carburator or fuel injection
- Thread starter cper
- Start date
both are good..
carb bike is easier to retune if you do upgrades exhust/air filter.. cams
but they start harder when its cold and crud can collect in card and varnish from old gas
FI
more reliable in general i feel easy start in winter for sure
cons
you have to either have a tuner and know how to tune or take it done when you do mods..
lots of people are scared by the technology involved and if you don't do your own stuff can be a problem to find someone in the know
I have one of each and like both ..
and when tuned correctly fuel mileage wont be a issue i get dang close to the same on each bike i get 42-44 on my RKC which is FI
and 41 on Fatboy if i can control the right wrist
carb bike is easier to retune if you do upgrades exhust/air filter.. cams
but they start harder when its cold and crud can collect in card and varnish from old gas
FI
more reliable in general i feel easy start in winter for sure
cons
you have to either have a tuner and know how to tune or take it done when you do mods..
lots of people are scared by the technology involved and if you don't do your own stuff can be a problem to find someone in the know
I have one of each and like both ..
and when tuned correctly fuel mileage wont be a issue i get dang close to the same on each bike i get 42-44 on my RKC which is FI
and 41 on Fatboy if i can control the right wrist
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Re: carburetor or fuel injection
Bud pretty much summed it up...EFI is the wave of the future and is going to be standard fare in the near foreseeable future.
But that said, I'll play devils advocate...I like Carburetors for the simplicity, tunability and fairly low cost of ownership...with tried and true literally better than 20 years of performance tuning in it's wake in various venues to get all the nits worked out, so very little is needed to keep running, again if your a DIYer.
Having an EFI bike already you know the initial high cost of admission and you also know that once setup it is fairly "maintenance and trouble free". But I am a hands on kinda guy, who does not mind spending little bits along the way rather than the huge expense up front. Stage I costs inside $500 for carb version, and EFI will cost more closer to double that and certainly you have to be a bit more savvy, but the good news is you have a lot of friends here at HDT to help you sort things out, in either case.
Bud pretty much summed it up...EFI is the wave of the future and is going to be standard fare in the near foreseeable future.
But that said, I'll play devils advocate...I like Carburetors for the simplicity, tunability and fairly low cost of ownership...with tried and true literally better than 20 years of performance tuning in it's wake in various venues to get all the nits worked out, so very little is needed to keep running, again if your a DIYer.
Having an EFI bike already you know the initial high cost of admission and you also know that once setup it is fairly "maintenance and trouble free". But I am a hands on kinda guy, who does not mind spending little bits along the way rather than the huge expense up front. Stage I costs inside $500 for carb version, and EFI will cost more closer to double that and certainly you have to be a bit more savvy, but the good news is you have a lot of friends here at HDT to help you sort things out, in either case.
One thing about a carbed bike is you can still get that wonderful
"P-O-T-A-T-O" sound that I miss hearing. I loved the sound of a carbed bike that was just started and gave that sound only a HD could deliver. Can't do that with a EFI scooter!
Now I have to admit, I never did own a carbed HD. I owned other carbed rides and always envied my fellow HD riders when we fired them up. Finally got to where I could afford one and it was EFI time. Never had a problem in any altitude or starting with the EFI. Wish I could afford one of each!
"P-O-T-A-T-O" sound that I miss hearing. I loved the sound of a carbed bike that was just started and gave that sound only a HD could deliver. Can't do that with a EFI scooter!
Now I have to admit, I never did own a carbed HD. I owned other carbed rides and always envied my fellow HD riders when we fired them up. Finally got to where I could afford one and it was EFI time. Never had a problem in any altitude or starting with the EFI. Wish I could afford one of each!
No worries Bud, while owning my Metric (Suzuki Katana), I have to admit I was almost ready to pull the trigger on a big inch EFI fire breather...I have said before to close the deal, an alpha male has to have his emotions held in check, in this case my gal was the one who helped "rein" me in a bit...Harley...aren't those bikes unreliable and slow as a stone...:newsmile100:, and once I put a leg over that Sporty, I had to say, what a hoot to ride...no need to row the gear box and no carburetion from a CV in line four felt as crisp...EFI at the time was only out for about 3 years, and not nearly as satisfying, completely blindsided this ol' biker. EFI is now pretty standard fare, and frankly if you want to extract maximum performance out of a modern EPA compliant engine, you need it otherwise why do you think MOCO has virtually the ONLY Oil-Air-Cooled powered vehicle currently in production...HD R&D is working overtime to keep it that way!
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+1 on what Smitty say's, Exactly why my bike is a carb. Some and I mean Some of the early EFI's didnt have a good rap. I shopped for carb because of it. Having said that, I have had my share of issues with my carb. I was able to get them fixed with a little time and effort. Not sure I could have done it all myself with EFI. Hope that helps, good luck.
Bodeen
Being that ive been around motorcycles for many years ive got to know and understand carbs and how they work and what to do if they have a problem so one of the reasons i prefer the older bikes is carbs and not to much fancy electronics
ive got all that stuff on the car and it can be a pain when it fails
Brian
ive got all that stuff on the car and it can be a pain when it fails
Brian
sprinklerfitter669
Junior Member
I said when i got mine with EFI, that i would never go back ! It is so nice to get on start it and go, never having to play with the choke, or forgetting about it 2 miles down the road,
However as everybody else said, they make it so you have to go to the dealer to install add-ons.
I guess it is just personal preference. I really like the fact though of just heading off with no worrys.
However as everybody else said, they make it so you have to go to the dealer to install add-ons.
I guess it is just personal preference. I really like the fact though of just heading off with no worrys.