Carburetor or EFI Hawk?

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

Maybe this has something to do with your carburetor problems! Just saying! Ha, Hah. Lack of good maintenance will shut down a carburetor. I have a small generator I have had for 30 years and I need it every couple of years for a few hours. I put gas in it, and it starts first pull every time and has since I bought it. I have never done any work on it, but when I am done I drain the gas out of it and store it in a dry area. There is no denying no maintenance, go EFI.

Not at all. Don’t mistake how I treat the Lifan for how I treat everything else.

Everything is maintained constantly. I think you have the wrong idea here.

Carburetors are trash. They are the main reason that everything in the world stops running. That’s just the bottom line.

No one can even dispute that. Why don’t you take a look at the forum and check for EFI problems. Then check for carburetor problems.

Proof. Right here on the forum..

And you got very lucky that you never got bad gas to that generator.

That’s just a bunch of luck. Don’t even begin to tell me that a carburetor is more reliable than fuel injection. If it was, let’s put them all back on cars. And see what happens again.


Why do you think people take their old gas from the motorcycle that sat for the winter, and dump it in their car, and then go get new fresh gas? EFI.

I’m somewhat astounded at the lack of experience on this forum. If people have any actual experience with both, they know that carburetors are the trouble on all small engines.

There’s almost literally nothing else that ever goes wrong. When do you have a bad spark plug? When do you have a bad air intake? It’s always fuel delivery. And with EFI, you don’t have to worry about that. So it becomes reliable. Instead of something you have to fiddle around with to get working all the time.

[China Rider 27]

I won't argue with your logical points but just say.... The XPect, I will never be able to "punch it" like a PZ30B! Merry Xmas All!

[franque]

@Boatguy, what you're describing is reflective only of things that are only used intermittently, and you're using a particularly condescending tone. Virtually every two-wheeled vehicle where I am is carbureted, and I've never seen one with a carburetion problem (partially because things that work are simply used, there's no physical or budgetary space for 'toys' like in the US).

What I do see frequently is a lack of maintenance crippling virtually everything, and while plenty of motorcycles are burning oil, it's the fuel injected cars/trucks that seem to be the most in need of maintenance/repair because the attitude is, 'use it until it breaks, then fix it' and usually something like a CKP sensor that's not available in country will cripple it. The carbureted motorcycles keep chugging along until they seize.

EFI was never mandated because of greater reliability, it was because of emissions and power. Vehicles today are to the point where, in an ideal world where they are properly maintained and given adequate quality fuel, will last for hundreds of thousands of miles, but in less than ideal scenarios, where the fuel might be contaminated with sand, or the necessary octane isn't available, they will not chug along with the same rugged simplicity a carbureted vehicle will.

Many people buy motorcycles on this forum because they want something fun, and they want to tinker on the cheap. That's where something like the Hawk or TBR come into play, they're good enough to be reliable if left alone, but leave enough on the table that real improvements can be made. I would be curious to see how your EFI system would run on Megadan's motor, for example.

Both systems have their place, but the carb issues you mention on a recent post are due to their desire to tinker, not an inherent weakness in the design.

Anywhere on the continent I'm living, a carb is simply better because of the simplicity of the components, and the lack of a pump/injector/fuel sock that can't be bought, which are advantages that outweigh a slight increase in power and decrease in consumption that one would get from EFI. I'd be curious to see what replacement parts will look like for your bike in about 5 years, especially if it were to sit for 5 years with fuel in the tank.

If our wallets were filled, and absolute reliability were the goal, an injected vs carbureted Hawk would be immaterial, we'd all be riding Japanese.

I will concede one point, carbs won't run old fuel as easily as EFI, but on the other hand, I had about 40l of diesel contaminated gas that my carbureted bike burned with no problem, but I would be afraid to see what that might do to the seals in a gas EFI system.

I would also agree that if you're doing no modifications, the benefits of EFI are generally better vs a carbureted equivalent, though I would still prefer the carbureted model so that a weak battery is less of a concern, particularly if it's going to sit for months at a time.

[wheelbender6]

One of you skilled guys needs to invent a “dual intake system”, allowing us to switch between EFI and carb with a flip of a few switches. I guess we would need to switch between ECU and brainless ignition too.

[4T_Goblin]

If you want to make performance mods get a carb. If you want to ride as is get an EFI and let it be