Carb is better. Much cheaper, easy to tune, modern CV carbs adapt to elevation changes nearly as well as EFI. If you can't remember to push in/pull out enrichener, you shouldn't be allowed on a motorcycle anyway.

 

I've had four carbed Harleys before I got an EFI model. I loved my other bikes, but I would never go back and would choose an EFI over carb anytime.

When I first got my EFI, it took a while for me to stop trying to open and close the gas tank petcock........................

 

the only reason there are fuel injected bikes is due to emissions standards. for the horse power/torque these bikes operate at there is not much difference between the two. besides the ease of not having to crack a petcock. personally i like injection ( i guess i just like the technology behind it) have a carbed big bear choppper and an 06 dyna and they both start right away and they both rip wheelies and burnouts when i want them too. just doesn't matter really unless you really have your heart set on one or the other.

 

W/in the last year I've upgraded from a life time of carbs, mostly S&S "B" and "E". My only reservation has been the knowledge that the EFI has sensors,modules and relays. If one crashs you're screwed. Never had a carb leave me stranded, ever in 30+years.

How reliable are EFI's?

 

depends on what your idea of "better" is.

i LOVE both, i ride a kawasaki vulcan for my LONG trips, and my harley for my regular trips (under 600 miles roundtrip)

carb is nice, sometimes i have to deal with leaky gas or running rich, or rebuilding it to clean it out, i dont mind.

efi is turn on and go... cant get better than that when you are on a trip where you dont want problems.



in the rush for performance before EFI was standard, they did some crazy things with carbs, that rush was responsible for alot of the reliability of the new carbs as well. im working on restoring a 1985 VMAX which is a V4 engine, at 6500 rpm a butterfly valve opens in the intake manifold and TWO carbs feed EACH cylinder on its intake stroke, double the gas and air!! such a rush to open that up, havent felt that on a EFI bike yet

also a well tuned accelerator pump is outta this world!

 

very good point. I would love to see a touring bike (one where it MATTERS if something breaks down on a trip) have a carb that can be activated or the jets opened if the efi has problems or a sensor goes out, that would be a GREAT thing to have in an emergency

 

I have both. Agreed the EFI starts right up no matter how long it sits. Carb needs a shot of starting fluid sometimes. Edit - only if it sits a long time.

I still like the old skool ability to mess with a carb without buying a tuner, and I also dread the day when that EFI tanks. I won't know how to fix it and I'm not looking forward to the bill.

Long live carbed EVOs.

$.02

 

EFI will cause a bike to start better and a little more pep off the line but just wait til the day comes when you break down in the middle of nowhereville! Sure carbs fail but seems to me there is always warning sighs before hand. EFI , for the most part, just abruptly quits when failure occurs.
Furthermore I own three Harleys because of the simplicity and having the ability not only to do my own work but to change things how I want when I want. With EFI, the owner (for the most part) is at the mercy of the dealer especially if one chooses to alter the performace of the engine.

I'll take the carb anyday.

 

Having worked on both carbs and EFI on everything imaginable for the last 30 yrs, ( I went to my first EFI seminar on cars 30 yrs ago this fall ) I just don't buy the argument that a carb is either more reliable, or more fixable on the road than EFI. If you happen to be riding along with a carb, and say, the slide diaphragm happens to go south, or the needle and seat, or the float sinks, etc etc, it's time to call a tow truck, simple as that. Same as EFI will leave you standing. Personally I've never had either system leave me on the side of the road, but from a driveability and tuneability standpoint, you couldn't give me a carb anymore. People still tell me they'd like to go back to points and condensers too LOL. That setup left more people stranded than any carb ever did back in the day.