Can you turbocharge a motorcycle

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Keep up the great work! The ECU has access to barometric pressure as well as boost pressure and can provide extra fuel based on the percentage differences between barometric pressure and boost pressure.

For example: If pressure in the plenum is 1. If pressure in the plenum is 1. If you use a piggyback computer that only sees the pressure in the plenum, you will end up with mapping that changes from rich to lean depending on barometric pressure. This is not a major problem if all your riding is done in an area without noticeable altitude variations, as the barometric pressure fluctuations will not be very large.

On the other hand, if you do ride in a mountainous area you will get large changes in barometric pressure because of the changes in altitude. Fitting a turbo manifold and plenum to a motor changes the tuned length of the exhaust headers and intake resonance.

Because of this it is always good to do the first part of the mapping with the intake system set up to prevent any boost pressure building. Simply leaving the charge tube hose loose will allow it to push away from the charge tube as soon as any pressure starts to build. This allows you to tune throttle position vs. RPM to match the new requirements of the motor before you try to map for boost. Following this step first will make the boost mapping much simpler and should make the boost trims very linear to the boost pressure.

If you try to map the boost side without first mapping for the differences in air flow off boost, you will have very unpredictable results as you will not know if the adjustments needed are due to changes in intake characteristics or changes in air pressure.

This part of the mapping does not need to be done over the entire throttle range. In fact you will run the risk of over-speeding the turbo if you try to do full throttle runs with no boost pressure. It will suffice to map the throttle side up to 40 per cent throttle as the low throttle area is the part of the map that is going to have to run nicely with and without boost pressure.

Low throttle mapping is best done with slow ramp rates on a dyno. This best reflects the conditions the motor will see in the real world. Illustration: The same area after the throttle vs. RPM trims have been corrected no boost on the system. The only area where you are likely to have large throttle openings without boost is low in the rev range. If you are mapping on a dyno with good load-hold ability you can set the dyno to hold an RPM and quickly turn to full throttle, then off again.

RPM map to make sure the mixture is not lean. Once the throttle position-based mapping has been done you can connect the charge tube again and prepare to do the mapping for boost. Many motors have been destroyed by increasing the boost past the point that is safe for the components in the motor.

If the motor is standard you should not go past 0. If the motor makes hp without the turbo, and you add a turbo system that adds 0.

In reality you would be lucky to get much more than a 40 per cent increase due to this heating of the air. Always start on the rich side with boost fuel trims. Because you have tuned the system for no boost, the trims required for boost should be close to the per cent of extra air pressure. Start with a table that is at least 10 per cent richer from the onset. Illustration: The trims I start with on the boost side.

If the engine management system has a table for ignition retard under boost, you should take five to six degrees of ignition advance out of the higher boost area 20 per cent up from mid RPM to high revs.

If the tuning system you are using does not have boost ignition trims, you should take some ignition out of the higher throttle range from mid RPM upward. It is much easier to add the ignition timing back later than it is to replace the melted metal to the piston.

Start tuning the low boost area first. It is tempting to do just one full throttle run to see what peak power it makes. Start the boost mapping by setting the dyno to hold RPM then gently apply some throttle until boost starts to build.

I follow this procedure up to the 30 per cent boost point then move to the next RPM point. Not only will this give you some added boost, but it will definitely make your motorcycle stand out as a truly unique custom bike.

Most riders who opt for adding turbo to a motorcycle do it for the increase in power. However, there are some problems with adding turbo to a motorcycle. For one, in order to make turbo work on a motorcycle you have to make sure the bottom end is strong enough and the bike has low compression pistons.

When installed incorrectly, turbo can cause serious damage to the pistons. Not all bikes have a strong enough bottom to support turbo.

In addition, adding turbo to a motorcycle makes things difficult when it comes to weight and space. There is often a short delay with the acceleration of a turbocharger. Imagine you are riding around a sharp curve and the turbo kicks in a few seconds late. The sudden increase in acceleration can cause you to lose control or just shoot forward instead of moving with the turn, sending you off an edge or into a wall.

Motorcycles with turbo can be so deadly that for years they were blacklisted by insurance companies. For now, just know that there are some dangers that come with turbo. Is it possible to buy a factory motorcycle with forced induction? In the early days of motorcycle racing there were some motorcycles with forced induction. The regulations from the FIM tied to road racing, but it also had an impact on public motorcycle riding and the popularity and innovation of forced induction bikes decreased.

In the 80s, motorcycles with turbo started appearing in Japanese companies. Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Honda all released models with turbo. These bikes were very appropriate to the 80s and look like they came out of a sci-fi movie from the time. They each advertise their turbocharged engines in flashy letters as the main selling point. When the turbo bikes began appearing on the market, however, several insurance companies blacklisted them because the risks were so high.

Although it appears that Yamaha may be giving superchargers another go, for now there is no way to buy a factory bike with turbo. However, you can find custom bikes with forced induction. However, custom bikes across the board can have turbo added as a customization. There are dangers to consider, most notably turbo lag. Another significant barrier to turbo motorcycles was the insurance blacklist. State Farm created a blacklist of several turbo bikes in the United States.

They consider this style of motorcycle to be too risky to insure. Not only did this make it difficult for the bikes to sell, but it also helped to perpetuate the idea that the bikes were too dangerous to ride. Some factory motorcycles have appeared throughout the years with turbochargers or superchargers, but they are few and far between. However, as the technology continues to improve, we may be able to see a resurgence of turbo as they get lighter and smaller and as engineers work to solve the problem of turbo lag.

As I mentioned previously, Yamaha is currently working on developing a new model which is a three-cylinder turbo machine. This could change the market for other companies to also begin developing motorcycles with turbo.

Technically, all forced induction devices are considered superchargers. In fact, the turbocharger was originally called a turbosupercharger.

However, we now talk about turbochargers and superchargers differently. The main differentiator is that superchargers are mechanically-driven.