Tron Lightcycle comes to life.... at $55,000

The real-life Tron Lightcycle: Incredible street-legal superbike based on the film that can hit 120mph and costs $55,000

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:34 PM on 16th December 2010

This stunning Tron Lightcycle is science fiction turned fact.

The iconic virtual vehicle - driven by computer programs and gamers in the futuristic films - has been recreated in reality by Parker Brothers Choppers.

The real-life hubless space-age bike is an amazing recreation of the CGI graphics from the film and is in reality 8ft long, 23-inches wide and 474lbs.

Incredibly the Light Cycle is street-legal and can hit speeds of up to 120 miles per hourl

A real life Light Cycles made by U.S. bike store Parker Brothers Choppers, based in Florida which sas unveiled ten custom-built vehicles

Only five of the machines are being produced by Florida-based Parker Brothers Choppers and cost $55,000 each.

Operations manager Jeff Halverson explained: 'It has a TL1000R motor that powers the chain driven friction drive system.

'It can go up to 120 miles per hour but we haven't taken it up to that speed yet.

'The hardest part of the build was trying to go from the CGI of the movie to a real-life situation.'

The company recorded the bike building process on camera and released it on YouTube where it quickly went viral.

The YouTube video of it being taken o a test drive has already notched up more than 700,000 views.

A still from the new Tron: Legacy film which shows computer programmes and humans racing on Lightcycles

The bike being built in the workshop. The incredible bike has a TL1000R motor that powers the chain driven friction drive system.

'We pretty much started out just seeing if we could make it,' Halverson said.

'We put up the videos on YouTube and it got a pretty big following when it was done.

'After the third day it went viral and at the last check we were at about 800,000 hits on the video - much bigger than we expected.'

The YouTube coverage attracted the attention of Disney and the film producers behind Tron: Legacy, who approached the company to use the bike at promotional events for the new film.

'The one we have at the moment is a prototype,' said Halverson.

'But we've got another four in production for a total of five - four of those are already taken so there's just one available for sale at the moment.'

As well as looks the bike also has some space age technology built in - including a port for an iPad that, when connected, will download ride stats from the onboard computer.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1339119/The-real-Tron-Lightcycle-hit-120mph-costs-55-000.html#ixzz18KajvX4t