Warframe’s much-anticipated 1999 expansion dropped last week, and Tenno all around the world are being introduced to something new: ‘90s sportbikes. You can keep your railjacks and k-drives, there’s a retro motorcycle now available — or, is it a modern one? Both? Neither?
The 1999 Atomicycle MKIII, as it’s called in-game, is a wild mix of old and new motorcycle parts and styling. It’s fitting for a year 1999 unlike our own, full of people far more advanced than us, but some bits are just confusingly wrong.
First, the inspiration. The Atomicycle seems very directly inspired by real-world ‘90s Ducatis, namely the 916 with its under-tail exhaust, intake location beneath the lights, single-sided swingarm, and aero cuts into both the side fairing and the panel beneath the pillion seat. Even the angle of the windscreen, routing of the exhaust piping, and front fender mount on the fork all scream Ducati. Yet, there’s more to the Atomicycle than just fake Italian leather.
The plastics on the Atomicycle, which the bike’s website show in this vintage Yamaha-looking red and white, hew a little bit more modern. The headlights carved out of the front fairing could be pulled from a modern Gixxer or CBR, and the overall curved-yet-pointy styling language would be more at home on an R6 than an FZR. The shape complexity there just reeks of modern manufacturing, but that’s not the only thing. Hold on to that thought while we peel the plastics off and take a look beneath, thanks to a photo of an in-universe modified bike.
This is truly something else. While Ducati loves its trellis frames, the Atomicycle primarily uses a twin-spar frame that would look at home on a Honda Fireblade. If anything, the shapes of the satin-black metal frame are even more complex than the ‘Blade, as the design approximates a modern, pressed twin-spar design. Yet, to keep the Ducati inspiration intact, the subframe and weird engine cradle section use a trellis.
The exhaust routing here is also selling. We have one pipe emerging from just behind the radiator and running to the rear, but we also have one that comes from behind the swingarm pivot — this appears to be a V-twin, or perhaps more accurately to the inspiration an L-twin. Neither seems entirely accurate, given that the second cylinder isn’t really visible anywhere on the bike, but that exhaust must be coming from somewhere. The sound is clearly an inline-four, which doesn’t really help us narrow it down here.
This view also clearly shows us that there’s no rear brake master cylinder, which is perfectly fine because there’s never been a rear brake caliper on the bike. A rotor, sure, but it’s missing the two-piston caliper claimed in the bike’s specs. Yes, that’s right — the folks over at Digital Extremes actually gave us some specs in the bike’s in-universe marketing copy. Here’s what we know:
- “Double-profile wings” on the fairing provide 82 lbs of downforce at 186 mph
- Just over a quarter gallon more fuel capacity than the ‘98 model, whatever that was
- 220 horsepower at “over 12,500 RPM”
- 90.6 lb-ft of torque at 11,000 RPM
- Longer gear ratios in first through third gear than the ‘98 model, “for a more authentic ‘racing’ feel”
- Swingarm pivot raised by o.16 inches over the previous model for stonger anti-squat
- 43 mm forks
- Stock steering damper
- “Fully-adjustable monoshock”
- Four 30mm front brake pistons “each working on 330mm diameter discs” — are there four front brake rotors?
- 245mm rear brake rotor with a two-piston caliper
- “Sophisticated new platform that detects your bike’s roll, yaw and pitch angles” — sounds like a modern six-axis IMU
- Four riding modes: Standard, Race, Sport, Steret
- Multicolor LCD display
- Comes in more colors than any modern real-world motorcycle not manufactured by Royal Enfield
These specs sound downright modern, with six-axis IMUs and multicolor LCD displays only becoming truly standard in the last handful of years. The 43-mm inverted front forks are similarly true to modern motorcycling, but the horsepower figure is out of the question even for modern bikes. We have motorcycles that make 220 horsepower, we’ve got plenty of them, but none run a V-twin motor. Ducati’s own Superquadro twin peaks at 155 horses.
I may not be nearly far enough in Warframe’s story to actually access the bike, but my roommate kindly took a walkaround video of the Atomicycle in my stead. The overall shape of the bike in three dimensions really echoes a Yamaha R6 to my eye, though something about the headlights is really saying CBR. Take a look:
The Atomicycle is such an interesting design, blending modern and vintage inspiration to make something that reasonably looks like it could exist without aping any other bike too directly. Sure, it may be missing a brake caliper and a cylinder, but it’s still a neat-looking bike with some very cool styling cues. I would very much like to ride one, if not for the approximately 30,000 hours of gameplay between me and the 1999 expansion.
