Anyone in here have a bike that still has carbs?

[repairman54]

I always stabilize my fuels for storage. Only E0 gas for storage. My '01 Road King has not had the carb apart since '01 when I put a kit in it.
Decades of carbs in sleds, bikes, boats and OPE. Since I've been stabilizing and then having access to E0 gas in the last 15 yrs. I have not had to deal with carb cleaning. Only carbs I have had to deal with in the past have been used purchases to get cleaned up and get them up to speed to my methods and that now is a thing of the past.
Put it away with E0 and marine grade stabilizers and forget about it. I run E10 fuels during the season in bikes and sleds but as winter approaches the more expensive and lower octane E0 gets run through. I just don't hammer them with the lower octane for the last tank.

 

[02zx9r rev2]

2002 Kawasaki Ninja ZX9R has carbs

 

[Surestick]

'94 Ducati 900SS.
It gets 500:1 TC-W3 in the fuel and fuel stabilizer added towards the end of the season.

 

[KenshinHimura]

4 carbs on my magna

 

[paulo57509]

One carb on the Honda XR and four carbs on the Yamaha FZR (sensitive to imbalance = buzziness).

 

[KrisZ]

My Valkyrie has six carburetors. The good news is that these don't need much attention at all and most of the casess where you have to take them apart involve improper storage and old gas.

 

[Snap]

Simple answer; all of our bikes and power equipment get Sunoco racing fuel for the seasonal layup. The shelf life is 2 to 3 years depending on the particular fuel. It's pricey but far less than rebuild parts.

I used to treat pump gas with Seafoam for layup but sometimes I'd have dicey moments in the spring and needed to change the treated fuel out with fresh treated fuel and let it sit overnight to do a bit of cleaning, so I decided that the cost of the racing fuel was worth it to eliminate the anxiety.

 

[wander2039]

The CV80 has a rather small 13mm carb. Successfully set the float the other day. The rest looked clean!

 

[4WD]

This one has carbs

 

[hank2]

My '81 Suzi GS650G has four Mikuni CV carbs. My storage method has always been to fill the tank with E0 fuel with Stabil preservative. That's it. I have about 5 nearby sources for E0, so that's normally all I use in it anyhow. No problems at all.

A couple of bikes ago I had a '72 BMW boxer for many years. I had replaced the Bing CV carbs with Mikuni VM round slides. Same deal with full E0 and stabilizer. That airhead had a manual Karcoma petcock on each side of the tank for each carb, but also a crossover. I usually shut the petcocks off and ran the bowls dry for storage. No carb problems in the 11 years I had it.

 

[KrisZ]

Simple answer; all of our bikes and power equipment get Sunoco racing fuel for the seasonal layup. The shelf life is 2 to 3 years depending on the particular fuel. It's pricey but far less than rebuild parts.

I used to treat pump gas with Seafoam for layup but sometimes I'd have dicey moments in the spring and needed to change the treated fuel out with fresh treated fuel and let it sit overnight to do a bit of cleaning, so I decided that the cost of the racing fuel was worth it to eliminate the anxiety.

Seafoam is not a suitable fuel treatment IMO. The idea is to add something heavier, to "hold" the most volatile components from evaporating and that will blend with gasoline and not separate when sitting, hence oils do so well in this regard.

 

[KMFDM]

I have in Garage right now -
KTM 450EXC
Ducati 900SS
Beta EVO 350
Suzuki DR650

No matter what you do every 2 -4 years the Carbs will have to be cleaned or rebuild

 

[Finn]

Anyone in here have a bike that still has carbs?​

I have three bikes with carbs.

 

[Rygrego]

I have a '98 Honda Super Hawk that has carbs, and I've been told to make sure the carbs are dry when in storage, as today's gas with ethanol is supposed to be bad on them. I've always stored my bikes over the winter with Sta-Bil in the fuel systems without problems, but these were all fuel injected bikes. A local mechanic of over 30 years (he claims) told me loves when people leave gas in their bike's carbs because it brings his shop a lot of business rebuilding carbs. How do you store yours?

Always dry. 1982 Honda XL500R , always drain when stored and never an issue restarting.

 

[kmrinpa]

yep...my '22 Honda Navi has a carb; all of my prior used motorcycles and new/used scoots had carbs (all but one...a vespa lx 150 with injection); my go to storage & 'resurrection' treatment is K100 G or G+; intermittently I have used red sta-bil, blue sta-bil, sta-bil ethanol treatment, and startron with decent success & a failure or two (siphon old gas, replace with new gas, run thru fuel system, and start); k100 is my primary choice...

 

[tbm5690]

My '07 Shadow surprisingly has dual carbs. I haven't done a single thing to them in the nearly 10 years of owning the bike. Always E0 fuel and always Stabil in the tank for the winter. Sometimes I run them dry for storage, other times I don't. It really doesn't matter as long as the fuel is good and Stabil added I never have issues starting in the Spring.

 

[Escape08]

My 1998 Kawa Ninja 250

 

[Paco Pena]

I shut the fuel off about a block from home. By the time I park it and shed the gear it runs out of fuel. Easy starting when you always have fresh fuel in the bowl.

Paco

 

[weaponoffreedom]

I do not have a motorcycle, but I have 2 4 wheelers, Honda or course, that are carb. I have had great success with storage and TRUFUEL. It is expensive, about 23$ per gallon, but the thing starts up great, and has no issues whatsoever. I have had issues in the past with "non- ethanol" fuel from the pump, to the extent that I had to replace a carb on one of them.

When I am done riding, I turn the fuel off and run until the engine cuts off, or I rev the throttle to a high rpm, while cutting the key off. This helps pull fuel out of the carb.

 

[AuthorEditor]

As I posted earlier, I have treated all fuel that goes into my outboards, motorcycle, snowblower, and other small engine stuff with STA-BIL 360 Marine Fuel Treatment, and have not had any problems with carbs or starting after storage: no draining, no fuss. All regular E10 gas too. Preferably, a shot of STA-BIL is added to every jug of gasoline and or fuel fill up, though when on trips on the motorcycle I just skip it until I'm home again. I add an extra dose and make sure tanks are full to the brim before storage. My motorcycle carbs have not been cleaned or rebuilt in 15 years and have sat every winter. Just be sure to buy this version of STA-BIL--they have several other versions: https://www.goldeagle.com/product/sta-bil-360-marine/