Carbs vs. FI, which is better

...because after asking what im about to ask nobody will probably talk to me anymore

Well before i get kicked out of here:

I don't even know how to ask this.
i want to know about fuel injection and how much difference it makes in a bike.

I know you don't need the choke if you have fuel injection, but surely it must do more than adjust the fuel input?

Some bike adds i look at i see all this about fuel injection and i get the impression it's something fantastic, and it's not worth having the bloody thing if it isn't fuel injected.

Now, having a 2000 years model (k1? i thought k1 was 2001 but ive been told otherwise, now im just not sure about anything) i know i don't have fuel injection, but i was thinking about the next bike purchase im making.
Should i go for something that is fuel injected or is it not that much a difference?

Sorry if this is all obvious to you lot, but i'm just not terribly clever when it comes to bikes .

just menas the acceleration may be very very slighty better, and maybe a bit mre fuel economical but no nothing specal really IMO.


i mean yeah if i had achoice i would choose the fuel injected but again nothing special.

[Lissa]

We're the opposite..............tried our mates fuel injected SV and thought it felt flat and gutless................carbs for us every time.

Horses for courses I guess............thank God we all have our differences.

carburetion is the tried and true method of mixing fuel and air for combustion in the internal combustion engine

electronic fuel injection is the modern way of mixing fuel & air, it's more efficient and more customizable

[Red ones]

Right.

The reason newer engines have it is nothing to do with acceleration, power or anything as brutish, masculine, or "mine performs better than yours" It is purely and simply to get round emission laws. Emission laws have now got tight enough to almost ban carbs. The engine must run clean across a wide power range and over a large part of it's life. Carbs have difficulty delivering the right mixture across a wide range and do go out of adustment, so FI is the answer. The ECU can control the FI unit far better than any mechanic with a screwdriver ever could with a carb.

It does pave the way to then have electronic throttle controls, which do a lovely job in smothing engine performance across the power band blah, blah. blah.



I'll put my head back down now.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by Red ones

The reason newer engines have it is nothing to do with acceleration, power or anything as brutish, masculine, or "mine performs better than yours" It is purely and simply to get round emission laws.

Partly true, the emissions are improved on closed throttle particularly, (over-run), in other circumstances as long as your carburation is set and adjusted right FI won't offer a significant benefit over carbs.

Originally Posted by RandyO

electronic fuel injection is the modern way of mixing fuel & air, it's more efficient and more customizable.

That's a better way of describing it.

PS. When in doubt then IB is probably the right place, I'd say this was bikes talk etc etc

I see.
So nothing increadibly awesome then.

Well, suppose it's nothing i should be TO bothered with then.

Thanks alot for the answeres.

Carbs are smoother as the fuel is gravity fed not forced in like on the injector models. I have had a (00) and an (04) bike and I can say that performance wise there is not much difference. I think I might even prefer the carbs over the injection system but as I ride in winter the new bike is a little better in the cold.

If your happy with your bike then keep it, you wont get anything more than a slighly better looking bike by getting a pointy with EFI.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by Diveboy

Carbs are smoother as the fuel is gravity fed not forced in like on the injector models.

Not so, the specifics of any given machine are to do with how it's been set up, in the case of the SV the carbed bikes aren't smoother at all, but, and this is the important thing, if the balance is off, due to the fact that the FI bikes have a much lighter throttle action, it can be difficult to ride right, if that's the case it needs fixing.

[Scoobs]

Don't get carb icing with FI.