Motorcycle Turbo Kits
Steve Kennear: In 1985 , I got into racing nitrous kits on my GS1150 at the drag strip and at various approved roads for 1/2 mile racing including airports etc. Most of my friends were fine tuning their aspirated engines and working on carb and exhaust mods, however, nitrous put me in front of all this and it just gave me the bug to continue up the path. While drag racing became more serious, I loved the unsanctioned road racing where local top bikers would get together and make a complete day of it. I learned a lot through these years of racing and mods and had a lot of fun doing it.
Behold the turbo. This was huge move forward into a new super power. It was a much more difficult learning curve than the nitrous. Nitrous was much easier with the wet kits, just add more gas to match the increase of nitrous used. Start slow and take your time pushing forward. The turbo on the other hand was a little bit more complex getting the air and gas happy. Of course, I was self learning and self experimenting at this point and there was not a lot of information available. But I think it was a great way to learn. The carburetor side was easier than dealing with the wastegate and controlling the boost. That took a lot longer and several rebuilds before I really felt that I finally understood how to set the wastegate to control the boost.
Having ridden a wide range of bikes to this point, most recently my early introduction into Bandits, I now found my way into the Suzuki Bandit at least for me. The engine was tough, simple and just the easiest motorcycle to work on and build power. The engine did not have to come out to add the turbo like most other bikes, because it was already low compression. Excellent as a streetfighter. But for more power and I mean a lot more power, the Gen2 Hayabusa is the top of the line, a solid engine, tons of custom engine parts and the biggest name at the drag strip. One has to differentiate what it is you are looking for, a solid Turbo Streetfighter or a Turbo Drag bike, there is a world of difference in builds, costs and rideability.