Top 10 Manufacturer Turbo Motorcycles

On the surface, forced induction for motorcycles is a good idea: more power from smaller engines giving the performance of much larger engines. At one point in the 1970s, Japanese manufacturers looked to be adopting the technology wholesale, but then the ideas dried up as everyone realized that the same power could be achieved much easier through fuel injection and improved combustion technology. While it lasted, however, it was a fascinating blind alley that has only just been re-opened by Kawasaki with the H2.

1939 BMW Type 255 ‘Kompressor’ We can’t start this list with anything other than the grandfather of the forced induction motorcycle, the BMW Type 255 Kompressor. In the 1930s, BMW was the only manufacturer to go down the supercharger route, as they challenged the might of the British manufacturers in racing. The traditional BMW boxer twin was supercharged with a Zoller sliding vane supercharger to produce 60 horsepower from just 500cc. In 1939, Georg Meier achieved the first Isle of Man Senior TT victory for a non-British motorcycle and the BMW Type 255 also set a motorcycle land speed record in 1937, at a speed of 173.7 mph.

1982 Yamaha XJ650T Turbo The 1980s saw many rather tasteless trends in both music and fashion, but it was also the decade of the turbocharger. Lots of mundane family cars got the turbocharging treatment in an attempt to turn sow's ears into silk purses. Motorcycles weren’t immune, and the Japanese seized on forced induction to add pep to some of their models. One of the first was the Yamaha XJ650T, which had a brief but impactful life. Launched in 1982, it featured the aging inline four-cylinder XJ650 engine, turbocharged to give 90 horsepower. The chassis really wasn’t up to coping with the extra power, but the fairing pointed to a more touring rôle rather than a sports rôle. Even the dash was typically 1980s futuristic.

1983 Suzuki XN85 Futuristic Katana-style looks hid another aging engine - this time, the 673cc, inline four-cylinder from the GS650 - which had been turbocharged to eke out a few more years of relevancy. The name refers to the power output - 85 horsepower - which wasn’t unhealthy and at least the turbocharger addressed the lack of low-down torque that is a characteristic of those smaller-displacement Japanese fours. Despite the 16-inch front wheel - another ’80s affliction - the Suzuki XN85 was considered a sweet-handling motorcycle. In line with all bikes in this list, not many were produced, and so they are rare today.

1982 Honda CX500 Turbo For one year only, the ugly duckling and slow CX500 workhorse was turned into something nearer a swan with a stylish fairing and featuring 82 horsepower of turbocharged urge. Fitting a turbocharger wasn’t a response to a fad as the transverse V-twin engine had been designed to be turbocharged from the outset. Running high boost, the turbo lag was catastrophic but the extra performance was needed to offset the weight of the fairing. It was typical Honda: take a mundane model and show off its technical prowess. The CX500 Turbo wasn’t especially exciting, and it was expensive: all in all, not a great success.

1983 Honda CX650 Turbo Another one-year-only model, the CX650 was basically the CX500 turbo with more power (a hike to 100 horsepower), and the throttle lag problem was largely successfully addressed. However, they did this by turning down the boost and relying on the increase in displacement and compression ratio to get more power so the CX650 was actually softer than the CX500, with less turbo effect. Nonetheless, probably the most convincing - from an engineering point of view -of the ’80s breed of turbocharged motorcycles.

1984 Kawasaki GPz750 Turbo Kawasaki jumped on the turbocharging bandwagon as Honda was jumping off, but that, at least, gave Kawasaki the chance to examine its rivals and avoid the same mistakes. The GPz750 Turbo arrived at a strange time for the company, whose line-up boasted the GPz1100 which was faster and, crucially, cheaper than the 750 Turbo, not to mention the newly-introduced GPz900R which moved the sports bike genre beyond what the Turbo was trying to achieve. But, the GPz750 Turbo was arguably the best of the crop of Japanese turbo bikes, featuring as it did a decent sports chassis that could handle extra power: 112 horsepower as standard but able to accept higher boost for more power, if you could live with the turbo lag.

1978 Kawasaki Z1R-TC Preceding the GPz750 by some six years, the Z1R-TC wasn’t a production model per se, but rather a factory-approved special offered in 1978 only. Dealers could bolt an after-market ‘Turbo-Pak’ kit to an existing Z1R, while making no other changes to the bike. Boosting power by 40 horsepower to 130 horsepower was more than the chassis could handle, and the turbo lag was almost terminal! Even better, buyers of the Z1R-TC had to sign a waiver declaring that when it went bang, there would be no factory warranty or backup! No one knows how many were converted but, hopefully, none survive!

2003 Peugeot Jet Force Compressor We tend to think of forced induction being the sole preserve of sports and sports touring bikes, but Peugeot had other ideas. The Jet Force had a 125cc engine sitting by the rear wheel. 15 horsepower was claimed but, with the supercharger added, that went up to 19 horsepower and enabled the Jet Force to outrun 250cc scooters. However, the supercharger and air intake installation robbed the scooter of all the under-seat storage space, which is such a big attraction of scooters, and it also pushed the price up to more than 250cc scooters. Not a commercial success but still fascinating.

2015 Icon Sheene A very limited production motorcycle - just 52 examples were slated to be built - the Icon Sheene featured the engine from the Suzuki Hayabusa, Spondon chassis and an enormous turbocharger boosting the engine to 257 horsepower. The boost level is modest, though, so the power output could be massively increased (while shrinking engine life, presumably). $110,000 sounds a lot for such a machine - and it was! It was also the most powerful production bike in the world at the time it was announced back in 2010. Whether 52 bikes means that it is a production bike is open to debate, especially as each one was to be tailored to the individual customer so no two would ever be alike.

2015 Kawasaki H2/H2R Astonishingly bold move by Kawasaki, bringing forced induction back into motorcycling after 30 years. Quite why Kawasaki did it is a mystery - the ZZR1400 was already quick enough - but manufacturers are always looking for a way to upstage their rivals and the H2 did just that. Everything about it was special, from the supercharger chirruping away on the overrun to the silver-based, self-healing paint, never mind the incredible performance. It was too heavy to challenge liter sports bikes around a track but, as a sports touring bike, it had few equals. The even more insane H2R boosted the H2’s 207 horsepower to a frankly bonkers 310 horsepower and there were no lights to prevent it from being ridden on the road. In the hands of ex-World Supersport champion, Kenan Sofuoglu, an H2R achieved 250 mph on a bridge in Turkey back in 2016.