Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

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Apr 27, 2007 | 09:33 AM

#11

whaap

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From: Tucson, Az

RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

Quote:

ORIGINAL: bmkshort

If I'd known the 2007 sportster was going to be EFI, I would have waited to buy mine. Unless you are EXTREMELY lucky, a carb bike will never run as good or as reliable as EFI. I can't wait until I can justify trading or selling my bike to get a fuel injected one. If only I had done my research on what aggrevation so many people including myself have gone through to get a stage 1 done right, and those stupid azz, embarassing carb farts taken care of, I would of, could of , should of, bought a late model EFI Dyna or softail. Its sad when you have to keep other riders waiting, cause your bike has to "warm up" before taking off. I'm just venting, and for the most part my bike runs pretty good now, but had I known the amount of money I was going to sink into a BRAND NEW modern motorcycle just to get it to run right which I believe HARLEY could have done back at their factory, I could have hada EFI softail and not have to do anything but turn the key and ride. I still love H-D motorcycles but maybe I stillhave some buyers remorse with my carbed Sporty.

What makes you think you have to warm up a carbed bike longer than you do a f/i bike?? Start it up and gently ride away. If you're letting your bike just set there for the sake of warming it up, you're missing the boat.

Apr 27, 2007 | 09:36 AM

#12

whaap

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From: Tucson, Az

RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

Another comment I have to make. I read alot about people getting stage 1 and other work done on their motors and then having this problem or that problem. It does make me laugh. Mine is the way it came from the factory and I don't have carb fart problems or any other problems. Ho-hum.

Apr 28, 2007 | 12:11 PM

#13

128auto

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From: Vancouver B.C. Canada

RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

The only advantages I can see in the EFI is:
1. Don't have to use the choke (easy enough)
2. Better fuel efficiency (compensates for different altitude)
3. Little better throttle response
It doesn't make the bike warm up faster, why would it? The biggest enemy of electronic is vibration, imagine mounting a EFI computer on the bike, weather and road condition may shorten the life, keep it simple. Well, too early to judge, 3-5-7 years, you may see little problems, who knows? No offense to other EFI Harleys, just my thought here.

Apr 28, 2007 | 12:44 PM

#14

eg2sol

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From: Hollidaysburg, PA

RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

i would rather be broke down on a carbed bike any day. A phillips screw driver and you can get all threw that carb to fix it.JMO[sm=smiley20.gif]

Apr 28, 2007 | 01:24 PM

#15

128auto

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From: Vancouver B.C. Canada

RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

Exactly! My 07 has 500 miles on it, check engine light came on and it ran like S H I T, what should I do? TAKE IT TO THE STEALER.

What else can you do? [&:]

Quote:

ORIGINAL: eg2sol

i would rather be broke down on a carbed bike any day. A phillips screw driver and you can get all threw that carb to fix it.JMO[sm=smiley20.gif]

Apr 28, 2007 | 01:29 PM

#16

wbogley

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RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

I have 9,000 miles on my carb bike now...It runs great. Once you learn the enricher, you can run just as well cold as the efi bikes.

Apr 28, 2007 | 01:49 PM

#17

OldFenderGuy

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Joined: Sep 2005

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From: Ozark Country

RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

Convert from carb'd to EFI?

Well, like they say, if you have the money anything is possible, but it would be quite a project.

Apr 28, 2007 | 02:04 PM

#18

1200c

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RE: Can Pre-07 Sportsters be changed to EFI.

Quote:

The only advantages I can see in the EFI is:
1. Don't have to use the choke (easy enough)
2. Better fuel efficiency (compensates for different altitude)
3. Little better throttle response

1. Can very easily be solved with an automatic enricher. Buell blasts come with one. Not to mention that some earlier FI systems still had an enricher that you had to use on cold days.
2/3. The CV carb sacrafices throttle response to allow the carb to compensate (to a certain degree) for weather changes. You can get a mikuni carb that will have throttle response that is just as good as FI, but won't compensate as much as a CV carb. Unless you are riding in extremes (like from 0 elevation to 5000) the CV carb will compensate pretty well. And how often do you take trips like that? For most people it's not often.

As for fuel economy if you read the information posted on Harley's website FI bikes gained fuel economy on the expressway, but LOST fuel economy in the city. If you average out both of them you get a THEORETHICAL gain of 1 mpg. However, anybody that rides mostly in the city will experience worse fuel economy with FI than a carbbed bike.