I see posts by many folks that would prefer a carb to EFI .

if you're one of them, I'm curious what benefits there are to carb over FI

thanks

..L.T.A.

 

When it comes to working on bikes I prefer carbs because I understand them and have all the tools to deal with them.

When it comes to riding I prefer EFI.

 

I have and like both. They each provide a different experience. If I could only have one bike I would prefer a carb and have a few carb kits in my stash for future use.

 

I prefer carbs because they are cheaper to tune and less electrical crap to go wrong.

 

For a bike I ride regularly I'd never go back to a carb. Fuel injection is the best thing that ever happened to the internal combustion engine.

 

I like to tinker, change pipes, try different air cleaners ext. With a carb its simple to adjust or rejet. with EFI you need a tuner and an understanding of how to use it. (MOST people do not have that understanding) A carbed bike has a lot less wiring to short out. A carbed bike always runs cooler than EFI. You can usualy fix a problem with a carbed bike but when EFI has problems its usually off to a shop. So YES I prefer carbs.

 

That's a good way of putting it.

My big concern about EFI is this: I have two bikes now both with EFI. What happens if the brain box that controls the FI dies? How long are replacements going to be available? And as far as I know there aren't any aftermarket alternatives like the way there is for carburetor and ignition parts.

 

In 1995 there were waiting lists to get a new Harley.

You'd go in and put down a deposit to get on the waiting list. Sometimes your bike would come in and it wasn't even close to what you ordered. You either took it or you continued to wait. Those refused bikes then went to people on the waiting list or to the showroom sales floor where they sold in a matter of hours

Now, I know all of this now in retrospect but nobody really understood how it worked when it was all going down.

Anyway, I walked into the dealership and bought a new 1996 Road King off of the show room floor. At first I thought I was getting on the list but the owner assured me that I was buying that bike and I could pick it up in the morning.

The next morning I'm doing a walk around when the round air filter cover catches my eye. Sequential Dual Port Injection! Whoa. What in the hell?

The owner asks me why I thought that the bike was available for sale off the floor. 1996 was the first year of the injected Road King. The guy refused it because it was injected.

I kept it for over a hundred thousand trouble free miles.

My vote is for carbs though.

Fuel injection ushered in the phenomenon that we called "The Harley Haircut". Customer wanted a Harley that sounded like a Harley. That used to be a simple swap of mufflers and carb jets. With fuel injection this simple request turned into a real money making operation for the service department. So what used to cost a couple a hundred turned into nearly a thousand, involving aftermarket tuners.

Let the games begin with warranty claims on bikes with piggyback tuners. It was sort of unwritten that piggyback tuners installed at the dealership would get a wink and a nod. If your dealership "didn't like you" then you ended up voiding warranty coverage.

Harley lays the blame on EPA regs.
I lay the blame on Harley bean counters.

Bottom line is that F.I. is great if you leave everything stock.

 

Only have carbed bikes, but there is no doubt that EFI is a better idea. You only have to go from basically sea level (California Bay Area) and then travel thru the Rockies (Rocky Mountain National Park) set up on a bike with an M74B to truly appreciate the limitations of a carburator.

 

Nope, can't agree with that.

On the other hand an engine that won't come up to temperature isn't a lot of cop either.