a lot of people get strung up on 'bike carbs', when what they often really mean are individual throttle bodies. Anyone i've spoken to who has fitted 'bike carbs' has actually fitted ITBs from a modern bike, they're still fuel injected.
Weird, that...Everyone I know with 'Bike carbs' has fitted bike carbs and everyone I know with 'bike throttle bodies' has fitted bike throttle bodies.
The only difference really is that you end up with a seperate throttle body for each cylinder, and (most of the time) a badly designed inlet tract and a massively high, unsuable powerband. I doubt that engine would survive long with the nuts being revved off it to stay in the power.
Not quite true. Carbs are carbs and throttle bodies are throttle bodies. Your powerband will remain as wide and usable as it was before fitting bike carbs.
If you really are talking about carbs, then i think you're a bit dim. It's old tech, very hard to get right and keep right (ever tried to balance two carbs?)
If you're saying that kind of thing about bike carbs then I think you're either a bit dim or completely ignorant of the technology and are under the impression that they are like a pair of old SUs or Webers.
Modern bike carbs are great pieces of kit.
They are constant velocity so you get the right fuelling all the way through the rev range whereas with 'car' carbs you have to optimise the fuelling at a single point and run everything else as a compromise.
You can throw 1bar of positive pressure at them without having to modify them. Simply stick them in a plenum and feed the plenum from your turbo or blower.
They don't go out of balance (dunno why you mentioned that as balancing traditional carbs is simple with a length of hose and a good ear) and once fitted don't need refettling every few months like Webers.
As for 'a badly-designed inlet tract', literally all you need to do is ask your local machine shop to copy an inlet manifold gasket for your engine in 12mm steel then weld on stubs of steel tubing angled to match the carb spacing, use silicon tubing and jubilee clips to mate them to the carbs and you're away. Just remember to use the fuel pump from the bike you got the carbs from.
- it's as daft as wanting to remove an electronic ignition system and replace it with a dizzy, and start faffing about with vacuum advance units, weights etc etc.
No it isn't. At all.
The 'best' option is individual throttle bodies per cylinder. Whether you spend £1,500 on a setup sold for cars or £150 on a setup from a superbike, you will get the same result. A single throttle plate per cylinder and aftermarket management to control them.
Second best is bike carbs. As I've outlined above, the technology is great and a far cry from seventies car carbs.
After that, OEM spi or mpi setups.
In short, they are fantastic and can genuinely give a cheap and effective performance increase but look at your engine package as a whole before making any decision.
*n
