Carbs and light bikes are fine as long as you are on flat ground and by yourself. Put someone on the back and go up a mountain and you will come to appreciate EFI quickly. I remember many times going from Sacramento to Reno on my 98 STS with my wife on the back and by the time I hit Donner pass I felt like I was on a Honda 50 at WOT! They may be cheaper for a reason!

 

 

I've got a 2002 and 2005 Dyna, the 02 is a Superglide carb and the 05 a EFI Lowrider. The Lowrider has an open intake and open exhaust. I added a DFO for EFI reasons, the 05 also had valve guide issues from the factory. My 02 is fun to ride and really hasn't been a maintenance issue, just regular stuff, fluids tires/brakes. If it's still on line look up Joe Minton and fine tuning the Keihn Carb. This is a good read, to prevent problems avoid installing a Dyno-Jet carb. kit, more troubles than success'. That's my opinion and is substantiated on other forums. Minton's mods are inexpensive and easy to do. The wife and I rode the 02 to west NY and back. Added removable windscreen and leather saddle bags. A lot of accy. and some parts can be had through J&P Cycles, Dennis Krk and others.

Didn't have any problems riding around the Black Hills in/around Sturgis, Deadwood or Rapid City two up. Granted those aren't same altitude as Donner's Pass.

 

If you like to work on your bikes nothing wrong with carbed bikes. None of the 5 bikes at my house are FI. But they can become frustrating and adjusting them wrong can cause engine damage.

Noisey Cricket mentioned mountains. But that shouldn't be a problem in Northern MN. Just remember ethanol gas will clog up a sitting carb in a few months, Those long MN winters will be the bain of your existence. Before you put it away for the winter fill it up with non-ethanol gas and use some Stabil in it, preferably the Marine version of Stabil.

 

 

No draw backs to a good carb. My S&S E carb gets 40 to 45 mpg and its hooked to an S&S 111. The mountains mean nothing to it. I virtual never touch the carb
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Sorry,

Looked at Noisey Cricket's location, not yours.

I'm a couple hours north of you and I ride year round too. Just don't ride when they spray that brine crap on the roads pre-treating for snow and ice. That stuff is nasty to aluminum and chrome on the bikes.

Mountains around here on the East Cost won't be an issue for carb tuning. If you are riding year round, just keep putting gas in it and ride, carb shouldn't be any extra maintenance over fuel injection.

 

And thinking back it wasn't my 98 it was my 93 STS, so it was an EVO which was basically stock except for intake and pipes, so not a not of power anyway!

 

The way I see it the only downsides to a carb are if you are a manufacturer trying to meet tighter and tighter emissions regulations. That is much much easier to do with fuel injection. Also with modern fuels a carbed bike sitting for a few months or a year is much more likely to get the carb gummed up than a EFI system is. Pretty simple steps to prevent that from happening that too many people don't take. I've bought 5 carbureted bikes for next to nothing because the previous owners let them sit for a year or more without running. I've sold four of them for nice profits. The fifth one will probably be sold in the spring. So for someone who actually rides their motorcycle, there is no draw back to a good carb. For someone who doesn't ride their carbed bike it is a drawback for them, but a bonus for me.

For your average bike owner carbs and fuel injection serve the same purpose, to put the proper amount of fuel into the combustion chamber. If you change something on the bike like pipe, air cleaner, displacement, compression, ect.... you have to change the amount of fuel getting into the combustion chamber, with carbs you play with needles and jets, with EFI you play with computer maps. Same end result, different skill sets to get there.