Forced induction of engines is something that a number of Japanese bike makers like Kawasaki and Suzuki are already doing in the market. Honda, another motorcycle manufacturer from the same country, according to reports, is planning to jump on to the same bandwagon and become the third Japanese firm to do so. At present, nothing has been made public by Honda while Kawasaki and Suzuki have already made announcements regarding the same. However, a report by motorcyclistonline says that Honda will certainly experiment with turbocharging or supercharging its engine on motorcycles.
Honda is said to have been working on a minimum of two engine designs that will work with supercharging, namely a parallel-twin and an inline-four. The parallel-twin engine design is based on the unit fitted in the VFR1200F, in which the supercharger is likely to replace the rear cylinder bank along with an intercooler mounted on top of it. In-line four, on the other hand, is expected to feature a supercharger mounted in the front of crankshaft and its layout is going to be based on the Honda NSF250T Moto3 racer.
Only recently, during early 2014, fellow Japanese bike maker Suzuki took the lid off the Recursion concept bike that was fitted with a turbocharged parallel twin engine that had a capacity of around 588 cc. Kawasaki, too, unveiled their supercharged four-cylinder powertrain at Tokyo Motor Show during the November of 2013.
Turbocharging and supercharging is said to be an assistant in improved combustion of fuel that is directly related to emissions made by the engine. Albeit this concept has been present in the market for a long time now, the strict constraints pertaining to exhaust emission regulations for bikes, which will be applied in the European Union by 2017, has compelled bike makers to change the technology.
