Akira - Kaneda's Bike Resources + Build

osric said:
What's your budget? This Akira bike replica took 7 years to build and cost $120k: The Only 'Officially Recognized' Akira Bike Replica | Geekologie

You could build a DeLorean time machine for less than that!

This sounds like a great project, though. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
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Like I said; They invested WAY too much time and money building that replica. Their high cost was probably related to outsourcing portions of the build, and also includes their usual income in relation to man-hours (I still cant figure out how they managed to spend that much though) and it probably took 7 years because they only worked on it (occasionally) in their spare time.

I'm building mine all by myself, I have pretty much nothing but free time, I can probably do it for less than $5k, and should take about a year. Motorcycle build's really aren't that expensive. My buddy and I fully restored a 1977 Ducati 900ss for less than $3k, and that's an expensive bike to buy parts for. I'm building my power-bike out of some steel tubing, fiberglass, and a salvaged motorcycle engine. I also have a fairly comprehensive machine shop, so I can make my own unobtainium parts.

We'll see, though. I'm pretty confident in my abilities, but this bike could run me through the ringer.
 
I think I have some side view drawings at home, from the collector's edition DVD. I can post them if you'd like.
 
Here they are. Sorry about the quality.
 

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Love it.
Looks like I wont need as much rake on the forks as I thought, and can even fake it down a little more with some leading-link suspension.

Thanks man.
 
There may actually be an art book for Akira that has better pics...

... A friend and I talked about making the Akira sample cylinders a long time ago.... Maybe someday....

Good luck with your bike!
 
Well, it's my birthday. I'm 30.
The jaded vibe in this drawing is a joke at my friends' expense (they take everything I say WAY too seriously)
So, my 20's are over.
Still have a metric ton of rad stuff left to build... I don't have time to get old.

birthday sketch.jpg
 
I've never been bothered by the prospect of aging, and I refuse to get old.
My old man is 64, and he's only just now starting to slow down a little bit. I'm a lot more active than he was at my age, so at this rate I won't have have a midlife crisis until I'm 70... and by then, I can just stick my brain in a robot body!
 
Can't wait to see how this turns out. Kaneda's bike easily ranks near the top of my list of favorite fictional vehicles ever.
 
With all respect to the OP, i'd ease up on dismissing the time and cost of the "120k" build until there's some actual progress here. Many people have attempted to build this bike and been sorely dissapointed by the challenges the form factor presents. Building it to scale and getting a decent engine in it are not easy goals.

To match the scale of the movie bike you'd have to fabricate a chassis from scratch and building it to be safe and street legal are not easy tasks.

I wish you the best of luck.
 
Grey said:
With all respect to the OP, i'd ease up on dismissing the time and cost of the "120k" build until there's some actual progress here. Many people have attempted to build this bike and been sorely dissapointed by the challenges the form factor presents. Building it to scale and getting a decent engine in it are not easy goals.

To match the scale of the movie bike you'd have to fabricate a chassis from scratch and building it to be safe and street legal are not easy tasks.

I wish you the best of luck.
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I have a fair amount of experience building custom motorcycles. I'm an experienced welder and frame builder. Fiberglass is cheap and relatively easy to work with. I wasn't simply "dismissing" the $120k build, I took everything I could possibly think of into consideration. This has all been carefully planned (less frame design, hence the prototype bicycle geometry) and I have a fairly comprehensive itemized list of the supplies I'll need, and have budgeted both my time and finances. The thing that will take the longest is sculpting the body... I could have a rideable frame ready to go in a few months.

Admittedly, the biggest challenge will be sourcing the wheels and tires. As far as motorcycles go; they're positively immense! The average tire size is about 24" (fitting a 17" rim for the rear) Kaneda's bike has a 27"-29" in the back, and the front should be a 24". Not a big deal for a dirtbike, but we're talking street.

See? I'm not running into this blind. I'm well aware of what I'm getting myself into.
Can I handle it? Who knows... Probably? Maybe? Inevitable decent into madness?

Don't be such a Negative Nancy
 
I've been here a long time and seen hundreds of projects come and go before ever leaving the design phase, my opinions are simply tempered about projects like this as a result. As I said, I wish you the best and i'm eager to see your progress.
 
Grey said:
I've been here a long time and seen hundreds of projects come and go before ever leaving the design phase, my opinions are simply tempered about projects like this as a result. As I said, I wish you the best and i'm eager to see your progress.
Click to expand...
I'm hip.
I'm just going to use this as fuel to prove you wrong.
(don't take that the wrong way, it's just how I stay motivated)
Prepare for a future or Neener-Neener's and I told you so's!

Also, thanks for the support.
 
I never miss an opportunity to be wrong. Have you looked at the Mechanix 2019 artbook? It has detailed measurements and specifications.

Many design references from the film. There was a replica built in the mid-90's for a promotional shoot, I forget which studio was involved.

070_mechanix_2019.jpgmechanix2019PB.PNG
 
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