carb balancing

[to v or not to v]

1. how important is it?

2. how easy is it?

3. are the cheap (£30ish) 4 carb kits off Ebay any good?
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current bike Yamaha Thunderace.
its old and fat, but its a damned good ride. the bikes not bad either.

[WD Forte]

1. how important is it?
It's fairly important to try and keep both/all cylinders producing the same power in sync.
It should make tickover smoother too, all else being equal of course.
Good balance will also have an affect efficiency and MPG too.

2. how easy is it?
Pretty easy as long as the relevant parts on the manifolds and carbs
are easily accessed.
Some bikes, you have to remove the tank so a seperate/temp supply can be handy
Its best to RTFM for your bike as some may have a leading carb all the others are referenced to

3. are the cheap (£30ish) 4 carb kits any good

Good enough usually, as well as screw in adapters often brass.
pipes with restrictor valves can help smooth out needle fluctuations
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bikers smell of wee

[Bhud]

I find it makes 4-cylinder bikes much nicer to ride. Steady idle, good pickup, good sound, just all-round better. If they're way out, the bike can have symptoms somewhat similar to a vacuum leak. This makes riding the bike unpleasant.

It's fiddly but not difficult. As WD says, there may be one reference carb - check your manual to find out which it is. Probably number 2 or 3 (but check). Balance either number 1 or 4 (depending on which one is outermost to the reference carb) to the reference carb. Then the other two to match the pair (reference carb and the one you've just matched). Something like that, anyway. It will be in the manual.

If you need threaded spigots of a specific size to attach your hoses (as I did on my XJ600), you might have to find brass welding nozzles of the correct size.

[WD Forte]

Here's a vid of a guy balancing Thunderace crabs
It may help but I didn't watch much cos I found it a meandering,
shaky phone cam job.
You'll probably get an idea of what's involved though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s00xRJQyeq0
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bikers smell of wee

[to v or not to v]

thanks for the replies fellas
____________________
current bike Yamaha Thunderace.
its old and fat, but its a damned good ride. the bikes not bad either.

[Easy-X]

I bench balanced carbs on an old CB400 and that went well and did the same with a KZ1000. Then a friend with a set of vacuum gauges came along and the improvement was significant.

Definitely worth doing a proper job on a well tuned inline 4.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter