When you look at good fuel injection vs good carb honestly there is no comparison. All you have to do is look at a late '70's Corvette with 180HP vs. one with double that HP from today's era. And much of that increase comes from fuel injection. There is no way current cars could produce the HP they do, with the fuel economy, AND pass emissions regs without properly dialed in fuel injection. Direct injection is the best implimentation I think most would agree.

The tech in bikes is behind in this regard mainly because manufacturers haven't needed to resort to this technology to make bikes fast enough, fuel efficient enough, or clean enough for emission regs. And, lucky for them, there are lots of people that want carbs. And they will gladly stay with them so long as they can legally sell bikes built that way.

To each his or her own but I'd like to see motorcycles move into the 21st century in this regard. With proper fuel injection implimentation on bikes we'd see HP and fuel economy soar just like we saw in cars over the past 30 years.

 

That 70's Vette horsepower you mention had as much to do with manufacturers not knowing how to achieve emissions efficiency with decent power in combination. They had super low compression, lousy timing curves, lousy cam timing...they just didn't know how to get power and emissions to work hand-in-hand.

That said, computer control and FI went a long way toward meeting both power and emission needs, but that riducously low HP rating back then was because of lack of knowledge. I don't think anyone here up to this point has really diss'd FI as compared to a carb, but the world of FI is not always the picture of perfection that we'd like to think it is. If I had a street legal KLX with FI, my next purchase would a Power Commander or such...and it would be worth the investment.

 

You are right, but it's not so much that they "didn't know how" to achieve power and emissions compliance as they didn't have the proper technology to do it. And that technology was and is fuel injection. In order to a catalyst to work properly the exhaust gasses have to remain in a very small range of temperatures. Fuel injection with proper mapping of engine speeds and loads was and is still the only way to make that happen. Yes it's not easy to do properly which is why we have seen horsepower and efficiency continually increase over the last 30 or so years in automobiles. But there is nothing like feeding and engine the optimum air/fuel ratio at every load, rpm, temperature, and humidity condition possible. The carb in comparison is quite a blunt instrument.

Yes I am dreaming thinking that Kawasaki it going to put a really good fuel injection on the KLX. One that make excellent power, starts easily, runs well cold, has clean emissions, and gets good mileage. Thing is that is exactly what you get in any modern car. When is the last time your car didn't start first time every time? I live in NJ with pretty hot summers and cold winters and I have to look back to a '79 carb equipped Honda Accord to remember a car that gave me such fits. These days you don't even think about putting your foot on the gas to start a car... you just turn the key and go.

Dual sport bikes have always been last on the list of upgrades from the big four.

 

They've been out about 2 yrs now and, apart from an initial problem with the ecu which got sorted out, have been fine.

 

Apple, meet orange.

 

Yamaha has FI on their dual sport 250 motor and they get 25 rear wheel hp stock. There is no reason why Kawi cannot do this.

 

What? You have conflicting statements above.

You say that you want the most basic system on a bike ( a carb ) but then you say FI on bikes is just an electric carb. FI really isn't that much more complicated than a carb. Besides, carbs really are not reliable. Yes you probably can't fix FI out in the woods, but the chances of it breaking are much less than a carb.

A well tuned carb has little disadvatages? It can meter fuel well? Carbs are absolutely terrible at metering fuel. If you get one tuned for high range, then they are lean or rich somewhere else, it is almost impossible to get a carb adjusted across the whole RPM range. Carbs are so bad at metering fuel, that the factory has to lean them out as much as they can to where they barely run to meet emissions. And thats after installing smaller combustion chambers, air injection systems, catalytic converters, lame cams, etc. etc. Fuel Injection ( even just the simple throttle body ) is infinitely better and metering fuel. It can adjust all the way through the rpm range, it can adjust for temperature, and it can adjust for altitude. Plus, it meets emissions a whole lot easier meaning manufacturers can give them more power while meeting the same epa requirements. Not to mention the riding characteristics of FI, which feels way smoother and powerful.

There is a whole new world of exciting horsepower. A carb'd KLX makes 18 hp and 12 ft. lbs. of torque. An injected yamaha WR250 makes 26 hp and 14 ft. lbs. of torque. All while meeting the same EPA standards. Riding the two of them is like night and day.

 

Wasn't there a forum member working on a FI conversion kit?

Maybe it is time for a engine swap with of Kawi engines that already have FI installed.

 

If I recall, aren't these fuel injected bikes really just electric carbs. Meaning, there is no O2 sensor to sense and adjust the injection to maintain proper ratios? I've got a riding buddy that switched to an injected DRZ450 a couple years back and it doesn't have the same manners as a car with estart and an O2 sensor.

 

They can. They simply choose not to in effort to keep the price low. The WR250 is significantly more expensive than the real selling price of a KLX.
It's all about money, it really is.

--
Mikko