118 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDERTURBOS AND SUPERCHARGERS
diesel vehicles for a long time now and
diesel motorcycles are running them.
But the systems are big and bulky. It’s
going to take a lot of development time
to get them down to a size acceptable
for a motorcycle. Or, could one of the
manufacturers surprise us at one of the
new bike shows in 2015?
With the advancements in
alternative fuel sources, it makes
sense why a manufacturer would
pursue development of supercharged
and turbocharged systems for mass
production. But the slow adoption of
alternative fuel-source motorcycles and
the limited availability of inexpensive,
economical options mean it is a long time
off being taken up the way it has in the
car world. Although they all, particularly
the Japanese manufacturers, tease us
with alternative fuel source machines,
fossil fuels, and burning less of them,
is the only way forward for motorcycle
manufacturers.
We’ve seen the improvements that fuel
injection and engine control so ware has
had on the effi ciency and performance
of motorcycles in the last 15 years. Just
about every manufacturer is producing
a nearly fl awless system, no ma er whatthe price of the motorcycle.
Stricter emission standards have
caused manufacturers to look at the fi ner
points of engine performance to build in
improved performance and characteristics.
Reciprocating weight of engine internals,
surface friction in the cylinder and
combustion chamber design are the main
points of any engine update these days,
usually going hand in hand with more
capable engine control systems.
Charging isn’t needed anymore to
improve motorcycle engines’ outright
power — you only need to look at the
142kW and 112Nm BMW’s S1000RR
throws out off the showroom fl oor. The
main gain is to be had from be er fuel
economy and performance from lighter,
smaller machines, which in turn would
mean be er handling.
Forget about the drawbacks the
systems have had in the past and look
solely at their benefi ts, which is how they
will be engineered to operate; humans are
ge ing be er at this sort of refi nement
on a daily basis. You can have smaller-
capacity engines that use less fuel and put
out the equivalent power of a naturally
aspirated machine of greater capacity.
And keep in mind the more favourableengine characteristics if you can dial out
the lag of a turbo or power needed by
a supercharger — just as Kawasaki has
claimed to do with the Ninja H2.
You only need to look at the likes
of a K1300S or Hayabusa to realise
that with big power comes big chassis
dimensions. And these 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 ma er of ge ing the power
delivery right. Do that and you’ll have a
motorcycle the world wants and needs.
With Grand Prix and Superbike racing
typically the R&D facility of future
roadbike technologies, and the fact that
charged motorcycles don’t race any more,
the development of these technologies
has to take place elsewhere because at
the end of the day development has
to make a quid — be it bike sales or
race victories. That’s why Kawasaki’s
Ninja H2 signals a bright future. With
a background in turbine development
that has crossed over to the company’s
motorcycle business, hopefully there
will be more charged motorcycles as
the pursuit for be er performance and
economy becomes the guiding light of
motorcycle development. ARR“Charging is moving away
from being solely in the
pursuit of power and is now
being widely considered and
developed as not only a means
of using smaller engines with
more power, but ultimately
better fuel economy”■ Nothing says ‘80s like a GPz! ■ Yamaha’s dab at the turbo
production bike in the ‘80sr Follow the path in and out and you soon
see how complex a supercharger really isr A very slick and economical drivetrain
solution for the H2's superchargerARR112_112-118_Turbo & Supercharged.indd 118ARR112_112-118_Turbo & Supercharged.indd 118 2/3/2015 9:52:58 AM2/3/2015 9:52:58 AM