Cool Bike: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:2007 flstf 1024.jpg|frame|The Harley Fat Boy. Possibly the quintessential Cool Bike, at least in the USA.]]
 
{{quote|"Bikes are not 'nice'. Bikes are cool."
|'''Fonzie, to Richie; ''[[Happy Days]]'''}}
 
So you've got a [[Badass]]. Or a [[The Drifter|loner]]. Or an [[Action Hero]] or [[Action Girl]]. Now (s)he needs a suitable way to get from Point A to Point B. Because walking isn't very impressive unless you're [[Unflinching Walk|calmly walking away from the carnage you just caused]], or [[Power Walk|power walking]] toward the carnage you intend to cause.
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* The first time we saw Kenichi Go from ''[[Voltes V]]'' he was practicing in a firing range by shooting AND riding at once.
* Kaneda's red motorbike in ''[[Akira]]'' most definitely qualifies.
* ''[[FLCL|]]'': Haruko's]] Yellow vespa is also undeniably cool, which is interesting as it's a ''scooter''.
* Soul from ''Soul Eater'' too believes in the power of cool bikes, which is why he has one.
* The Garland units in ''[[Megazone 23]]'' combine Cool Bikes with [[Transforming Mecha]].
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* ''[[Genesis Climber Mospeada]]'' (AKA, the third series of ''[[Robotech]]'') has motorcycles that transform into [[Powered Armor]].
* The Motoslaves of ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' also serve as small [[Transforming Mecha]]. Priss and Sylvie also ride cool regular motorcycles. And there's the Highway Star.
* A subversion in ''[[Durarara!!]]''. Celty's Cool Bike is actually a [[Cool Horse]] disguised as one. You can tell by the fact that it makes no noise, only whinnies and it has the shadow of a horse.
* Beelzemon of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' has a cool, living bike called Behemoth. And if you aren't Beelzemon, it will possess you and drive all across the landscape.
** And better, ''it wasn't made for him'' or anything like that. Beelzey was just the only one powerful enough to tame the cursed bike that had terrorized a town with its original rider (''and'' then Guilmon, who knocked the original rider off only to become possessed himself.)
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* Jun the Swan's G3 from ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]''. It has portable buoys that when lowered under the bike can allow it to ride on water surfaces. Later in the series, it gets a missile launcher.
* ''[[Bakuon!!]]'' revolves around them, almost to the point of idolatry. It's basically "Cute High School Girls on Cool Bikes: The Series".
 
 
== Comic Books ==
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* Hot Pursuit, an [[Alternate Universe]] [[The Flash|Barry Allen]] who lacks his [[Super Speed]], drives a bike that is powered by the [[Meta Origin|Speed Force]]. Its wheels appear to be made of pure [[Lightning Can Do Anything|speed energy]].
* The Spy Cycle from ''[[Spy Boy]]''.
* [[Captain America]]'s vehicle of choice is [https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_America%27s_Motorcycle a custom-made Harley-Davidson motorcycle]; there's have been several variations over the years, of varying degrees of coolness.
 
 
== Fan Works ==
* During the course of ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]|Drunkard's Walk II]]'', superhero and [[Dimensional Traveler|extradimensional exile]] Douglas Sangnoir builds a motorcycle from a combination of salvaged parts and components built in a [[Nanotechnology|nanofabricator]]. As he did this in the world of ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'', it comes out looking like a missile on wheels. Then he took a [[Gravity Master|gravity gun]] from a combat android and turned it into a gravity ''drive'', allowing the bike to ''fly''.
** Ten years later, during the events of ''Drunkard's Walk V'', [[Ah! My Goddess|Skuld and Megumi Morisato]] completely rebuild his bike, adding numerous extra features and a [[Bag of Holding|set of panniers that are ''much'' larger on the inside than the outside]].
** Doug also owns a bike with similar features (except for the panniers) in his home timeline, based on a 1936 Harley-Davidson.
* [https://www.deviantart.com/plasma-dragon/art/Sidecar-848083642 This artwork]] shows a Pokemon trainer with a Bisharp-themed motorcycle [[Cool Helmet| (with matching helmet!)]], which includes a sidecar for his Houndoom.
 
== Films -- AnimationFilm ==
* CloudsCloud's Custom Motorcycle "[[I Call It Vera|Fenrir]]" in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] [[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children|Advent Children]]''. Bonus cool points for having a ''built in sword rack''.
* In the 2007 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|TMNT]]'' CGI movie, in his Nightwatcher guise, Raphael rides a motorcycle covered with plate steel. Michelangelo himself comments on how awesome this is.
* ''[[Aachi and Ssipak]]'' loves this trope seeing as how every character has a cool motorcycle or at least motorcycle-like vehicles. Special mention goes to the character of Geko, a [[Badass]] cyborg who has a bike with plenty of weapons.
 
