Mr. Turbo's Super 600

MR. TURBO’S SUPER 600

WHERE’S THE LOGIC IN turbocharging a 600cc sportbike? Mr. Turbo’s Terry Kizer thinks the concept has merit. Which is why, after some cajoling from friend and fellow turbo-junkie Pat O’Reilly, he boosted a Honda CBR600F4.

“Generally speaking, 600s are inexpensive, so we felt it best to stay away from an expensive kit,” O'Reilly explains. “That meant no fuel-injection and no intercooler.”

Kizer, who is best known for his acceleration-defining Openclassers, began by fitting the Honda with a 290-cfm Aerodyne turbo. That, a billet-aluminum intake manifold and a D&D exhaust are the $3795 kit’s main mods. “We’ve been running this thing for about five months,” O’Reilly adds. “Before we added the stickers, nobody knew the bike even had a turbo. It looked like an F4 with a pipe.”

Running 9 pounds of boost, the Mr. Turbo F4 makes 155 horsepower and 74 foot-pounds of torque at the rear wheel-25 blip and 5 ft.-lbs. more than a Honda CBR929RR. A stock F4 carburetes better and pulls harder below 6000 rpm, but above that mark, there’s no contest. The power builds in an explosive rush, and the accompanying surge in speed is absolutely addictive.

Ridden at street speeds, the bike will cruise all day without a hiccup. Subject it to racetrack hot-lapping and smoky burnouts, though, and the temp gauge heads for the red zone. According to Kizer, adding an intercooler will alleviate any overheating concerns. Future plans call for kitting Honda’s new fuel-injected CBR600F4Í. Carbs or throttle bodies, though, there’s no better, or logway, to build a 55-horsepower 600.

Nick Ienatsch