Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Turbo Motorcycle International Owners' Association Oddly, the factory turbos are of a piece with these disparate movements. The virtues that first attracted us True Individualists make the bikes attractive still. Hyped by their makers as supremo sportbikes, the turbos' niche is best understood in today's argot as "super- , sport tourer." This is territory now occupied by the likes of the STllOO Honda, Triumph Sprint, BMW RllOORT. And with the exception of some very recent "nakeds:' (the Suzuki 1200 Bandit,say) the old blowerbikes likely will steam away in·the midrange and probably beyond. , By David Walsh ell, we succeeded - we proud, happy few. Succeeded in forming the largest global rally of turbocharged motorcycles in modern times. . In early June, nearly three dozen turbo bikes and their owners gathered in bucolic Staunton, Virginia, for an orgy of unnatural aspiration, turbo talk and, y.es, drinking. It was the annual conclave of the Turbo Motorcycle International Owners' Association (TMIOA). Mostly Yanks, we were bolstered by the appearance of 10 Dutch people for the first time - well and truly justifying the group's name. (32 machines doesn't impress you much, you say? Well, how many Bimotas do you think ever gather in one place?) Gen-Xers will screw up their faces in befuddlement about now - just what the hell is a "turbo," really? Ii you'd joined us, you'd know. Aside from a bunch of time-warped old fogies (average age maybe 40) you'd have. glimpsed a rare and marvelous sight. The Host Inn's parking lot was 'thick with blowerbikes, mostly factory models. In the early 1980s, the unique motorcycles caused jaws to drop with their exciting' possibilities - then as quickly vanished from the radar screens. All the Japanese manufacturers rolled out turbos, basically glitzed-up versions of existing models. Each in its turn was then shot down by the motorcycle press. Here, of course, we speak of the Hondas CX500 and CX650, Yamaha XJ850 Turbo Seca, Suzuki XN85 750 and Kawasaki ZX750. The media assessments, truthfully, were about dead-on. All of them weighed a Jot, and had long wheelbases to boot. Sadly, at just the time that journos' obsession was pure handling (remember the first Honda Interceptor?) only the turbo Suzuki with its theninnovative 16-inch wheel made anything like fast work in the chicanes. And only the Kawasaki was stingingly fast. . When you 'ignore the turbochargers and the early fuel-injection and the full fairings (the first on production bikes), the five bikes seemed a little humdrum. Worse, the wicked blower wheels, impeller and turbine, "spooled up" shockingly soon for riders unused to W turbos, leaving some scared, others dead. They just didn't know.... The timing, too, was horrible. Bikedom's Big Four had hoped to ride \0 big success the waves of publicjty they'd generated. But, no; more advanced models - then about ready for release soon put the turbos in the shade. Ih addition to the Interceptors 500, 750 and 1000, Kawasaki had the 'vastly competent GPz900 Ninja and Suzuki the' "bitchin'" (I980s-speak) GS750, for instance. The factories lost millions (pause for moment of silence). All but forgotten in the put-downs, though, was the solid accomplishment of tmbocharging. The ferocious midrange acceleration, I mean. Even the modest-displacement Hondas offer a nice hit, and the 650 version outhustled , a mighty contemporary: the 1980-1982 Honda CBX1000 six. For its part, the Kawasaki was a genuine neck-strainer, not surprising with a bike running high 10-second quarter miles. Forced-airheads normally disdain being grilled about their enthusiasm (even by turbo-riding scribes). The attitude seems to say, "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand." But, lubricated by a few "Red Dog" lagers, one fiftyish Kawa owner opened up. Here's Glenn Edwards, down from Michigan: "I like the instant power surge you get on them. It's so much better than having to drop down a gear or three. .The power on a normal performance bike like·today's, if you're not in the right gear, its greater peak power doesn't matter. Stay in top on a turbobike at 3500 R's, crack the throttle and you're off like a jet fighter." Edw rds, who's owned Honda boost bikes and a ZX10, should know. He was a jet jockey in 'Nam. "I didn't expect it to be as good as it is," confided Mike Mutter about his Kawasaki, which he's owned for a couple of years. "And I guess I thought 1'd grown out of the need for horsepower by now. I was wrong." Mutter also praised the big turbo-K's touring bone fides. Robert "Bob" Miller is president of the 10-year old TMIOA. Low-key like most riders, the Pennsylvania native explains the turbo phenomenon partly in practical terms. "There's no bike out there offering so much bang for the buck," he insists. , (Above) Old they really sell that many? The Turbo Motorcycle Owners' Association's annual gathering brought out 32 turbo bikes and their owners, Including 10 Dutch riders. (Right) Meeting In Vlrgina, the gathering Included blasts though the scenic Shenandoahs. (Below) Honda turbos were In the majority but Kawasaki was well represented . too. "These bikes only cost $1500 for a cherry-condition Yamaha to maybe $5500 for the super-rare Suzuki (only 300 sold worldwide), Compare that to $2500 for a new Honda Rebel 250; it's s-I-o-w and yet these, old puffers will rip and roar past almost anything." Miller claims even a newly minted VMax won't embarrass the Honda 650 turbo in roll-ons. By much, anyhow. The paradigm, you see, has shifted. The sneering of the racer'rep-dominated press has ceased. And broad-based motorcycling's accepted in a way it wasn't 12 or 15 years ago. Just note the , diversity: retros, standards, naked bikes, dual-purpose things; cruisers. ·AlI factory turbos easily accept tankbags and other accessories; one -Dutch rallygoer had fitted hard luggage' to his bike, for example. Speaking of the foreig!, types, it's interesting that the 10 Dutch participants (members of the TMIOA-affiJiated "First Rider Honda Turbo Oub") spoke of the cult status of the Hondas in Europe. Next in popularity? The Kawasaki, though at some distance. . Unlike their American cousins, turboheads abroad typically pay lots of money for their mounts. They can easily cost as much as a new sportbike. Like the Yanks, though, the foreign riders said they really appreciated the bikes'

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