The Cutest Bike in the World Now Has an Anime Version
The CFMoto Papio SS is a standout bike in its standard form, but a new special edition version has now been revealed in the Philippines
A new special edition of the CFMoto Papio SS has been unveiled, based on the anime and manga, Akira.
We already told you back in February that the CFMoto Papio SS is the cutest 125 you can’t buy (in the UK, anyway), but we thought we’d show you this special edition Papio anyway. And you still can’t buy it.
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That is seemingly true even if you live in the Philippines, where this particular special edition — which seems to be a one-off — has been created by CFMoto Philippines in collaboration with jewellery brand 13 Lucky Monkey.
Inspired by the 1988 Japanese anime film, Akira (adapted from a manga of the same name), the bike, also named Akira, features handmade bodywork and a brass key, chain, and badges and is fundamentally based on the motorcycle ridden by the film’s protagonist, Kaneda.
It’s also finished in red paint and has a number of stickers — some branding logos, some just fun stuff like the ‘smiley face’ to the right of the headlights — that are representative of those featured on the bike in the film, and which give it a sort of 1980s race vibe. Not that this is going to be challenging the Yamaha XSR900 GP on a lap of Donington, but it certainly looks equally the part.
“Me and my partner sculptor Noli Coronado [are] big fans of the anime Akira,” said Dante Dizon, creative director of 13 Lucky Monkey. “Most of our rings [and] shirts are inspired by this anime from 1988. The hero, Kaneda, rode a red bike that is super iconic and we brainstormed on how to bring [it] to life. I felt the need to customise the Papio into an Akira bike.”
Compared to the bike in the film, which is perfect ‘80s-futurism (as is the fact that the film is set in… 2019), the Papio is much smaller and infinitely cuter. Although we’re not sure ‘cute’ would work as the motorcycle of the protagonist in a film about a motorcyclist who gains psychic abilities following a motorcycle crash (don’t try at home) and threatens the destruction of Tokyo, it definitely works in the real world.
