This past weekend, a sorta-bike-literate friend mentioned he’d just seen his first KZ1300, Kawasaski’s liquid-cooled, six-cylinder roadster. He was more than a little impressed, and shared some of the information the owner had shared with him, including one erroneous “fact”: that the KZ1300 was the only motorcycle equipped with two-barrel carbs. I (being the arrogant know-it-all I am) corrected him and told him of two other bikes that used the same type of double-barrel carb. Then as we continued talking, I told him about a particular single-cylinder motorcycle that was not only equipped with two carbs, but had one CV carb and one slide carb.
I decided (being the arrogant know-it-all I am) that the question of freaky motorcycle carb setups would be a great Encyclopedia Hoonatica question. Now, E-H normally covers car topics on Monday, but Hooniverse is not a hard-core “biker guy” site. Since many of you might not be answering a motorcycle question (and a rather obscure one at that), slipping one into the normal E-H weekly slot wouldn’t really be cricket, would it?
So, here’s the first (and perhaps only) Encyclopedia Hoonatica/Two-Wheel-Tuesday crossover edition. I expect the responses will be as fascinating and well-thought as the usual Monday EH comments. Both of them.
Encyclopedia Hoonatica TWT Bonus Edition: Freaky Motorcycle Carbs
About
-
http://www.jetav8r.com/Vision/Images/carb1.jpg
Yamaha Vision. My dad had one, and the carbs were totally weird down=draft carbs that didn’t work worth a crap. And nothing else could fit. Da bastards. -
The weirdo split-personality carb is the one from a Yamaha SRX-6, right?
I think Ducati used two-barrel Webers for a while. They never worked that well, and the shift to Mikunis was part of what put them on the road to the success they had in the ’90s.-
Yes, the SRX, along with the XT550, XT600, and maybe one or two others that used that same engine. It was called YDIS (Yamaha Dual Intake System). Quite goofy, and a bit of a Rube Goldberg arrangement, but it helped keep the big single from stumbling with the super-lean jetting the EPA required.
http://i.imgur.com/1hMOzkgl.jpg-
Ooh, one I actually knew. The first street bike I really got to ride was a converted SRX-600 (actual first ride was an Ascot). It, like the majority of those old thumpers had been converted to a Mikuni setup, and it had a NO FZR sticker on the tank courtesy of Dad’s riding years.
One day it will be out of his shed and back on the open road!
-
-
-
Eight Cris-Crossed single barrel side drafts. Moto Gzzi Otto Cilindri
-
Yamaha Fazer. Downdrafts.
Yamaha is definitely winning the freak carb game -
SRX250 as well so that’s two. Commonly (well not commonly) replaced with ex250 carbs as Taikei?? went out of business a long time ago. I am not so sure its a bad idea, those two stage SRX dual barrel carbs. Easier to drop a couple $0.04 number 4 washers under each needle clip and back out idle screws 2.5 turns on conventional carbs but not legal at the factory for US bikes.
-
So sad to realize that future generations of Motorheads won’t have that special love / hate relationship with carburetors that we have enjoyed/hated.
-
Tangentially related: there was a time, many years ago, that I decided my KLR650 that I was riding at the time needed a new diaphragm/slide assembly for its Keihin CVK40 carburetor. I inquired with the local Kawasaki dealer for how expensive the part might be, and the quote was something like $140. There happened to be some model years of Harley-Davidson Sportster that used the same carburetor, so I also checked what the local H-D dealer’s price might be. I ended up buying the part from the H-D dealer for about $90 less than the Kawasaki dealer was asking…
-
There’s an abundance of cheap GL1000s even in San Francisco. Evidently, they all need a carb rebuild, so get to it!
Leave a Reply