Fuel injection vs carbs

[EazyDuz]

Would you say its worth paying a few hundred quid more for a fuel injected version of the bike or save the money and stick with carbs?
Is fi that much better? I've read that you get a smoother throttle response and improved fuel economy. Does fi have any downsides? I don't intend to mod the bike except maybe a new exhaust but if I don't change the intake I wouldn't need a power commander/new jets anyway so that makes no difference to me
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[Pete.]

Personally, I would always opt for fuel injection. Lower maintainance, fewer wear parts, higher reliability, automatic cold start enrichment (and idle-up too very often) and easier to adjust for changes such as fitting a different exhaust can.

Carbs are old hat, get yourself into the 21st century.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Musketeer]

Main downside is when fuel injected system fails it's likely to cost more to fix compared to carbed one. But it's less likely to fail so depends how unlucky you are

Carbed system is very easy to diagnose and fix.

I think we don't have much choice anyway and all new and decent bikes are fuel injected.
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Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke

[jjdugen]

When all is good, FI does have considerable advantages. Trouble is, that advantage relies on any number of sensors telling the ECU the truth. If any of them decides to go on strike, into limp mode you go.
You are also reliant on a fuel pump pressurising the fuel rail, and the pressure regulator doing its job. That FI works at all in the hostile environment of a motorcycle does speak volumes for their robustness, but I always have that nagging doubt in the back of my mind.
Carbs can be fixed at the side of the road, usually its only a bit of crap in a jet, I know which I favour.
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The CBR900RR has been sold. Aprilia Falco worms its way into my heart.
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[c-m]

[Pete.]

[temeluchus]

[Kickstart]

[mailee]

I am against any electronics on bikes. Just too much to go wrong and when they do it can cost an arm and a leg!

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

I've got a few bikes, none FI. The injected stuff I've ridden has usually felt snatchy, surgey, or - at best - not as smooth as carbs. Having said that, one of my bikes isn't always overly well-behaved - bogs easily, feels fluffy in fourth, fifth at 7-8k. Shit like that. Could be electrical...I guess. But seems like a fuelling thing to me, and probably carbs. Dicky float needle or something - tap on the side with a rubber hammer routine, blah. And also, had a little burn on Fifteen15's fairly newish gsxr the other day and that's as smooth as owt. So - mixed picture for me...but erring towards a preference for the old, biblical methods.
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Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[CaNsA]

[Pete.]

[Quornholio]

Also FI is heavier as it requires a fuel pump and a larger ECU. Also Injectors can fail and are a twat to change.
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[chickenstrip]

Personally, I wouldn't make whether a bike is FI or carb the deciding factor in which bike I went for. My FZS1000 had glitchy low rpm fuelling as standard, but carb and airbox mods have cured this. Many FI bikes seem to have snatchiness at low rpm, but PCs and reflashes (?) can cure the worst of this on most models. My Fazer CAN get up to 50mpg, even with the aforementioned mods, if I ride to achieve that, I'm not sure that the FZ1 that replaced it can do better.

If a bike has a general reputation for poor fuelling (that's hard to fix) or reliability, I'd be more inclined to base my decision on that. But I guess it won't be that long before all the carb bikes are dead and gone, so then you'll have no choice. And some makes/models have shown that manufacturers CAN sometimes get FI right first time.

[Rogerborg]

I'd have a decent FI system over a carb. The GS is fine, with smooth low speed fuelling.

However, I'd have a carb over a ropey FI system. The local Chinese bike dealer won't touch cheap FI bikes any more after having too many problems with them. My Enfield is just about the last of the carbies, which was by mild inclination. Carb tickling and choke jiggling is part of connecting with the bike holistically and then we sync our periods.
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Pigeon]

The FI on the 2013 Striple is a little on/off. What's confusing about it (for me at least) is that around town and pulling away it seems totally seemless, gradual and predictable, but once your up and running it's more difficult.

Hard to describe, but off/on is about right. Your either making progress or backing off. And during spirited riding, a fast closed throttle coming barrelling into a corner results in a delayed surge in power. It's fairly minor, but noticeable (albeit only after an hour or so).

It could just be me, but after 3,000 miles I'd have hoped to be "doing it right".

I've only very limited experience, but the 14 year old carb'd, neglected SV has a more manageable (less sensitive) throttle than the Striple.

I'm making it sound worse than it is. It's more an issue of something not being as perfect as it could be, rather than something that is wrong.

[Alex A]

[MarJay]

Depends on the bike. For example, the GSXR 750 SRAD had carbed and injected versions. The injected version is supposed* to be not quite as nice to ride, and less reliable than the carbed version.

*by reputation, I don't know first hand
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[MarJay]

[Irn-Bru]

I have only had 1 bike with FI and it was a big single, KTM 690 SMC. My experience wasn't great, the throttle was lumpy and cruising along was frustrating as the bike wasn't happy and jerked around a bit. Also a few times the FI light would flash frantically and the bike went into limp mode which was very annoying. Probably KTM niggles but yeah. I imagine 4 cylinder bikes are perfectly ok these days with it and having 4 carbs to mess about with sounds light a nightmare, I struggle with just the 1 on my DRZ.
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[Pigeon]

[Shaft]

At work, we seem to spend half our time plugging in bits of diagnostic equipment, trying to fix running faults of various kinds.

We don't often replace injectors, but the sensors and ECMs are a different story and they are often stupidly expensive.

I'll take carbs every time.
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[Pete.]

[Shaft]

[Enduro Numpty]

The FI on my FJR is faultless, it'll pull cleanly from 25mph in top. No flat spots, no stutters, just instant response throughout the rev range. It does this irrespective of altitude, temperature or quality of fuel and I find it hard to imagine how it could be made better.

In spite of all that there is definitely something to be said for a bank of well set up CV carbs. I think someone earlier mentioned that it gives a bike soul and I have to agree.