250cc Four-Cylinder Speed Record Bike Screams to 18,000rpm on the Dyno

Honda’s tiny, high-revving 250cc inline-four is one of the most bonkers engines the Japanese manufacturer has ever made. The 19,000rpm redline of the MC22 CBR250RR ‘Baby Blade’ was more akin to a Formula 1 car of the day than a motorcycle.

In this video from TTS Performance, one of these small but mighty units can be seen (and heard) powering a stretched, custom-built motorcycle intended to go after speed records. As standard, the movement on those diddly cylinders only nets you 45bhp, but this example features a turbocharger.

The bike wasn’t running right before, so TTS heavily revised the plenum changer, and also added an adorable little intercooler plus a tiny custom fuel tank. This thing isn’t built for range, remember.

After a quick overview of what the Silverstone-based firm has done to the bike, we get to hear it on the dyno, with no pesky exhaust silencer to spoil the fun. And lordy, does it sound good as it spins up to 18,000rpm.

We don’t get to learn the power figure, and details surrounding the bike are generally pretty scarce - suffice it to say we’ll be keeping an eye out for this one.

As a bonus, we also get to see a couple of other projects from TTS, including a supercharged Harley-Davidson FXDR which sounds mad as hell, and a supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa, because obviously, the standard bike isn’t fast enough.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be off to the classifieds to look up CBR250RRs, and weep at how much they cost now.

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