The year is 2025 (at least, it still is for the next couple of months). And yet, somehow, we still haven't made Genesis Climber MOSPEADA reality yet.
Now, depending on where you sit, it's probably also good news that we haven't yet mastered the fine art of building giant robots that we humans can climb inside to go do epic mecha battles, although our mech anime dreams do continue to keep coming to life in the form of motorcycle (and motorcycle gear) designs.
Take these epic Gundam helmets. Or all this gear that Kushitani released. Or this ace Gundam-themed Honda Grom from K-Speed.
What's that, you say? You want different mechs with your motorcycles? Well, if you're a Neon Genesis Evangelion fan, then I've got fantastic news for you.
Friends, the fine folks at Rental819 just announced their new collaboration with Evangelion Racing Team. The result is not one, not two, but three entire EVA unit-wrapped rental bikes that regular people can ride right now (assuming you're reading this before November 30, 2025, of course).
Now, there are two pieces of bad news here. One is, this collaboration is only for a limited time. From the time you're reading this through November 30, 2025 is how long Rental819 is running this promotion.
And the second piece of bad news is that it's only at the Odaiba location in Tokyo. So unless you're in that area and can make an online reservation during the slightly-more-than-a-month that's left to rent a rideable EVA unit, you may either have to go without, or else get your own wrap job done on your own bike.
Actually, make that three pieces of bad news, because Rental819 has some pretty strict rules about renting these bikes, beyond what you might expect. For example, while you might expect there to be a clause about not letting anyone else ride the bike that isn't on the rental contract, there's actually a line included in the fine print that stipulates that even allowing someone to sit on the bike momentarily for a photo might be considered to violate this agreement. Ouch.
There's also an additional rider warning against damage to the wrap. As you may be aware, professional vehicle wrapping is a specialty, so any damage to the wraps on these three special rental bikes will incur additional charges. How will those be calculated? Rental819 has an entire chart that uses a 500-yen coin as its scratch size measurement unit.
No, for real. One coin, it says, is about 25mm, and damage the size of one coin will run you ¥7,700 (about US $50.42 at the time of writing), including tax. The chart goes on to detail potential wrap damage fees in coins, with the top amount being "4 coins or more (76mm and above)." That'll cost the unfortunate party who causes that much damage to one of the EVA-wrapped bikes a cool ¥77,000 (about US $504).
Depending on how long you plan to rent the bike for, that repair fee could well end up costing you more than the actual charge you paid to rent the bike in the first place. I guess that's a pretty effective damage deterrent, though. Get on the robot, Shinji!
Gallery: Rental819 Odaiba Evangelion Racing Sportbike Rentals
