114 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDERSuperchargers were created and
patented in the late 1800s. In the early
1900s their use was in pursuit of more
performance at a time when naturally
aspirated motorcycle engines weren’t at
all powerful.
By the 1930s, supercharging had
helped propel Joseph Wright to a new
land speed record of 221km/h on a 994cc
Jap. BMW’s supercharged racebikes of
the 1930s were legendary, as were Gilera
and the NSUs. Then there was AJS’s
V4 supercharged racer. By this time in
history superchargers were used across
a wide array of transportation as a
means of boosting power. Most notably
and eff ectively, supercharging was used
in aircra engines like the Rolls-Royce
Merlin that powered Spitfi res in WWII.
In motorcycling things were
somewhat diff erent. The supercharger
was put back on the parts shelf during
WWII. Manufacturers sought to build
reliable, mass-produced and inexpensive
machines during the war. BSA, Triumph,
Harley-Davidson and Royal Enfi eld built
these machines during the war and were
still producing motorcycles at the end of
it. Other manufacturers perished due to
production embargos or lack of demand,
particularly post-war.
The progress made by the internal
combustion engine post-WWII saw
a ban in racing in the late 1940s. It
spelled the end of supercharging
being considered for mainstream
applications as production roadbikes
were occasionally supercharged too. War
had aided development of the engine and
superchargers were no longer a necessity
to achieve the power output required.
As a result of engines becoming
more powerful, the need to add a
supercharger was typically le for the
racetrack and drag strip, where outrightspeed was a necessity. At the same time,
manufacturing restrictions during
the war, particularly in Germany, and
the death of the British and American
motorcycle industries, ensured
motorcycle production was more for
necessity and convenience: supplying
the masses with a product and ensuring
a company would keep on keeping
on. Speed and power were no longer a
primary consideration.
In the years to follow, the European
brands would be replaced by the
Japanese as the innovators of
motorcycling. German motorcycle
manufacturer MZ was making great
inroads in two-stroke development inthe ‘60s thanks to German engineer
Walter Kaaden’s discovery of the role
of pressure waves in exhaust systems.
His work created the fi rst modern two-
stroke design with expansion chambers,
and power was an impressive 200hp/L.
Superchargers and turbos never reached
these levels a few years earlier. But now
they had a new purpose and served
as a tool of desire, particularly on the
racetrack.
In the early ‘80s the landscape of
the American motorcycle industry had
gone from bad — more brands than you
can count in the ‘20s, three brands in
the ‘30s and only Harley-Davidson le
in the ‘50s — to dire. It was recession“Big powerful bikes are never going to outhandle smaller, less-
powerful machines. But a smaller, charged machine would
have those handling characteristics and more power — it’s
just a matter of getting the power delivery right. Do that and
you’ll have a motorcycle the world wants and needs”■ Could Suzuki’s concept mark the new
generation of production turbos?r Stripped-down H2R showing its glory r Georg Meier flying on the BMW "Kompressor"ARR112_112-118_Turbo & Supercharged.indd 114ARR112_112-118_Turbo & Supercharged.indd 114 2/3/2015 9:52:50 AM2/3/2015 9:52:50 AM