hello all
like the title says I am wondering if there is any appreciable benefit to going to a f.i. bike. I currently have a 2009 that is pretty much stock, I've owned it for years but almost never used it due to time and other bikes. because of this I end up needing to clean/rebuild the carb almost every year. I just got it back up and running and am thinning out my collection and I think this will be on my "keep" list. now the rub is that I hate the carb on this bike and even if I store it properly it seems to go bad regardless. when its running right its great but when its not its a nightmare. there is a used 18 Camo I can pick up for about 2k more than I think I could reasonably sell my 09 for. i'm just not sold on the cost/benefit any one have experience with both that could enlighten me
thanks in advance
-m

 

If you like your bike, just get another carb, lot's cheaper. If you plan on moding your bike, FI can be difficult unless you get a new controller, etc; which is about like installing a new carb. .... same work. I don't know which is technically faster, but with a new carb your bike will be a lot different on the trails.

 

OP, FI injectors can also gum up with old fuel and electric fuel pumps don't like it either. You think cleaning your carb is hard, compared to buying new fuel pumps that's no picnic either. Are you still having carb issues when using a good fuel stabilizer/preservative like Stabil or Berryman's? I've never had a carb plug up with either of those two products.

 

The previous replies made valid points so I will just give my impression of the injected KLX250 which I have had less than a year. I have owned many bikes (all Japanese) over the years and always worked on them myself but this is the first with EFI. It matters not if it has been sitting for a day or a month or what the current temperature, humidity or elevation is. It always starts immediately and runs and accelerates smoothly. There is no choke to bother with, no warm up time to consider, no petcock to manage, no inconsistent idle.

Computer controlled EFI engines also better tolerate the atrocious pump gas we are now cursed with. Ethanol absorbs water which means it is a source of corrosion in engines, particularly carburetors. While it can gum up and cause clogging in fuel injectors and fuel filters, the corrosion problem is typically limited to carbureted engines.

This is not a slight against bikes without EFI. If my 32-year-old carbureted 250 dual sport had not given up on me I would still be happily riding it. But I have probably spent the most maintenance time on my other bikes caring for the fuel delivery system. EFI has made that a thing of the past on the KLX and is what I like most about it. If future problems arise with the more complex system then my opinion could change. I’m pretty cheap so I probably wouldn’t drop $2K just for the upgrade on the same bike but that is for you to decide.

 

it's probably more tolerant to sitting around than a carb.

mods will be more expensive due to the controller etc needs. if you just like it stock it's probably more tolerant to sitting around than the carb. also you could just spin it up for a while easier than the carbed one probably, if you remember to during the time it's stored.

not sure if it's 2k's worth more though. could just try a stabilizer in the fuel. also make sure the air filters not dried up and gunking up the carb. the air filters turn to dust if they dry up as they get older.

the fi, even the older fi bikes that you don't have in the states, does start easy though and you don't need to think about choke and such and the fuel injection system will run tens of thousands of kilometers (at least 50k) with nothing done to it.

 

I know this goes against most opinions, but I don't turn the gas off on my bikes. The reason - when the gas in the float bowl dries out it leaves the residue that will clog your jets once wetted again and turning to goo or flaking off to plug jets. Leaving the gas on will allow the carb to keep up on gas without any gumming up. I've never had any of the bikes overflow, the needle valve works so it won't. I fill the tank, maybe put in stabilizer if it will be a long time before I ride again when I put it away. Then when I go to start I turn off the gas, drain the carb, turn the gas back on to get fresh gas from the tank, and fire it up like it was ridden yesterday..

I will tell you the one year I put up the 650 draining the carb and shutting off the fuel, the float needle seized in the carb body. When I turned the gas on and was getting ready to fire it up the neighbor kid says, "There's gas running out of your bike." The needle was stuck wide open. I had to take the carb off the bike - intake valves sealed well, thank goodness - there was a puddle of fuel in the intake tract as full as it could be. So after sanding the needle and the carb body passage to the float needle seat with 1500 grit and sopping up all the gas in the intake track - plus being thankful I didn't crank it over with the starter - I pretty much resolved to not drain the gas out again like that.

