Wellington, New Zealand - This is the futuristic sports-bike that Scarlett Johansson rides in the upcoming science-fiction action thriller “Ghost in the Shell”.
It has quite a history; it started life as the Honda NM4 Vultus concept first shown at the Osaka motorcycle show in March 2014 - a very aggressive feet-forward power scooter with an adjustable folding backrest and built-in panniers, based on the NC700 commuter bike and it’s sort-of-scooter Integra sibling.
A production version was released in very limited numbers in June of that year as the NM4, and is still available in the United States and certain Asian and European markets.
“Ghost in the Shell” is based on a Japanese manga (animated action film) of the same name; it’s set in the near future and stars Scarlett Johansson as Major, the first of her kind, a human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier, devoted to stopping the world’s most dangerous criminals.
Honda happily provided the design sketches for the original 2014 concept - it felt the Vultus was a perfect fit for the cybertech world depicted in the new live-action version - and the film’s production team translated those into the custom sports-bike you see here, with aggressive straight ‘bars, rear-set footpegs and a tipped-up MotoGP style single seat.
Carbon-fibre covers give it a ‘disc wheel’ look and act as a mount for free-floating ‘shorty’ mudguards front and rear - but the best part is that it’s built around an NC750 parallel drivetrain with six-speed dual clutch transmission, so the movie bike is actually a runner.
It’ll be on on show from 18-20 March at the Osaka motorcycle show. In the meantime, it also features briefly in the trailer for the film.