Turbo street bikes? Why?
Discussion
There were three of these at a bike meeting last night. 270 bhp, 280 bhp and 400 bhp. As feats of engineering you had to be impressed. They all had a Suzuki 1100 air-cooled as their base. Ancient machines. But had uprated brakes and swinging arms and forks and well, everything really. I spoke to the guy with the 280 bhp bike and he'd spent over £12,000 on mods for the bike.
I just wonder if a (200 bhp) £7,000 BMW S1000RR or Kawasaki ZX12R wouldn't be the better and actually faster bike on road or circuit in reality?
Where are you on turbo sports bikes? I can't really see why you'd do it other than novelty value. I'm sure Honda and Suzuki and BMW, etc. understand power and performance better than us and would surely fit a turbo if it made any real sense on the fastest bikes they make?
I dread to think of the lag on an engine with just 1100cc and 400 bhp. It was bad enough on my Lancer with 2000cc and 405 bhp.
I just wonder if a (200 bhp) £7,000 BMW S1000RR or Kawasaki ZX12R wouldn't be the better and actually faster bike on road or circuit in reality?
Where are you on turbo sports bikes? I can't really see why you'd do it other than novelty value. I'm sure Honda and Suzuki and BMW, etc. understand power and performance better than us and would surely fit a turbo if it made any real sense on the fastest bikes they make?
I dread to think of the lag on an engine with just 1100cc and 400 bhp. It was bad enough on my Lancer with 2000cc and 405 bhp.
Cylon2007 said:
Why not if that is what they want?
Not really the question. Some people arrived on MZs and seemed perfectly happy!I accept it is a great novelty and they were well made, but as a performance machine would a modern 1000 be better in every way bar exclusivity? MZs are rare now, but i wouldn't want one!
Grindle said:
Cylon2007 said:
Why not if that is what they want?
Not really the question. Some people arrived on MZs and seemed perfectly happy!I accept it is a great novelty and they were well made, but as a performance machine would a modern 1000 be better in every way bar exclusivity? MZs are rare now, but i wouldn't want one!
Cylon2007 said:
Why not if that is what they want?
Agreed. I spoke to BigCC about a turbo for my ZZR1400. £10k for ride in/ride out 400hp and streetable 300hp on low (6lbs) boost and pump fuel. Not terribly relevant on the road but what superbike is? Decided in the end to leave it as it is as 200hp is more than enough.If I had a spare £20k I’d buy the Smartuki on eBay at the moment - a Smart Car with a 300hp turbo GSX-R engine fitted. Now that makes mores sense!
Grindle said:
Not really the question. Some people arrived on MZs and seemed perfectly happy!
I accept it is a great novelty and they were well made, but as a performance machine would a modern 1000 be better in every way bar exclusivity? MZs are rare now, but i wouldn't want one!
Perhaps if you don’t like any of the bikes there you shouldn’t go? I accept it is a great novelty and they were well made, but as a performance machine would a modern 1000 be better in every way bar exclusivity? MZs are rare now, but i wouldn't want one!
. I love that these things exist but my 430ish is fine for meI rode a turbo'd 1200 bandit with around 165bhp a few years ago, it was much more fun than any modern litre bike I have ridden, even though they are faster, better handling and have better brakes, who cares really given the choice I'd have the bandit for going out and enjoying the ride on everytime, if I was on track I'd take the modern thou.
Pointless really, but then again, ultimately isn't everything?
I think a lot of people just enjoy tinkering. What they end up with in this instance is something which is still fairly special,and takes a reasonable amount of knowledge and skill to fit. Even if it's not to everyone's tastes, turbocharging a bike is an interesting project, even if you're simply commissioning a lot of the work.
To me it's better than simply whacking £800 of R&G to your S1000RR, "because sportsbike", or fitting anondised crap everywhere. Some people just can't help themselves...
I think a lot of people just enjoy tinkering. What they end up with in this instance is something which is still fairly special,and takes a reasonable amount of knowledge and skill to fit. Even if it's not to everyone's tastes, turbocharging a bike is an interesting project, even if you're simply commissioning a lot of the work.
To me it's better than simply whacking £800 of R&G to your S1000RR, "because sportsbike", or fitting anondised crap everywhere. Some people just can't help themselves...
Grindle said:
Cylon2007 said:
Why not if that is what they want?
Not really the question. Some people arrived on MZs and seemed perfectly happy!I accept it is a great novelty and they were well made, but as a performance machine would a modern 1000 be better in every way bar exclusivity? MZs are rare now, but i wouldn't want one!
