Go back? I am running points, a 4 speed and a ridge mounted engine on my Shovel. I put a 1000 miles on it last month...I cant go back to what I already have. BTW..not a single problem. I am a purest, but I agree with you, this stuff is not for everyone.

 

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While I respect your question, there is no cut and dry answer here.

Until EFI units become user serviceable, I will stick with my carb'd Harley.

Maybe I should switch, I mean it's a throw-away world right?!?

 

Very true, while looking at new mini vans for the wife I said at one point "I should just find a 1970 Chev Impala station wagon for $1,000.00, spend $14,000 restoring it and we will have a family vehicle that will last another 40 years", but...sure enough we ended up spending $30,000 on a new van that will only last 10 or 15 years at best.

 

If you plan to modify it... and you will eventually,I would recommend a carb.Easy to work on, cheap to throw jets in and best of all... how many threads do you read on here about FI issues? certainly more than the carb bikes.... it'sultimately your choice butI stand by my carb'd rigid mounted engines.It always starts and runs and even though it vibrates a bit more... I ALWAYS get laid after giving the old lady a ride...
E.

 

I keep hearing about 'many EFI issues', but I wonder if that is just because of the first year bugs in the fuel injected Sportsters?

Harley started putting EFI in their big twins almost 13 years ago (since 1995), and I know guys that put a lot of miles on their bikes, and have never had any issues.

To me there was no pain involved in increasing the performance of my EFI Softail. Install the high flow intake and exhaust of your choice, install a race tuner, have a good tuner put it on a dyno and dial in the best results, and end of story. Nothing difficult at all. LoL..

From what I've seen they are as foolproof as the EFI systems that have been used in cars and trucks for the past 30 years or so.

 

i dont see that there is any choice in the matter at this point--if you buy an 07 up sportster you will have an efi bike..my preference is carb..like stated before i like to tinker around with my bike..i just like things simple..but to my surprise(after all of this massive horsepower claims coming from the efi sportsters)my friend bought an 07 1200c recently and he did the stage one upgrades to his and has plenty of riding experience(more than i do) he weighs around 20 pounds more than me..and we raced a couple of weeks ago and i blew past him with no problem..and he told me he had the bike ***** to the wall..i havent posted this until now because i didnt want to get everyone of the efi lovers panties in a bunch, but now since we are on the topic i figured ill let it be known that yes the bikes run nice and have a nice throttle responce..but they run too smooth and dont have the old school harley sound that the carbed models have..and in the case with my friends sportster they might not even be as fast..so ill stick with my carb thankyou for listening to me and flame on!!!

 

Hate to give you the bad news, but the 'old time Harley sound' doesn't come from the carb (or efi) on the bike. The tone comes from the components and detail design of each family of engines.

The sound at idle comes from the lift and duration of the cams, and the tone at idle is dependent on how low (or high) you have the idle speed set.

The factory idle speed on the Sportster is normally set right at 1,000 RPM. Not sure where the idle speed is set on the EFI Sportsters, but with all things being equal the bike should sound the same.

But it doesn't matter, as nothing sounds like an 'old time Harley' except for the old time Harley's (Shovelheads, Panheads, etc..)

Try as you might, but you will never get a big twin EVO or Sportster EVO to sound like the Pan's and Shovel's. To a trained each each family of Harley engines has it's ownsignature tone, and each is different.

 

I agree with OFG about the first year bug issues on the FI Sportys. In the first year it seems the FI bikes are having many different problems related to the required change in the electrical system, fuel pump, etc. But I believe once they get those things resolved, and the dealers and Indy's figure out how to remap the FI system, it will be a better mouse trap. Until then, I'm happy with my carb.

 

I prefer carbs on my bikes. Yes my truck and the wife's car are fuel injected. But all I do to them is put gas in em and change the oil. On my bikes(bike for now as I only have one at this time) I am always changing something for appearance, sound, performance, etc.. So I prefer the simpicity of a carb. I bought my 06 because I knew from 07 on they were all going to be fuel injected. I was a mechanic and with a laptop and the proper data chord(sp) I could tune and mess with the spark, fuel etc...but I prefer tinkering with a carb, and if I have a problem on the road I can get the bike running well enough to limp it home. The 06 has not given me a problem but some of my older bikes were requiring constant attention, and not just carb related issues before somebody tries to make a point out of it.

 

all i can say is i have no problems with mine......efi has been around for years.....mine has 2K on it and it runs like a champ....and with the cycle shacks i still get a nice tone....its a preference for sure...yeah mods are more expensive.,,,,,but thats pretty limited to the air/ exhaust realm....

and a 9mm is a .45 set on stun.......