Last year, the resourceful grease monkeys at Florida’s Parker Brothers Choppers set about realising a fully working, street-legal replica of a Tron ‘light cycle’ — an unauthorised project based on the models created for Tron: Legacy by former Volkswagen designer and all-round futurist type Daniel Simon.
Now, inspired by that success, the latest project of Marc and Shanon Parker — who have also previously brought to life their own ‘batpod’ from The Dark Knight, an ‘Eleanor’ from Gone In 60 Seconds and a Kitt from Knight Rider — is another unofficial nod to a Simon-designed Tron concept called The Detonator (below). And they’re currently taking orders for Christmas.
It’s a fully electric e-bike, powered by a stack of lithium-ion batteries capable of an 80-100-mile range from a one-hour charge at a 110-volt outlet. But most impressive, perhaps, is that it’s been tested to a top speed of 120mph, so it’s no slouch off the lights either.
It has dual 96-volt electric motors, a whopping 30in front wheel and a 27in at the rear. And yes, as you might expect, riding it is a bit of a challenge, even for the most grizzled of chopper hounds.
“It is not the easiest bike to control,” admits Parker Brothers’ operations manager Jeff Halverson. “But at 11.5ft long, it’s still rideable, and fast as well.” Quite.
So if you’ve got a spare $100,000 (£62,600) knocking about, they’re shipping across the US and Europe. Stabilisers not included.
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