The Kawasaki GPz750 Turbo was a

sportbike A sports motorcycle, sports bike, or sport bike is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfo ...

manufactured from late 1983 to 1985, with two model years – the 1984 E1 and the 1985 E2. Differences were minor, a twin "push/pull" throttle cable for the E2 and different brake caliper stickers. The bike was manufactured in Japan, with parts also shipped to the US and assembled in Kawasaki's Nebraska plant for the US/Canada market to bypass the import tax levied on bikes over 700cc at the time by the US government, a protectionist move designed to save Harley-Davidson which was having financial problems at the time. Although carrying GPz badges on the engine covers, it was only referred to by Kawasaki as the "750 Turbo"——the GPz tag was not mentioned. It is also referred to as the ZX750E. Development started in January 1981 as a

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

650, then as a 750 from November 1981. When finally released, the stock bike made a claimed , had sports bike handling (for the day) and looked good – especially next to the other factory turbo bikes which were already on the market such as the

Suzuki XN85 The Suzuki XN85, released in early 1983, was a turbocharged motorcycle designed as a sports bike. The name came from the claim that it produced 85 bhp, although rear wheel measurements were in the low 70s. It featured the first factory 16-inch ...

Honda CX500 The Honda CX series motorcycles, including the GL500 and GL650 Silver Wing variants, were developed and released by Honda in the late 1970s, with production ending in most markets by the mid-1980s. The design included innovative features and tech ...

and CX650 turbos, and the

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

Seca Turbo. Performance was on a par with the GPz1100, at around 11.2 seconds at for the quarter mile and flat out. One magazine even branded it the fastest bike they had ever tested, and Kawasaki ran some ads claiming it to be "The World's Fastest Production Turbo Charged Bike". Jay "PeeWee" Gleason also recorded a 10.71 second quarter mile for Kawasaki to show that the turbo had genuine performance and was ahead of the other factory turbos. It is widely considered to be the "best" factory turbo produced by the Japanese manufacturers. To build the turbo, Kawasaki did more than simply add

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All c ...

and a

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into th ...

to the standard GPz750

motorcycle engine A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, but other engine types, such as Wankel engine, Wankels and electric motors, have been used. Altho ...

. Some parts are exclusive to the "turbo", such as low-compression (7.8:1) pistons, stronger gearbox internals, a modified oil pan with an extra oil scavenge pump, a boost indicator, the characteristic aluminium "turbo"-spoiler, and a different Unitrak linkage (which gave it a firmer ride). The exhaust system and turbo (except silencers) were strengthened with different tube material, and some dimensions and frame geometry differed (28° rake instead of 26°). The rest came from conventionally aspirated 750 and the 1100 (front fork, brakes and some injection parts) and the entire cylinder head assembly from the KZ 650. The GPz Turbo used a Hitachi HT-10B turbocharger, positioned close to the headers, and electronic fuel injection.

References

{{Forced induction motorcycles GPZ750 Turbo Sport bikes Motorcycles introduced in 1983