Triumphrat

jonfrodo · 07-09-2008

Which is better Carburettor or Fuel Injection on a Bonneville?

I pick up my new Bonneville on Saturday and it is the last of the Carburettor models. I made this decision on the fact that there are heaps of options and modifications I can make in the future and that I am a bit of a traditionalist after all this is a retro bike. My mate recons I am mad; go for the fuel injection as he says I will get better fuel economy , more power and it will be more reliable. What do all you helpful people out there think? I am soooooooo excited about getting my new Bonnie after all I have been saving hard for two years now. I had to go without a lot of stuff to be able to afford this bike. All the extra overtime and hard work was well worth it! Hardly wait to start on my modifications. Thanks again to a great bunch guys at this forum.

theoldtrout · 07-09-2008

You've opened a can of worms with this one! There have been many posts discussing this subject. I would suggest that carbs and EFI are about the same in day to day riding, although EFI lower emissions keep the tree-huggers happy.

I prefer carburettors because I've mainly always had them and can fix them.

Pokeyjoe · 07-09-2008

If they are properly set up, the carbs should perform as well as the EFI under a certain set of conditions. When those conditions change, however, the EFI will shine because of its ability to change the mixture depending on ambient temp, altitude, etc.

Based on your requirement to mod the bike, you've made the right choice, however. No one has done much with EFI adjustments - the dealer has to remap the EFI to adjust for better breathing (like TORs). In a year or two, there will be lots of options available.

boxerman · 07-09-2008

Under most riding conditions,I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. For installing the usual mods, carbs are probably the way to go. I'll be interested to see what the major bike mags have to say when they compare the two, which we know they will do...

Saponetto · 07-09-2008

he,he!
Right, this is really a can of worms, in facts.

imho, if You do not have so tight duties as we have here in Italy and in a big part of Europe, me too would appreciate your choice of a carb'ed one instead of and EFI like mine.

Here we do not have many chances, unfortunately...

doclees · 07-09-2008

I've been in touch with Barry from New Zealand about his 08 fuel injected America. I was deciding if I should wait until they hit the states. He has had to have the software reloaded once since May but other than that it has been great. Gets between 18 and 20 km/liter at 60 mph 1 and 2 up riding. I don't think it has been broken in yet. With FI you can some real nice tuning. As you know during cold weather and high altitudes carbs have problems. FI can adapt. I don't know how I made it over the Rockys at 12k feet on my kz400. It sure was trying to die. The limitation on FI is that when it goes bad it usually won't start or run. If you can get a carb to drip gas you usually can limp home. I don't think one is better just different for different applications.

conchscooter · 07-10-2008

FI is a matter of trust, carburettors are tried and true and trusted. FI is a lot of black boxes, fuel pumps and wires. FI helps compensate for altitude changes (imperfectly) and gives improved gas mileage and is the way of the future. Those of us with carbs are the last of the few, and can get away with them because the Bonneville is a low tech air cooled low horsepower motor. I would buy a caburettor model because it works well and FI will most likely be fine.