Summary

• Honda CX500 Turbo was the primary manufacturing motorbike with a turbocharger and digital gasoline injection.
• Despite having some points, it supplied respectable efficiency enhancements and higher dealing with than its rivals.
• The CX500 Turbo was a game-changer, inspiring a wave of turbocharged bikes within the ’80s.

Think of essentially the most influential Honda bikes, and the bikes that pop into your thoughts often comprise the Honda CB750, CBR900RR Fireblade, RC213V-S, or RC51. If you’re deep in Honda’s fanbase, you may even provide you with the Super Cub (and even an Activa). But one Honda most fashionable riders by no means consider is the CX500 Turbo.

It’s not stunning in any respect, because the CX500 was solely offered for one yr. And it would not look something particular, too, proper? But look intently at its identify, and you may discover ‘Turbo’. That’s when it will hit you it is a 500cc sports activities tourer with a bloody turbocharger beneath the hood. Dive deeper, and you may additionally know that is the primary manufacturing motorbike that additionally got here with Honda’s digital gasoline injection. These issues make it one of many spiciest 500cc sports activities tourers ever made and a testomony to what Honda can achieve when its reputation is at stake. With the intro out of the best way, let’s dive into its historical past.

In order to provide the latest and correct info doable, the information used to compile this text was sourced from Honda and different authoritative sources, together with Cycle World, Motorcycle Specs, and Motor Trend.

The Beginning Of The Turbo Era Of Motorcycles

Production Year: 1982

The ’80s started the ability wars, with motorbike producers cramming huge engines in versatile frames suspended on poor suspension. The aim was to create the quickest bike, no matter its street manners, consolation, or practicality. Perhaps the very best instance of this was the Kawasaki Z1R, that includes the KZ1000 engine that would barely match within the body. The press wasn’t a fan of it, however consumers loved it for its power.

For Kawasaki, that wasn’t sufficient. In 1978, a restricted version Z1R TC was launched with a turbocharger. It was fast, however it was horrible in virtually each regard. You even needed to signal a legal responsibility waiver on the time of buy and Kawasaki didn’t present any powertrain guarantee. Needless to say, the bike was liable to catastrophic failure.

As horrible because the Z1R TC was, it piqued the curiosity of the shoppers, kickstarting the turbo-era of bikes. Other Japanese producers adopted go well with, however Honda was the primary one to leap on the bandwagon with its CX500 Turbo, a middleweight turbocharged motorbike — the world’s first mass-market manufacturing bike with a turbo! It was primarily based on the 1978 CX500. This wasn’t a fast bike per se, however it was full of tech options for the time and phase. It featured a water-cooled, longitudinally-mounted V-twin — like a Moto Guzzi — and a shaft drive, making a decent 48 HP.

The First Ever Mass-Produced Turbo Motorcycle

Power Output: 82 HP @ 8,000 RPM

The CX500 Turbo was nonetheless nowhere near a superbike, however it was nonetheless decently fast. The turbo supplied round 34 additional horses, giving the bike a high whack of over 125 MPH and 1 / 4 mile time of simply over 12 seconds. Not mind-blowing, however on par with a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. This efficiency came despite the fairly hefty curb weight of the bike, and credit score goes to Honda’s strong V-twin engine.

We’re going to say it once more — the engine wasn’t a lot of a performer. It was an old-school pushrod V-twin that had been largely unchanged since 1977. Still, it had some advantages that Honda discovered fruitful for the CX500 Turbo. It was liquid-cooled, the development was robust, there was ample torque, and it didn’t price a lot to make or keep. This helped the bikemaker plonk the turbo far more simply than regular.

It nonetheless wasn’t with out its demerits, although. The turbo was front-mounted between the 2 cylinders, and it heated up quite a bit. The gasoline rail and tank would get scorching, too, decreasing the general combustion effectivity. Plus, the turbocharger sucked air by an oiled foam filter, which may very well be simply swallowed if it began deteriorating. Lastly, the consumption pipe and turbo pipe on the compressor aspect had been lengthy, and the air additionally needed to move by the plenum chamber and a set of reeds earlier than attending to the consumption manifold. That’s plenty of plumbing to get by, which means huge turbo lag.

