Akira fans check this out.

[jwinges]

This guy is build the bike from Akira. Not totally accurate as far as powerplant and drivetrain but cool none the less.

http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/index.htm

[KingNor]

looks neat, but would it be safe to drive? i've never ridden a motorcycle so i wouldn't know, seems like youd want to be able to turn the handlebars further than that would allow.

any bikers know?

[rocco_77]

Actually, you don't need to turn the handle bars much at all when you are moving above 30 mph or so. For cornering you lean the bike by "counter-steering" and it doesn't take much movement to get a bike to go around a pretty sharp curve.

Now at slower speeds, this bike may be a bear to handle and manuver (especially with such a long wheel base)

As for safety? It really depends on how well this guy puts the thing together. It appears though that he is using a lot of spare parts from Honda bikes, and tube steel frame... It appears the final product should be pretty solid... It also depends on how heavy it ends up being. And there is a lot of faring on the bike that may just make it bulky. It will probably take some getting used to.

Also, with the engine in the rear, and a good amount of the rider weight in the rear too, I wonder how well balanced it will be... I would be really careful at higher speeds to make sure the front wheel stays on the ground.

Look forward to seeing the fininshed product.

[GodMedia]

WAYHECKAKEWL!

I always wondered if such a design could be pulled off realworld. This will be interesting to watch. And I agree that it probably will be a bit of a bear to handle.

-GM

[Nightbat]

If the tank is placed up front enough, the low seatheight and the long wheelbase, all that weight in the back may be compensated enough for good accelleration

I see problems in the frameconstruction

using it's frontbrake and taking a few bumps at too high speed chances are he's gonna be using the ground to wipe his ass after a few km

I would've used oval or round tubes for it's frame or placed the square tubes diagonally

[Akilae]

man.. the first ever fully functional Akira bike... can't wait to see this thing on the road =)

I don't know much about motorcycles, much less FF bikes, but the whole concept does indeed seem feasable, according to this pic

just need to get the whole design down, since it's the design that makes the Akira bike

[MSW]

You can make a running mockup of the Akira bike, but it won't perform any where near as well as it does in the animated film...this is because the design is completely counter the design goals of real performance oriented bikes.

On a performance bike you want a short wheelbase... at speeds above around 10mph (not the 30mph rocco_77 mentioned) street bikes navigate turns through leaning...the shorter wheelbase allows the bike to take corners without haveing to lean as far as bikes with long wheelbases (also a short wheelbase reduces your maximum turn radius)...for perfomance bikes that are ment to take turns (basicly any form of motorcycle except bikes ment only for drag raceing) you want a high center of gravity (not low like on cars) this makes the bikes more responseive to rider inputs as well as increases cornering ability (as leaning a high center of gravity bike in a turn forces the center of gravity closer to the center of the turn radius)...additionaly purfomance bikes (all types) depend on the rider to use thier whole body to effectively ride the machine and thus place the rider in a possistion where they can use all thier limbs for makeing these changes (useing foot pressure on the footpegs for "body steering" and such...)

the Akira bike isn't designed with any of that in mind...it should go strait with little problem, just don't expect to get it around corners quickly...low center of gravity, car like rideing possition (and very little ground clearence for leaning the bike), long wheelbase isn't a good idea for a motorcycle.