when you come to a stop. Along with quite a few other things, this is much of the reason the build is taking a long time, I'm not just assembling off the shelf parts and giving it a pretty paint job while yelling at my kid
Once this prototype is done, I'm going to operate it in a small controlled environment just to get the functional testing done and then build an entirely new bike properly, with a focus on weight reduction and with newer and better performing parts, incorporating all the results of my testing and things I've learned during my build. Here is a pretty accurate rendering of what it will look like (this is modeled down to the level of each individual fastener)
Timothy_d - when I started this I wasnt familiar with the CX500 and a friend just gave me his, I lucked out as there are so few motorcycles with transverse V-Twins it was great that was the one I started with. It fits so nicely as a rear engine. I've been looking for a good deal on a CX650 since I heard about them, as I understand they have them same exact mounting dimensions, is that true? I plan on upgrading to one as soon as possible.
The single pot calipers up front are underpowered, and this machine is heavy, but again it will only be used for a short period of time for a few tests then probably never ridden again, as I'll be making a newer better one. But one thing worth noting is that with that long low geometry you can get your rear tire to do a lot more braking since there is much less load transfer going on.
Novalox I have no fear of electrical systems, I just havent gotten to the point where I need to focus on those yet on this build, as actually I'm very interested in electronics, when I was in high school I scared the crap out of dad by building a tesla coil.
There is alot more going on with this build that I can't publish details on, for example the final version will have *two wheel steering* among other innovations, I also have serious interest from investors in actually manufacturing these, as well as a decent chance that I can get my production version in the upcoming live action Akira movie. Keep an eye out and check back if your interested! If there are any CX500 gearheads in New England who want to swing by and check it out let me know. I'm in CT.
Kingston73 - my next project will be the cyclone from Robotech
Joined
·
13,452 Posts
Thanks for commenting on the build.
Joined
·
1,574 Posts
Yeah, the details are really interesting. Is there really going to be a live-action AKIRA?
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
