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Akira

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I am, and forever will be, a complete sucker for a good rendition of Kaneda’s motorcycle from the cult Japanese anime movie Akira. Growing up as a kid (versus growing up as an adult, which is my current state), Akira‘s portrayal of motorcycles was one of the few things that got me interested in two-wheels.

I was a “car kid” growing up, with pictures of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche automobiles hanging on my walls. But, Kaneda’s bike was an influence too, and judging from the comments section when we post about this bike, it was a transformative machine for many others as well.

If there is a piece of Japanese animation that has transcended from the niche realm of anime into the larger consciousness of mainstream film, that piece surely has to be the movie Akira.

And while the dystopian themes of a future that is still recovering from the fallout of WWIII predominate the film, it is surprising to see how many fans have latched onto the motorcycle the main character, Kaneda, rides in the story.

I wasn’t even a motorcycle enthusiast when I first watched Akira, but Kaneda’s bike always struck me profoundly. Judging from the number of people who have tried to re-create the motorcycle in the flesh, I am not alone on this – even Kanye West has given the movie a nod.

Our friends at MotoFire luckily found this short tribute trailer from filmmakers Brad Kremer and Dean Fowler, who like us, also have a fascination with the Kaneda bike, and have re-made the iconic movie’s trailer to focus on this piece of machinery.

Fans of the original movie will find the imagery familiar, and for those who are getting their first taste of Akira, we hope the trailer intrigues you further.

We got a strange email from MV Agusta this morning, one that seems to be teasing a new motorcycle. That much isn’t too uncommon, as the Italian brand loves to build anticipation of its new model releases. But, this teaser seems like something else entirely.

You can see it above, although there is not much to see beyond a wheel and some sort of enlarged canopy. That in itself though is something of an oddity, and quite frankly it looks like that on September 4th, we are going to see a machine like no other that’s ever been in the MV Agusta lineup.

I have three theories on what this rogue “Z” wearing vehicle could be, and they all are based off the idea that we are looking at the hind quarters of a new machine. Let me explain.

Rather perversely, a lot of the talk at the World Superbike test at Jerez has not been about World Superbikes at all. Which is a shame, as the 2015 World Superbike championship promises to be particularly fascinating, with testing times very close indeed.

Instead, there was a real kerfuffle about the slowest bike on the track, the one being ridden by Kenny Noyes and Dominique Aegerter.

The cause of the fuss? The fact that it was a Kawasaki, a further development of the Open class bike raced by the Avintia Racing team in MotoGP last year, has generated a mountain of speculation that Team Green is preparing a comeback to MotoGP, bringing all four major Japanese factories back into the premier class.

The truth was a good deal more prosaic.

A failed experiment, it may have been, but one good thing to come from the Claiming Rule Team (CRT) regulations in MotoGP was the ability for private teams to own the GP machines they were racing, rather than be victim to the lease programs imposed by the factories.

As a result, from time-to-time we get to see these truly special motorbikes come on the market, and today is one such occasion. Listed for sale on eBay is the Forward Racing’s Kawasaki-FTR race bike that was campaigned by Colin Edwards during the 2013 MotoGP season.

For those who don’t know, the Kawasaki-FTR MotoGP bike uses an engine from a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, which has been built out by France’s venerable Akira tuning house, as well as a custom chassis that has been built by the UK’s FTR-Moto.

With a dry weight of 157 kg (346 lbs), and a peak horsepower figure of 245+ horsepower at the crank, this might be the ultimate Kawasaki on the market.

Being products of the Nintendo generation, Asphalt & Rubber can thank movies like Tron and Akira for piquing our interest in motorcycles at an early age. While there have been several attempts to build Kaneda’s feet-forward steed , replicas of the Tron lightcycle prove to be more elusive.

With Tron Legacy set to come out later this year, some custom bike builders have risen to the challenge to complete our ultimate geek-meets-motorcycling dreams, and are offering 5 custom made road-going Tron lightcycles for purchase on eBay.