 
== Films -- Live Action ==
* The BMW R 1150R Rockster used by Ben Affleck's character in ''[[Paycheck]]''.
* The Ducati 996 ridden by Trinity in the ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'' film during the highway chase.
* Marlon Brando riding a Triumph Bonneville in ''[[The Wild One]]'' is one of the events that started this trope.
* Will Smith's character's Black MV Augusta F4 in ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]''.
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* The green Harley-Davidson WLA Liberator that Captain America rides in ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]''. It even comes with machine guns, and a rope-launcher.<ref>Which Cap uses to great effect against motorcycle-ridng HYDRA mooks late in the movie.</ref>
* Young Boris's rather satanic looking bike from [[Men in Black]] 3
 
 
== Literature ==
* In ''[[Snow Crash]]'', Hiro Protagonist's smart bike has ''its own operating system''. And Raven's bike. You know, the one with a ''hydrogen bomb'' built into its sidecar.
* Sirius in ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' had a flying motorbike, which he gave to Hagrid to help him get Harry from Godric's Hollow to his uncle's house. It appeared again in ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', where Hagrid used it to get Harry safely from his home to the Weasley's house. In the end Harry inherited it. A Triumph Bonneville was used in the films, and this seems to be canon.
* The bike created by the Librarian, and ridden by [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] in ''[[Discworld/Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]''. It actually falls to bits quite early on, but the ''idea'' of the bike remains, resembling light reflecting off a gleaming machine, only without the machine. Unfortunately, because it was created in accordance with rock music tropes, it isn't designed to slow down, much less stop safely. It's ''meant'' to crash at the end of the eighth verse.<ref>Eighth, as the whole sequence is an extended tribute to [[Meat Loaf]]s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9WeTf67YLY Bat out of Hell], down to the ''silver black phantom bike''.</ref>
* In Robert Asprin's ''[[Phule's Company]]'', CH (Chocolate Harry) gets official permission to use his personal hoverbike instead of a Legion vehicle.
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
* [[Kamen Rider]]s, obviously (that's where the "Rider" comes from); while the main Rider always has a Cool Bike, more recent seasons have started to introduce [[Sixth Ranger|Second Riders]] who don't have them. In order:
** The Showa Riders' bikes typically just have custom cowlings, due to special effects limitations of the 1970s, though they're all faster and more powerful than standard bikes, sometimes allowing them to ride along walls and up cliff faces. [[Kamen Rider X|X-Rider's]] can be used as an underwater vehicle and [[Kamen Rider Super-1|Super-1's]] actually flies using rockets. The bikes were a much bigger part of the series in the earlier years; more recent seasons have it as [[The Artifact]] (how many times did we see [[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'s bike, three?) It may have something to do with [[Real Life Writes the Plot|the Rider helmets losing the eyeholes]].
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* Reno Raines rides one in ''[[Renegade (TV series)|Renegade]]''.
* ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'' : DG's ride of choice appears to be a vintage 40's era motorcycle. It's also implied by her interaction with Officer Gulch that she [[Drives Like Crazy]] on it.
 
 
== Music ==
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''Said James to Red Molly, well my hat's off to you
''It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952'' }}
 
 
== Tabletop Games ==
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* ''[[Macho Women with Guns]]'' has only three character classes ... and one of them is basically Motorcycle Nun.
* Steve Jackson Games' catalog once contained a fictitious entry for ''Kung Fu CB Mamas on Wheels vs. the Motorcycle Aztec Wrestling Nuns''. Despite not actually being a real game, if it ''did'' exist, it would have had one side entirely on Cool Bikes.
 
 
== Video Games ==
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:: The bikes are, in fact, too souped-up for regular gameplay, but can be obtained from the beginning with a cheat device such as the Gameshark. In order to even hope to do well on most regular tracks with them, the player will have to lay off the throttle for most of the game. Jumping over a car at full speed may cause the bike to fly so far off the course that the player will not catch back up to the other racers.
* Yasha's Corvette from ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'' is a Jet Bike!
 
 
== Web Comics ==
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** King Radical, the Doctor's nemesis, rides a cool dirtbike.
* ''[[Dawn of Time]]'': after our prehistoric heroine jumps through time to a post-apocalyptic future she swaps her triceratops companion Blue for a triceratops-styled motorbike, BLU 1.
 
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', Battlecat rides a Cool Bike called the Battlecycle. It's tricked out like one of [[James Bond]]'s cars.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
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* Enclosed motorcycles, for those who like a more futuristic look, like the [http://www.monotracer.com/ Peraves Monotracer] or the [http://sites.google.com/site/conceptbikes/18TECA-Concept-full.jpg TECA Technologies concept bike].
* The [[wikipedia:File:Honda.rune.arp.750pix.jpg|Honda Valkyrie Rune]]. Oh, the Honda Valkyrie Rune...
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130915013245/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Dodge_Tomahawk.jpg Dodge Tomahawk]. It uses the exact same engine that the Dodge Viper sports car does. What sort of engine is that, you ask? A V-10. A very high-displacement V-10. Unfortunately this makes the bike a case of [[Awesome but Impractical]], as the weight and size of the engine meant that it had to have 4 wheels and the fuel tank had to be mounted way at the front to avoid the heat the engine gives, and has a fuel economy figure of about 60 feet to the gallon.
** You could be forgiven for believing it safer to just take the warhead off a missile and ride ''that'' instead. (Heck, it'd probably still be just as safe with the warhead left in place.)
* Bimota's Tesi line of motorcycles, especially the [http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/nextue/big_BimotaTesi3DRockGold01.jpg Tesi 3D], with its much sleeker looks compared to its predecessors - The idea behind the design seems to be to put as much emphasis on its two-wheeled-ness as possible without impairing its functionality as a speedbike.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Motor Vehicle Tropes]]
[[Category:Rule of Cool]]
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[[Category:The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide to Cool]]
[[Category:Motorcycle Tropes]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]