Honda Went All Out With The CX500 Turbo

The Honda CX500 Turbo wasn’t simply the primary manufacturing bike to get a turbocharger, it had many different ‘firsts’. To begin with, the bike acquired Honda’s first-ever digital gasoline injection system. As it occurs, turbos and carbs don’t work nicely collectively, so Honda needed to innovate with computer-controlled gasoline injection. Similarly, it was additionally the primary Honda manufacturing bike with a devoted computer-controlled engine administration system and production-specific cast pistons.

Apart from these first-ever options, Honda additionally added some nifty upgrades to the CX500 Turbo’s bundle. For instance, the liquid cooling was upgraded over the non-turbo mannequin, and the internals (crankshaft, conrods, and clutch) had been made stronger. These made the engine far more highly effective than the usual CX500 even and not using a turbo. This was a peaky motorbike — as soon as the turbo spooled up. Had you stored the turbo spinning, you’ll’ve been shocked on the clean energy delivered by the wide-ratio five-speed transmission. It was punchy and torquey with the pull of a much larger motorcycle.

Engine Highlights

• Turbocharger ran at 19 PSI enhance
• Small cylinders required the world’s tiniest turbocharger, constructed by IHI with rotors measuring lower than two inches in diameter
• Turbocharger rotors might spool as much as 200,000 RPM
• Engine case revised to simply accept the bigger crankshaft bearings
• Fuel injection system was mated to varied sensors to measure enhance, airflow, air temperature, engine temperature, RPM, crank place, throttle place, and many others.
• A limp mode in case issues went fallacious

Apart from the highly effective engine, the CX500 Turbo had different deserves when it comes to dealing with and luxury. Unlike the Kawasaki Z1R TC, this one didn’t skimp on suspension or brakes. The bike was suspended on Showa forks with a TRAC anti-dive system and an adjustable monoshock. Meanwhile, giant twin discs and a single rear one made up the anchors. For reference, the usual CX500 had a drum brake on the rear.

The CX500 Turbo wasn’t only a safer bike to trip, but additionally well-mannered on the street. The efficiency enhance was predictable, however the dealing with was an enormous shock nobody noticed coming. This hefty bike steered nicely and held the road by curves whereas inspiring confidence. It was a step forward of its competitors–be it turbo ones or non-turbo ones.

Then there was the funky fairing. It won’t have aged nicely, however it did a good job at holding the wind off your torso. Speaking of it, the driving place was upright, and the big seat was cozy. The bike was riddled with Honda’s high quality touches throughout, like high quality paint and a purposeful sprint space.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from Motorcycle Specs)

Turbocharging The Motorcycling Industry

The Honda CX500 Turbo was a game-changing motorbike when it was launched. It had a formidable record of options, together with electronics, gasoline injection, and a turbocharger–all fairly unusual within the bikes of that point. Plus, the retro design was cool with an enormous turbo decal on the mufflers. Let’s additionally not overlook how simple it was to trip.

Sounds like the proper recipe to develop into the best-selling motorbike, proper? Wrong. The CX500 Turbo didn’t promote nicely; Honda only made around 5,000 of these earlier than changing it with the 650 Turbo the following yr. Still, we maintain the CX500 Turbo in excessive regard for being far more than a nostalgic motorbike. The CX500 Turbo impressed a breed of monstrous turbocharged bikes of the 80s. Sure, it wasn’t race-ready or highly effective, however it belongs to the record of essentially the most influential Honda bikes ever, wedged someplace between the Honda Super Cub and the RC213V-S. More importantly, it deserves to be referred to as an iconic sports activities tourer!

Turbocharged Bikes That Followed

• 1982 Yamaha XJ650T Turbo
• 1983 Suzuki NX85
• 1983 Honda CX650 Turbo
• 1984 Kawasaki GPz750 Turbo