Bill/Rubery wrote:By the way Guildbass.....(What's your proper first name??) Recently I was reading a account (blog??) about two people on a long tour around Africa and the Far East, and they both mentioned buying cub clones in preference with carbs instead of the electronic gizmo you seem to prefer. They found out that it was more than likely that a road side mechanic would not know sod all about fixing a electronic wonder but your 'common or garden variety' of carb would be common knowledge as regards to fixing. After all a carb is really just two jets and a slide!
You're right of course...But that argument only has weight if the components are equally unreliable. 4o years ago you'd hear the exact same argument about the 'benefits' of points over electronic ignition...And before that, it was 'Japanese four cylinder engines have four times as many things to go wrong compared to a good old Brit single. ...And it is true, British singles DO have a quarter of the things to go wrong.
What people started to realise was that although points are possible to fix, they DO go wrong, whereas electronic ignition basically...Doesn't.**
Similarly, the guy would be sitting on the road-side, tool box opened as he repaired his accessible, simple Matchless single, while the Jap four thrummed past, just a tenth of the way through a totally uneventful 100,000 mile engine life. A quarter of the bits to go wrong on the single maybe, but forty times as likely that each bit would go wrong!
Motorcycle fuel injection has been around for decades, and in cars, even longer. Honda in particular, mindful of the reputation for reliability in the face of indifferent servicing, abuse and the expectations of a long hard life, when they finally put fuel injection into their Cubs they ensured the system would be as reliable as an anvil....The new 50cc Cubs don't even have outboard electronics, the entire package sits on the throttle body, requires no battery to run and is totally self contained.
Yes, you can fix a carb....Which is good, because they go out of adjustment, wear and cause problems with monotonous regularity, especially with new fuels, And no, you can't as easily bodge an Fi system... But they are carefully designed not to give problems, or require maintenance, self adjust the mixture for any climate and will even run perfectly well on a cub with the manifold unbolted from the head!
Jon
** I'm sure people have had them fail, but we all accept that they are better than points....Significantly enough for people not even to consider retro-fitting points.