VIDEO: Chopper Shop Brings Tron Light Cycle to Life

By the early 1980s, the Computer Age had well and truly dawned. Personal computers began popping up in homes and offices with increasing regularity, and video arcades dotted the American landscape and were favored hangouts of many a youth. (Yes, kids, you used to have to leave the house to get your gaming fix. And interact with other people. Face-to-face. Terrifying, no?)

Of course, all this new technology provided plenty of fodder for Hollywood screenwriters, who turned out many a tale of digital deviousness. One of the most memorable such films was 1982’s Tron, a Disney vehicle that saw Kevin Flynn – played by a 16-years B.D. (Before The Dude) Jeff Bridges – sucked into a computer, whereupon he had to fight for his real survival in a virtual world. One of the means of putting him in peril was the light cycle, and with the sequel (which has Bridges reprising his role and, more importantly, Olivia Wilde as the female lead) hitting theaters in a couple weeks, one custom bike shop clearly thought it would be cool to make the new-generation light cycle a reality.

Florida-based Parker Brothers Choppers has built 10 of these low-slung stunners based off pictures and videos of the bikes found in Tron: Legacy (since no real, physical light cycles were built for or used in either movie). They feature a bespoke steel frame cloaked in fiberglass bodywork and housing a 1,000cc Suzuki V-twin, as well as a trick friction-drum brake setup that allows the bike to stay true to the hubless-wheeled original. You also get your choice of traditional gauges or an iPad dock that lets you monitor the engines vitals and other stats on a touchscreen. Sadly, the ability to lay down walls of light behind you for your rival (or the text-happy daddy’s girl who nearly ran you over with her Jetta; take your pick) to crash into is not present.

Want one? You better hurry up and grab one; last we heard six of the 10 are already spoken for. Oh, and you’ll need to pony up $55,000. That’ll buy you two or three hot sportbikes, but some of those are built at a rate of more than ten per hour. You won’t see yourself coming and going on one of these puppies…unless you’re at Comic Con, in which case all bets are off.

Source: YouTube, Parker Brothers Choppers Photos: Michael Lichter