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The race for technological supremacy was at its height at the beginning of the Eighties multi-cylinder, multi-valve engines were all the rage. and the latest novelty was the [[turbocharger]]. Costly, and often imperfectly engineered. The turbo proved a flash in the pan. but that didn't prevent the best of the turbo bikes from acting as a superb technological showcase for their makers. | The race for technological supremacy was at its height at the beginning of the Eighties multi-cylinder, multi-valve engines were all the rage. and the latest novelty was the [[turbocharger]]. Costly, and often imperfectly engineered. The turbo proved a flash in the pan. but that didn't prevent the best of the turbo bikes from acting as a superb technological showcase for their makers. | ||
==High-Tech Turbos== | ==High-Tech Turbos== | ||
Honda shocked the world when in 1982 they introduced the world to the first production turbo [[motorcycle]] ever seen. It was also fuel injected and had the most radical [[fairing]] yet to be seen. It was upgraded to become the [[Honda CX650T|CX650T]] the next year and soon the other manufacturers responded with their own turbo motorcycles such as the [[XN85|Suzuki XN85]] in 1983 and the [[ | Honda shocked the world when in 1982 they introduced the world to the first production turbo [[motorcycle]] ever seen. It was also fuel injected and had the most radical [[fairing]] yet to be seen. It was upgraded to become the [[Honda CX650T|CX650T]] the next year and soon the other manufacturers responded with their own turbo motorcycles such as the [[XN85|Suzuki XN85]] in 1983 and the [[Kawasaki ZX750E|GPz 750 Turbo]] introduced by Kawasaki in 1984. The CX500T(also known as CX500TC) was based upon the [[Honda CX500]] which was also the platform upon which the Honda Silverwing 500 was built. There were only a total of approximately 5400 CX500T’s built. The world's leading manufacturer at the time, [[Honda]] had chosen to turbocharge a relatively small engine, and complicated the problem further by choosing a v-twin. The CX500 was more of a example of Honda's engineering capabilites, as turbos are more ideally suited to large, multi-cylinder engines that give a smooth exhaust flow. | ||
The CX500 Turbo produced 82 bhp, well above the standard [[Honda CX500|CX500]]'s 50 bhp and was capable of incredible acceleration, but the turbo lag and step-down made it difficult to ride. It was a quite complex [[motorcycle]] since it had conquered two firsts for Honda: turbocharging and [[fuel injection]]. | The CX500 Turbo produced 82 bhp, well above the standard [[Honda CX500|CX500]]'s 50 bhp and was capable of incredible acceleration, but the turbo lag and step-down made it difficult to ride. It was a quite complex [[motorcycle]] since it had conquered two firsts for Honda: turbocharging and [[fuel injection]]. |