How Much Longer For Carburetors?

keyboard hero

that is also incorrect. it's still a carb.
since it's not street legal i bet the regs are looser. yz 250 is also carb for 13.
still many are going to wonder why carb yet another year when the 450 went FI the previous year.
http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelfeatures/66/0/features.aspx

the xt250 is the bike he's thinking about

Yeah, that's what I meant...... or maybe not.... One of the little Yamahas :)

I'm guessing you're referring to the '13 XT250, maybe? I think eakins mentioned it in another post.

Just conjecturing; long before Al Gore invented the Internet, would an earlier-invented Internet have carried a topic like, "How much longer for points/coil/condenser ignitions?"

And . . . what about them new-fangled ALTERNATORS? Ain't a DC GENERATOR good enough?

----------------------

DISCLAIMER: I know, I know: Comparisons aren't the same as carb vs. FI. Only . . . HEY! Where's my BUGGY WHIP? I'm ready to go home!

Today's leading edge technology is tomorrow's simple and reliable, that's progress. Cars and bikes carry a lot more technology than they did a few decades ago, and overall they are a lot more reliable. They maybe harder to fix at the roadside with just two rocks and few twigs, but they're less likely to have an unscheduled stop in the first place.

My riding conditions here in Colorado can vary by 8,000 feet and it always runs perfect and crisp. FI is a wonderful thing.

Ok, I was wrong. It's the WR450F. Here ya go:

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelspecs/210/0/specs.aspx

If I was going solo into remote area's, a carb would be the way to go.
A good FI setup is very nice though, just like a modern car, turn key on, start motor, go.
No funky hot cold stuff, automatic idle speed control, very good boost in mpg, less crap out the exhaust.

I for one am glad emissions standards have improved, I really do not like being behind an old car or truck belching out raw hydrocarbons bad enough to knock you out. Its just foul.

I find FI systems on cars or bikes easy to trouble shoot, its very simple stuff really.
A crappy designed and/or badly built system just sucks though.

You might have a carb and feel good about your bike, but I bet its got a cdi system that can crap out at any time.
Points you could clean and gap, but even then, your coil could burn out...

Wow. You guys are actually comparing a FI to a carb’s reliability. Really. Come on guys.

A carb is a simple mechanical device that has very few moving parts.

A FI has a computer, fuelpump, injector, lots of different sensors and a birds nest of wiring. Sometimes it also has an interface of some sort. A simple interface to a complex system does not mean a simple system.

FI has great flexibility and great performance compared to a carb. For many, myself included, that means little. My motorcycles are powerful enough and I don’t care if the MPG’s are a little worse or better. They are very economical either way.

Why do I say FI is less reliable:

1. Gravity will not fail. A fuel pump can and will.
2. A non existent sensor(s) will not fail
3. A non existent computer will not fail
4. A non existent Injector will not fail.
5. A much simpler wiring loom is less likely to fail and is easier to fix.

Now ..I can understand the gimmick factor. I also can understand the hardcore racer or aggressive rider trying to better their time. I do understand the benefits of FI for extreme altitude changes.

But I don’t understand why the average ADV rider would want the added complexity for the little gains it offers. I suspect most do not.

Stricter emission regulation is the key here IMHO. During the last years new bikes have gone from:
Well setup carbs -> horribly lean carbs -> FI

My car has 140,000 miles on it, and is 13 years old, and no sensor or FI related failures.
What more can you ask for?
Since Fi does not flood the engine on cold starts, the gas does not wash the oil off the cylinder and rings, so you get less engine wear.

Have you ever ridden a bike with a good FI system?

A pumper carb has lots of moving parts, cv carbs have their own issues, and they can wear out, needles wear, float valves wear, floats get holes in them, petcocks leak or plug up, jets clog, slides wear.

I've never had a problem with fuel injection, car or bike, except for a bad wire on an injector harness once. K100LT pump was dislodged when I dumped it. Pickup truck has a poor pump in one tank. All easily fixed by the side of the road. Other than that they just run.
Have had to fix hundreds of problems with carburetors, either clogged from sitting, or running poorly at a different elevation than it was tuned for, bad o rings, misadjusted floats, leaking float valves, clogged jets, leaking overflows, bad gaskets, the list goes on and on and on and on.

While it could be argued that a carb cam be fixed trailside and FI likely cannot, most folks now days couldn't begin to fix a carburetor anyway, so it's a moot point.
They make bikes to sell, FI sells.

They really do run nice.

I'd much rather ride a perfectly fueled FI bike than a lean carbed on.

Sorry, fuel injection is a gimmick? You really believe that?

You must hate Electric Starters, Overhead Cams, the needlessly complex and failure prone new fangled "pneumatic" tires.

How far back do we have to go to re-establish "simple and reliable" in your terms? Is it always 20 years behind the times? 30 years behind? Model T's were far simpler, perhaps we should have stopped with them?

Have you studied the Luddite movement?

I have 2 fuel injected bikes and 3 carbed bikes. Hands down the fuel injected are better. The WR250R/X even has a back door hack to richen the mixture from the dash. No programmer needed.

Are you sure FI has more moving parts than a carb? I am not a good mechanic, nor a mech. engineer, but I don't accept that statement as a given. Granted, I have been wrong before.

In any case, depending on your age and taste for "classics", you're setting yourself up to give up motorcyles, because carbs will be gone in a few years regardless of your preference.

Yep ... those carburetors are so simple ...

About THE ONLY "common" "trail-side" fix I know of where a carb is superior is if you get debris in the jet Vs. EFI's injector...


Ok, so you got some bad fuel... It's waited all this trouble free time to happen now? 1 million miles from the nearest store?


Ok, so your filter should of caught that, but it didnt...

Just how big of a deal is it to pack an extra fuel filter... And just how much space does the fuel pump for a motorcycle take up?


Gee.... The flashlight or insert other life saving but packable item here; ______, or an extra fuel pump..? Decisions decisions.


Otherwise, Vaseline the connectors and bring tampons to soak up any water that might get into a connection. (See: Top Gear Bolivia Special)

Ok. But I have. Two years ago I basically threw out (or sold very cheaply) my VW car since I did not want to waste time studying the FI of that car, and it was not worth taking it to a professional. The exact same happened last week with my wife's nissan micra. Both cars were old though, no big deal.

Ok. But in my 35 years of motorcycling I have never had a serious carb problem. Lots of small problems, sure but easily fixed. We have better fuel over here it seems as clogging problems are mainly isolated to grit and dirt.

I do not want to believe it, but maybe that´s it. I have always thought of motorcyclists as different from most car owners. Most folks today have no clue, if the car wont go "brrrr" they take it to the shop as expected considering the complexity of modern cars. Maybe most motorcyclists today "have no clue" and are perfectly happy about it.

Yes, they do run nice. I bought my first and last FI thumper last year, a XT660R. I did study that bike like i always do, but the more I learned about the bike the less I liked it.

Oh, yes. But a lean carb becomes a well setup carb right after it leaves the dealership

My guess is we will see the end of Carburetors in 2015. Just like the big push on the 4-strokes it seems something major changes about every 2-3 years to get us all to go out, and buy a new bike.

What could possibly go wrong?