[notabiker]

yes motorcycles today are fantastic, never better.very reliable and powerful.
their was a time in the 60s and 70s when me and my friends did 100 % of our own service and repairs. no special tools were required. dig out your dads tool kit and use his feeler gauge to adj the valves and points. take the carb off and unclog it and put it back on. those machines were so simple to work on. i do not think we ever owned a shop manual.:dontknow:

 

[RobG]

Funny you should mention that. While riding the Z1000 home from work today (first time it's been out in three weeks because of all the rain), I thought about ripping off the fuel injection system and switching it to carburetors just to get smooth throttle response like on my DR650.

I hope a Power Commander fixes it; if not I may give it more serious consideration.

Rob

 

[notabiker]

i am a fan of carbs, you will never get stranded with a carb problem . if your battery goes dead with FI call a tow truck. with carbs just get it moving and pop the clutch.
my last sport bike was a 02 ZRX . i never had a carb problem and the fueling was spot on.

 

[RobG]

Mostly I would agree. I got stranded by a carb problem on my DR650 right before leaving for Christmas break. But what I know now, I can avoid what happened in the future.

I got a paycheck the day before I was due to fly to Portland to get my car, and then drive to Reno for Christmas. This was during all that rain we had.

So I got the check, hopped on the DR, and headed to the nearest Wells Fargo ATM, which isn't al that closeby. Lane splitting is a lifesaver... traffic was so bad due to the flooding that it would have taken me three hours to get to the ATM.

I get to the ATM and make my deposit, and on the way back, the bike sputters and dies. Crap, out of gas. I knew I was close but didn't think it was THAT close. The reserve was pointless. I tried the trick of laying the bike own on its left side and picking it back up, to get more fuel onto the petcock side. No luck.

In frustration, I pushed it a mile to the closest gas station (by Walmart), and gassed it up. Still wouldn't start. WTF? I parked it and went into Walmart and bought some tools because I didn't have enough tools with me to get the seat off so I could make sure the airbox didn't fill up with water or anything.

Got back, checked everything out. No problems. I even spun the carb and opened it up and drained out the gas and then let it refill just in case there was crap in the carb. Nope. Finally I ran the battery down, and the DR650 doesn't have a kickstarter.

I called my AMA roadside assistance and had the thing flatbedded home. I chained it up and left on my trip.

On my way out of Oregon, I swung by ProCycle, a nearby shop in Springfield, to get a new fuel filter, thinking that might be the problem. I told the guy what happened, and he said to remove the screw in the bowl (that I had previously removed to drain it), and spray carb cleaner up in there, he bet it'd fix it.

So once I got home, I tried that, and sure enough, it did. Had I only known, I could have picked up a can of carb cleaner in Walmart and fixed it and not had to wait two hours for the towtruck.

Now I carry a can of it with me at all times.

Rob

 

[jrick56]

PCv took care of mine but milage went in the toilet. went back to the stock map til i get my exhaust.