1982 Honda CX500 TC Turbo Motorcycle

Description

The innovative Honda V-twin powered CX series was developed in the late ‘70s and included features and technologies not common at the time. Such were its liquid cooling, electric-only starting (with a separate system & starter button), modular (rather than wire spoked) Comstar wheels and dual CV-type carburettors tuned for reduced emissions, to name a few. The CX500 Turbo was only produced for the 1982 model year and was Honda's first production motorcycle to have a programmed fuel injection system, with fail-safe systems working in tandem with a separate ignition system. Electronic system failures were reported to the rider through two dashboard displays. The turbocharged CX500TC engine was based on the water-cooled V-twin with four pushrod-operated overhead valves per cylinder configuration used in the CX500 introduced a few years earlier but using a modified engine case for larger crankshaft bearings. The turbocharger, capable at peak boost of providing approximately 19 psi of boost, nearly doubled the power output of the engine! Suspension, brakes, frame and fairing all differed significantly from the earlier CX500 and the Pro-Link rear suspension and TRAC (Torque Reactive Anti-Dive Control) were also used on the CX500EC (1982) and CX650ED (1983) models. The CX500 Turbo was superseded by the CX650TD for the 1983 model year, which was itself discontinued the same year.