1983 Honda CX650T - Turbo Motorcycle: Regular Car Reviews

this was a cannon blasts across the establishment bow a searchlight in the tariff years this is the 1983 honda CX 650 turbo [Music] acts by God [Music] there are a lot of greatest motorcycles more than one first-place trophy Goldwing being the most luxurious the cbx for being the most piston II the CB 900 for being the most shifty and the Hayabusa for being the fastest and yeah the dr650 as the ultimate all-rounder but the CX 650 turbo is the first place in delayed gratification the year was 1982 and harley-davidson was losing a game of tag at his own house Harley was it and all the other kids were faster Harley couldn't catch them it wasn't fair Harley was wearing his best shirt jeans and shiny shoes but none of it was working Harley was just too slow it's not cried Harley and away he ran up the yard to the house down through the Bilco door and into the basement where mama Reagan was folding clothes so out comes mama and she suggests a new game how about everybody who's over 700 cc's gives Harley a 45% head start and everybody under 700 cc's well you hop on one foot and Harley stood behind mama Reagan smiling so Honda stood at the front of all the other kids and locked eyes with mama and with a jaco willing stare said I will hop on one foot it will be no factor so Honda goes home and gets to work with a longitudinal v-twin which is interesting right Honda had a pushrod longitudinal v-twin bike with a counter-rotating transmission and a shaft drive it was a light cruiser meant to compete with moto Guzzi cruisers and standards from Italy it was meant to sell in European markets not to do battle in America sure these bikes existed stateside best known as the GL 500 and GL 650 silver wings and they were marketed as a little brother to the flagship gold wing bikes Honda could have taken any of their inline four-cylinder bikes and turbo them something Yamaha did with her xj 650 Seca turbo but new Honda went with this it doesn't Rev all that high 10,000 rpm kind of low for what they were trying to call a sport bike and the gear selector goes in and out not up and down because the transmission is frontways and on top of that Honda developed fuel injection for this engine which by 83 was already 5 years old and built to only make 50 or maybe 60 horsepower Honda would have said fine fine Harley you're gonna lobby and get tariffs put on all of us and move the goal posts alright fine we'll play by your new rules watch this here's an old engine we were just gonna throw out you watching this you're watching BAM turbocharger BAM fuel injection BAM arrow fairing boom 19 psi boom 100 horsepower how do you like that and Harley and it's reliable well we're playing by your rules I'm hopping on one foot I'm under 700 cc's just like you said still can't catch me it's too ok catch me still can't catch me ok ha ha ha this motorcycle is 37 years old in 2020 and it's faster than most contemporary sport cruisers if you can wait for the turbo 19 psi takes about two seconds to build fully if you're not above 5,000 rpm but it's worth the wait because you hear the turbo it's right below you I hope you can hear it over the noise of the wind in this video I can hear it I can hear it flutter in my helmet and most of this ride I kept loading up the turbo you know throttle huh and it's snapping the throttle closed so I can hear juggle but it's really fast it's a small turbo so it's now as fun as I'm having here there are some gimmicky stylings which the CX 650 turbo isn't above like the word turbo appearing eight times on the motorcycle two on the side cases two on the engine cases one on the nose one on the digital boost indicator and two on each exhaust pipe just like the turbo Mustang there's no reason for twin dumps on the CX 650 turbo bilateral symmetry is hmm a suggestion not a rule look they had to baffle the exhaust right to the tip like a super trap dirt bike exhaust because there's so much unnecessary volumetric capacity in these pipes there were some serious problems to overcome with this turbo technology as it was primarily aimed at four-cylinder bikes which have an intake stroke every 180 degrees of the crank shaft rotation which means there's always a cylinder ready to accept the charge from the compressor also a4 has the same even spacing of smaller exhaust pulses meaning that the exhaust pressure is relatively even which works well to drive the turbine at a constant or you know steadily increasing rate v-twins hmm they have intermittent intake strokes depending on the angle of the V the okay the 500cc version of this bike has two intake strokes every 720 degrees of the crankshaft rotation spaced at 280 degrees and 440 degrees so air stagnates between intake strokes in the course of development nine different compressor housings and eight different turbine housings were tried with each design the end result was the IHI turbo charger and if you want to know the part number its IHI are HB v v g1 the finished design was 48 millimeters and had an internal wastegate they got the biggest torque gained by adding two chambers between the compressor and the cylinder heads allowing a place for the incoming pressurized air to go when the intake valves of the v-twin were closed Honda called the first smaller one a resonance chamber and that was important for low rpm while the second larger one was called a surge tank and that was for high rpm in the course of building the CX series of turbo bikes Honda applied for over 250 patents why don't they make more turbo bikes these days if this 37 year old design is so good why don't we see more of bikes like this well this is the most dangerous way to send power to two wheels once you build pressure it feels like the throttle is stuck this motorcycle surges forward the tachometer leaps from 5,000 rpm to 9000 rpm it just wants more more MORE ever drink espresso while getting high at an Ikea you have the energy and the munchies to eat a whole tray of Meatballs more air more fuel more air more fuel more air more fuel gimme gimme gimme gimme and the turbo is ready to send the head bolts flying out of the blocks at 45-degree angles and all this with a small rear tire can a vending machine bike bro control a bike with skinny tires and a runaway turbo in a tight turn can they control this I doubt it and also its complex it's a question of that and also marketing how much are you willing to pay to be unique well people are paying a lot the Honda CX 650 turbo is one of the most collectible bikes ever made I think it stopped too well maybe in terms of the current Redwood era 80s and 90s revival I want one of these in fact I liked it so much when I finished the ride I said this how much you want for it else is gonna saw you nob when you got a bar walk up I on there unreal if you ever consider selling this one mama take this park-and-ride I ain't tryin you doin cause the people in that vein or artery they drop it for I love my new wheels ain't appeal or control head take this pocket Friday wholly distinct indoors you you

Channel: Regular Car Reviews

Views: 275,942

Keywords: Regular, Car, Reviews, Regular Motorcycle Reviews, Turbo bike, turbo Vtwin, turbo c twin motorcycle, motorcycle turbo, Honda CX500, Honda CX650Turbo, Honda CX 650T review, CX650 turbo review, Regular Car reviews

Id: qE04rTNQqmc

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 13 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Craig380]

One of the mid-70s prototypes for the CX500 / 650 was a supercharged 360cc V-twin, with the supercharger in the valley between the cylinders. Honda has always been a bit off-the-wall with its ideas.

[u/Dazvsemir]

I love their videos about motorcycles. Perfect balance between information and making light of the motorcycle scene.

[u/fizzlefist]

"And so Honda was like, 'Look at me, Harley! I'm jumping on one foot! I'm playing by Momma Reagan's rules! And you still can't touch me!" 😂😂😂

[u/Slamcrin]

No matter what people say about their current lineup (and there are plenty of reasons for that), THIS is why Honda will always be my favourite motorcycle manufacturer.

What a spectacular piece of lunacy. Thanks Sochiro

[u/Urbi3006]

This was a fun episode, we need more bikes.

[u/inaccurateTempedesc]

Turbos seriously need to be more of a thing, especially on bigger torquey bikes.

[u/[deleted]]

there's one of these on craigslist in DC

[u/saszai2]

Great episode!

[u/common_collected]

Great video. Just enough goofiness combined with detailed information.

The turbo Hondas hold a really special place in my heart, somewhere very close to wherever my heart stored my little kid desire to strap bottle rockets onto my toy cars.