The silver screen has undoubtedly inspired countless individuals, myself included, to embrace the two-wheeled lifestyle. While there are indeed plenty of sensible choices when it comes to movie bikes—think Top Gun’s GPZ900R, or the variety of bikes that’ve made cameos in the likes of Mission: Impossible and the James Bond franchise, there are other bikes that are seemingly unattainable for us mere mortals.
I’m talking about one-off machines like those piloted by Batman and of course, Shotaro Kaneda from Akira. But that unattainableness is changing lately, as we’ve seen lots of custom-made bikes emulating the styling of the Akira bike, but none from an actual manufacturer.
Until now.
This is exactly what Thai manufacturer Rapid hopes to achieve with its electric motorcycle dubbed the K-1988. At the moment, it’s just a concept, but Rapid’s owner, Smartech Motor, has made it clear that it intends to market the K-1988 as a production model, even showcasing it at the recently concluded Bangkok International Motor Show.
Taking a closer look at the styling, it’s clear that the K-1988 is inspired by the Akira series, but more than likely not licensed. Rapid clearly put in some work to differentiate the K-1988 from the Akira bike. For starters, it’s obviously not red, and it’s not as low-slung as the hero bike from the Anime series. It’s more than likely that Rapid made these slight changes to avoid copyright infringement on the part of Warner Bros who currently owns the rights to Akira.
The bike’s name in itself is an Easter egg, with K likely standing for Kaneda, and 1988 being the year the Akira film was released.
So, what lurks beneath the surface? Well, for starters, the K-1988 is an electric motorcycle. It’s rocking a 15kW electric motor with a power output of about 20 ponies. This gives the bike a top speed of about 87 miles per hour, which is actually pretty impressive for what’s technically an electric scooter. As for range, Rapid claims 124 miles on a single charge, so it’s best suited for urban duty thanks to its limited range. Rapid says that it takes about two hours for a full charge.
Like most other electric bikes out there, the K-1988 gets a bunch of modern tech, because why not? Traction control, ABS, and not one, but two full-color TFT all come as standard. It also gets an LED headlight that’s been neatly tucked behind the bike’s windscreen, just like the real Akira bike.
Now let's hope they make it.