OnTheEdge said:
You are missing the point entirely, for people modifying bikes (and cars) like this the journey is the reward as much as the destination. These people love working on bikes and creating something themselves. If they only wanted a fast,capable machine then it would likely be cheaper for them to open their wallet or sign a finance agreement and ride a new superbike away.
Exactly this. I'm nearing the end of a 9 month project to turn a crashed Ducati ST2 into something more Cafe shaped. In the process I've got rid of most practicality, spent enough to buy a good ST2, and lost quite a few hours in the garage.I've also gained a bike no-one else has and had the fun of building it and turning my ideas into reality. I also enjoy problem solving and learning new skills, it's very satisfying to take something broken or out dated and make it better.
How is this different to other hobbies? I could have wasted my time in many other ways, some people pay to watch football or spend all their spare time in the pub.
Rather than why I would say why not like already said
People like to tinker. For me my money goes on tyres, suspension, brakes, more tyres, exhaust, race maps, more tyres and well you kinda get the drift
I have friends that saturate their bikes in KTM Performance bin or equivalent parts, or full or carbon
The beauty about bikes is it can be whatever we want to make it. Those old school 1100's would no doubt get beat but any modern 1000 superbike in a straight line let alone round the twisties but you are missing the point on the reason why they did it and tbh it must feel amazing riding a near on 30 year old bike boosting and waste gate wooshing!
People like to tinker. For me my money goes on tyres, suspension, brakes, more tyres, exhaust, race maps, more tyres and well you kinda get the drift
I have friends that saturate their bikes in KTM Performance bin or equivalent parts, or full or carbon
The beauty about bikes is it can be whatever we want to make it. Those old school 1100's would no doubt get beat but any modern 1000 superbike in a straight line let alone round the twisties but you are missing the point on the reason why they did it and tbh it must feel amazing riding a near on 30 year old bike boosting and waste gate wooshing!
There's a turbo Suzuki (oil cooled motor) that been shown at the local motorcycle show (Kirkaldy, but others too no doubt) for the last couple of years and walks-it with the best engineering award. Superbly put together and detail-perfect in every way with custom fabricated 'most things'. This thread's useless without pictures etc...but I didn't take a photo of it as turbio Suzukis aren't really my thing.
But quite apart from no doubt being fun to ride, the challenge and skill to build it to such a standard is of such a high level that that has to be fun and satisfying in itself. If I had the requisite machining skills I quite like to build something as outrageous as that too, but I'm limited to simple lathe-work and ugly welding so I'm in awe of such talents.
...and of course you can never had too much power. [cock-waving] 2 weeks in to owning a new Jeep Trackhawk with 710hp on tap I've started to google the Hennesy pages to see what's involved in the 1000hp upgrade. Probably too rich for me right now....but in a few years
[/cock-waving]
But quite apart from no doubt being fun to ride, the challenge and skill to build it to such a standard is of such a high level that that has to be fun and satisfying in itself. If I had the requisite machining skills I quite like to build something as outrageous as that too, but I'm limited to simple lathe-work and ugly welding so I'm in awe of such talents.
...and of course you can never had too much power. [cock-waving] 2 weeks in to owning a new Jeep Trackhawk with 710hp on tap I've started to google the Hennesy pages to see what's involved in the 1000hp upgrade. Probably too rich for me right now....but in a few years
[/cock-waving]They might be drag racing them too though. It's not like being on the road prevents them from doing this. If I had a bike for drag racing, I'd probably want to be able to use it on the road too, so I could get more use out of it.
This is assuming it's not one of those 6 second dedicated drag racing bikes.
This is assuming it's not one of those 6 second dedicated drag racing bikes.
tvrolet] [cock-waving said:
2 weeks in to owning a new Jeep Trackhawk with 710hp on tap I've started to google the Hennesy pages to see what's involved in the 1000hp upgrade. Probably too rich for me right now....but in a few years [/cock-waving]
My lawnmower’s got more power than that [/cock-waving]
You should talk to TopCats racing, they’ve already worked on at least one Trackhawk to extract more power. I’m planning to get them fit an FI Interchiller to my (ahem) 824 Hp Monaro. You can get blower spacer plates and all sorts of other goodies too.
I had the opportunity to buy Keith Flint’s old Martek Suzuki turbo. One of two made - the other is owned by Guy Martin. I should have as it would be an interesting thing to have, especially with 260 odd Hp.
tvrolet said:
2 weeks in to owning a new Jeep Trackhawk with 710hp on tap I've started to google the Hennesy pages to see what's involved in the 1000hp upgrade. Probably too rich for me right now....but in a few years [/cock-waving]
What a motor! I sell these and until you have experienced one its hard to justify how quick something so big and heavy can go. Have also seen a few with upgrades and they take to this very well [/cock-waving]
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