EFI vs. Carbureted

I have a 2010 TXC 450 which has the Keihin FCR-MX-41 carburetor and as happy as I am with the bike (AWESOME!) I still will have to deal with the usual jetting issues . Hello JD Jetting! I haven't had the opportunity to try out the TE 450 with fuel injection but I'm curious how it compares to a carbureted bike. I understand the EFI Husky's come pretty choked up but after the power up mods is everyone out there happy with the way the bikes run under differing conditions i.e elevation and temperature changes?

Hey thanks Coffee, that's kinda what I thought, because of all the smog requirements EFI is not the final solution ... at least for dirt bikes. Funny how my BMW GS 800 is injected and runs perfectly but then again its a twin and makes 85 hp. I guess with a small displacement single after tuning it to meet all the emission requirements there isn't much left to play with and since I'm not willing to carry a laptop in my fanny pack to do all the fine tuning I guess I'll stick with jets.

Have you called JD? I understand they have a kit for my 09 TXC 510 but at this time the bike runs so good I don't need it. I'll wait on the EFI bikes a few years myself.

I've had my 610 ibeated ONCE by George when it had 500 miles on it, and almost 7,000 miles later I'm still in love with it... just sayin..

EFI??? try this 08-09 TE250 or any of the EFI models 6th gear 5-7mph roll throttle on, no stall,will buck a little because too tall in gear. Takes a while but will pull to the rev limiter. Try that with Carb. Later George

Okay, is that after driving 200 miles roundtrip to H.B. to have p.u. kit installed and iBeat, PC V & Auto Tune et.al. to make the thing run right? Oh yeah and a voided warranty.

oh lord.. voided warranty on a 50 state street legal race bike.. cry me a river...

Personally I have yet to hook-up I-beat to my 08 TE450, I rode it 600 miles with the O2 sensor in. The bike ran well, little jumpy at tip in throttle, and broke up after a quick shift, if you rang it's neck. I bought a PU kit from Uptite, and have put another 200 miles on. The power is smooth, very linear and pulls with out a hick-up from very low rpms. I've checked the plug for coloring, just a very light brown, good burning indication. The funny thing is a get better mpg now with PU installed!!

I have 50+ hrs on my TE450, never been on the I beat. Before the PU the low end was pretty bad, now after the PU the bike runs great from just off idle to up top. Now that it runs great I will never have to mess with jets or anything. Never worry that my gas sat in the tank a week too long and have to pull the carb to clean it and probably a re-jet. Some people are just plain handy and fast at re-jetting. Thats not me and my FI is worth any of the faults it may come with.

Jetting on a modern 4T is a bit of a pain when you have to take the bike half way apart to get to the carburetor. Not as easy as the good old 2 stroke where could rotate the carb, change jet or needle clip in 5 mins on the trail.

EFI does have its benefits like no gas running out of vent tubes while you upside down pinned under the bike resting.

Now you just have oil running out of your engine vent tube when your pinned under your bike. If its not one its the other.

Now were going to far when we blame the bike for the rider running out of talent.
Later George

My only question re the Efi is has Husky used the best example/manufactuerer for their efi. It does seem to me that there is a lot of small issues on this particular page (note absence of carby issues). I ask this as Gas Gas has had efi for years and do not seem to have any settling problems, and Husaberg seems to be pretty good out of the box.

I don't know what problems you speak of. Of course from the factory the FI needs to be adjusted (just as carbs do in similiar cases) since it is choked up to meet all EU and US 50 state street legal regs. Are the FI bikes YOU mentioned also 50 state street legal and EU regs. legal???

I bet all the efi bikes that just work out of the box are Keihin. At least that is my theory if Mikuni FI is of the same quality as there carbs. Or maybe Husky just did not do much work getting the initial settings good.

I do not know why being 50 state would matter once they are on the competition map.

I agree with NWRider. It doesn't appear that Mikuni is much of a leader in EFI. Most of the other EFI dirt bikes appear to be using Keihin.

I not sure why Husky selected Mikuni and I'm not sure if the Husky engineers have mastered EFI or if they depend on Mikuni for engineering.

The husky efi system does seem not quite there yet. I'm happy that they kept the carb on the new TC. I got it tuned pretty good.

As for EFI I would not be too worried owning a KX, RM,YZ or crf with one. They seem to run great out of the box. The Husaberg also is very good according to reports.

EFI is only as good as the person doing the tuning.

Since the adjustments are easy and CLEAN to make - you have the opportunity to learn what the bike needs and what you like. If this isn't interesting to a user - then the typical "doesn't foul the plug and is easy to start" tuneup can be had pretty easily with a carb.

MAT