Superchargers

[LordShaftesbu...]

I was musing about this and have a few questions.

How come you don't see many superchargers or turbochargers on bikes? They've been around since the '30s but still don't really seem to have caught on. I see a few on heavily modded bikes at bikes shows etc., but other than that, nada.

How many people here have supercharged their steed? I can't imagine it's very many, but for those who have, what are the advantages/disadvantages?

I'd have thought it would have been a great way to get maximum power out of a lighter bike, e.g. 400-600cc. Why is it such an unpopular alternative to just getting more ccs and buying a 1000-1400cc bike?

[SamJL]

Surely by the time youve added the extra weight of the Turbo or Supercharger, and the massive costs, you might aswell have just bought a 1000cc bike?
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2009 CBR1000RR
2004 KTM 200SX
2004 KTM 65SX

[MarJay]

Why would you go to the expense and hassle of adding a complicated extra part to an engine when you could merely replace it with a bigger engine? Why have a supercharged 600 when you can have a normally aspirated 1000?
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[LordShaftesbu...]

Surely adding a supercharger doesn't add as much weight as going up to a 1 litre bike?

Yes it is definitely expensive though, and probably adds just another thing to go wrong.

[yuri2085]

This thread has some interesting discussion on the subject.

[colin1]

I think there is a supercharged scooter that was developed to go into production, not sure if it ever did though.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[LordShaftesbu...]

Apparently some superchargers weigh 6-7 lbs and are as small as a bike battery, but can add ~80 bhp!

[Purplepill]

[Pete.]

Superchargers aren't popular because they need to be specifically aligned for the belt drive to work, and suffer from quite hefty parasitic losses (i.e. a good percentage of the extra power is used to turn the charger). Turbo chargers don't suffer either of these drawbacks.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[LordShaftesbu...]

[Noxious89123]

It's just overly complex and expensive, with no real plus points.

It's cheaper / easier to just get a bigger capacity engine. As well as weight being an issue, there is also the issue of the space it takes up. I saw a very interesting forum thread somewhere where a bloke put a supercharger on a VFR800, and did it in such a way that it all fitted inside the fairings still. Was very good, but it wasn't half tight!
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'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi

[Pete.]

[c-m]

[LordShaftesbu...]

[SamJL]

[neatbik]

One of my tutors is building a supercharged gpz900 (along with lots of other mods)

When its finished he's after 350bhp. He told me today the estimated total cost of the project, i wont divulge it here but its a fair few quid.
But it will be one of a kind, and his standard of work is top notch

[colin1]

there is a bloke at a bike garage in dudley that used to have a turbocharged gpz900, i saw the beast at a bike meet, not my cup of tea tho to be honest
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[neatbik]

This one will be nice when done - zx10r front end, xjr1300 swingarm, shocks and rear seat unit and a custom tank.

https://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q399/beatnck2/12042010134.jpg

[P.addy]

[MarJay]

[SamJL]

[DXB]

I supercharged my Truck,6 liter Vortec V8 making about 370 ish bhp,dropped on the charger now its just plain mental the best thing is the linear power delivery
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superchargers good

[P.addy]

[fra-zzr]

instead of the 80s style turbos, which are aweseom, quite a few manufacturers have been taking there 2L N/A and making it a 1.8 Turbo, seems they can get better fuel consumption aswell as more power this way. As consumption is rarely an issue on a bike theres no real reason for a small efficiency orientated turbo (yet) and the delivery of a 80s style one is frowned upon
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04' Hyosung Comet Gt125
96' zzr600

[G]

A sports 1000 only weighs a little more than a sports 600. Very little of that extra weight is going to be from the bigger pistons etc; more is going to be from everything else needing to be a bit stronger to cope with the increased power.

While ‘just get a 1000’ definitely makes more sense if you just want more power, I do like the idea of a smaller bike designed to have a plug-in charger of some kind.
So you could maybe buy it with 33hp, get the 33hp removed as appropriate, then a couple of years later plug in the ‘charger to boost it up to litre bike levels. Going to be a decent chunk more expensive and probably wouldn’t justify the development costs etc.

I’d like a play on a bike with decent power (ie 350hp+ sort of thing), but I suspect the reality is that with standard geometry it’s not really going to ‘offer’ much until really silly speeds.

There was a ‘charged scooter – jetforce, by Peugeot I think. Only made about 20hp with it on I believe, which didn’t seem amazing as we’re still not near 2 stroke levels.