Just as we dusted off our Honda CBR900RR turbo project bike ("Blow Your Own," April 2000) and got it registered for street duty, we found these fantastic studio shots lying under last month's dyno charts and the Geek's spare socks. If you don't have your back issue handy, here's the scoop on our creation: We had originally intended a straightforward turbo project using the CBR, installing a Mr. Turbo (281/442-7113, www.mrturbo.com) kit ourselves. But when the boss cartwheeled the resultant monster just down the street from the office, a drastic makeover was required--er, for the bike, not Kento.
The Mr.Turbo setup consists of an Aerodyne turbo unit which--instead of having a waste gate--keeps boost in check by controlling the angle of its vanes by a diaphragm. The complete system also substitutes a fuel injection rail for the stock bike's rack of Keihin carburetors. With no other engine mods (we've never even removed the valve cover from this bike), we saw an amazing 172 horsepower--up more than 60 from the stock bike's now seemingly anemic 111 ponies.
The CBR900 has looks that match its performance thanks to a beautiful Euro Bikes (703/257-9500, www.eurobikes.com) body kit, which wears a bottomless coat of paint applied by Jim Tatone of Gerard Design (818/703-6589, www.gerardcustomdesign.com). Tatone also painted the OGK helmet to match. Rounding out the custom look is a set of Daytona spun aluminum wheels from RC Components (888/721-6495, www.rccomponents.com).
With show and go, it's definitely an attention-getter. Now that the turbo bike is licensed, it's just a question of how long we will be.
This feature appeared in the April 2002 issue of Sport Rider. Click here to see the original April 2000 piece, "Blow Your Own."