The one thing I've kind of wondered about was the thought of running a 50-1 or leaner oil/gas mix using some two stroke oil on the last ride then filling the tank and parking it. Would that stave off the dreaded seized needle with a shade of lube in there. Could use Blendzall for that sweet castor bean oil smell, like being back at the flat track again.



By the way I can tell you, you can buy a flat slide carburetor for the cost of a fuel pump should you have one go on an EFI bike. That is the scary part. I have a Yamaha Zuma 125 costing around $300 to replace the fuel pump in the tank. I'd have taken the gummed up carb in a heart beat.

 

klx678, your mention of a little lubrication in the fuel is actually one of the elements in fuel stabilizers...at least for sure in Stabil. It addresses that sticking needle issue.

I think the problem with fuel stabilizers is just like with untreated fuel in bikes. People forget and blow off starting and taking the bike for a spin during long periods of storage. They also forget to treat the fuel. I still contend that treated fuel with something like Stabil fixes all that. Over decades of KLR600/650's, XR's, and other carbed bikes, the only time the carb plugged up is when I failed to treat the fuel for long static periods.

Stabil claims 24 months protection on their stabilizer. I've never gone that long, but I've tested it every so often for over a year with some garage queens I've owned in the past...LOL!

On that carb overflow issue, I did have the float stick on one occasion with my current KLX in the 36mm Mikuni pumper with the fuel petcock open...which I never normally do. It wasn't a case of old fuel, however, just one of those "something" holding the needle open. The bad thing was that I had the three vent/drain lines plugged along with the Acerbis cap vent plugged for transport in the toy hauler. I forgot to turn the fuel off and forgot to pull the vent plugs when I pushed it into the shop. The crankcase filled with gas, and I thought I probably cooked the clutch plates, as sometimes happens depending on the clutch plate materials. I never started or ran the bike, and my clutch was fine.

Normally that fuel would have just drained out the overflow tubes and made a mess in the shop...I don't have any appliances in the shop that would ignite the fumes, and I would have detected the smell even before turning on a light. Still, just one of those issues a carb can have...except the part about me plugging all the vent lines, of course...LOL!

I am not against FI. Modern FI works extremely well and is quite reliable. I've even replaced carburetion on two of my performance oriented four wheeled vehicles with aftermarket FI and upgraded the simple throttle body FI systems with multiport FI in the past. I think the problem with motorcycle FI rests only with the fuel pump. The small amounts of fuel for cooling and the issue with dirt bikes leaving their pump sucking air in extreme off road cases can be one issue along with the issue of people leaving motorcycles sit for long periods. On a road bike I would want FI. On a dirt bike I'm not bothered by a single carb.

 

I've own my 2018 KLX250 for almost 2 years now. I got a killer deal on it from a younger guy who was looking to do more traveling so he had to let the bike go for pretty cheap at 3K with only 1k miles on it.

I've weighted the pro's and con's. Quite frankly, in my opinion, if you're buying a 250 you're not looking to go into a rocket ship. So mods are pretty much off the table at least for me. Mods for these EFI are definitely pricey and to some extent, from what i've read, make the bike less reliable? So mine is bone stock down to the filter. But the good side is that it starts every single time, no hiccups. I ride pretty regularly whenever I can. Sometimes i use it as a commuter bike (i work in washington dc) since the traffic is so horrible here and it has worked fine.

 

With my kawa, I sometimes don't ride for a month or more at a time, I just don't know when the next time will be. So... I always just run the carb dry, by running the engine at 2K till it dies, then park it. Never had a problem starting since. If you know your riding it every week, I don't think there is a problem either way. My bmw FI is just fine sitting for 6 months at a time. But to get a new bike just for FI is crazy, especially if your getting the same bike! Now if it was already moded like you want, or had some missing feature (like a getting a completely different bike) that would be something else.

 

Howdy, I was in the same situation as you. I'm a relative newb to the klx 250's and motorcycling, I ride a couple times a month. About a year ago bought an 09, great bike, great price, was a bit of a pain to start and required solid warm up. A few months ago I found a used 2018 with 0 miles, I mean the guy bought it, had it delivered, never even test rode it...lol. Anyhow, I wanted the FI and liked the Camo, it ended up being $1000 upgrade, well worth it to me. New bike starts immediately, hit the button an go. I don't think I'd do it if it was going to cost $2K...