In the early ’80s, Japan’s Big Four motorcycle manufacturers were locked in a new wave of technological warfare. After the displacement/cylinder wars of the ’70s shook out, there was a kind of détente, as Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki were content to outdo one another with incremental drivetrain advances and clever marketing instead of more cylinders and more displacement. Then a new decade dawned, forced induction became popular, and Japan’s motorcycling cold war went hot again. Kawasaki fired the first shot in Japan’s boost wars in 1978, when it released the extremely limited edition Z1R-TC: a blown, hopped-up KZ1000 with cafe racer styling built by Turbo Cycle Corporation and sold through Kawasaki dealerships. It wasn’t until 1982 when the Big Four got around to fitting their bikes with turbo engines. Honda was one of the first, bolting a turbo to the stout, water-cooled, Guzzi-style, transverse V-twin from its Ugly Duckling CX series bikes. The CX500T Turbo was Honda’s first bike to feature electronic fuel injection, and it was stuffed full of enough redundant systems, electronic gewgaws and Honda techno-wizardry to keep the pushrod mill from mulching itself under boost. It only lasted a year before it was replaced with the bigger, more high-tech CX650T. To make the CX650T, the big brains at Honda bored out the CX550 mill to 674cc, installed a bigger turbo, tinkered with both the boost and engine compression to smooth out the transition from boost to off-boost, remapped the fuel injection system and upgraded the suspension. Team Red made just shy of 1,800 CX650Ts, with fewer than 1,200 making it to the U.S. Unfortunately, sales weren’t up to Honda’s expectations due to the bikes’ price, complexity and eye-wateringly high insurance rates. The CX650T was dropped unceremoniously from Honda’s lineup the next year. The CX650T offered here is a gorgeous, low-mileage specimen in its original two-tone Pearl Shell White and Candy Aleutian Blue paint. The bike’s upgrades include a replaced OEM Honda CX500T starter, new braided stainless-steel brake lines, a new rear brake master cylinder and new Bridgestone tires. Offered with a slew of extras including the original owner’s manual, cloisonné ignition key, tire gauge, and tool kit as well as a battery tender, this bike will make an excellent addition to any collection. 1983 HONDA CX650T TURBO
