TOPIC:

FWIW, I have found that these carbs need to be pretty much immaculately clean, or you get the exact problems you've described.

I don't know how many times I've pulled mine back off to reclean the pilot passages. This, despite running good grade gas, having inline filters, and a thoroughly cleaned tank which I also treated with phosphoric acid to 'reline' with a layer of Iron phosphate.

That said, since getting her dialed in, and buying gasoline only at stations which have 0% ethanol in the fuel, I haven't really had any problems. Not suggesting a chemical fix to what could be a mechanical problem, but it has reduced the headaches I've had in the past. I also made up new flexible gaskets on the engine side of the carb boots when I put it all back together, instead of the gummy red RTV mess that was the previous owners solution. Might not have made all the difference, but I don't have any air leaks, and it looks a lot nicer!

Good luck with whatever you get up on that 650. I know the litre boys will disagree, but having been on a few other bigger bikes now, I think the trade off between all out top speed, and the light weight and fantastic handling of the 650 makes it so much more fun.

Cheers,

Jon

650ed wrote:

trippmann wrote: yeah, i found that really strange also. thats the reason that i never bothered installing the carb tops. maybe you can only have 2 off at a time?

All 4 can be off at the same time. That's how you normally synchronize the carbs. Ed

Trust me I've learned about carbs a lot when I first bought my 1989 cbr600. Story has a bad ending but either way here's the current stable minus the kz.

That's why I was so confused when the bike ran with them on, then when it ran with them I took them all off while it's was running to sync them and adjust the air/fuel screws.

Either way, I've got new avon road riders on the way since there's Grand Canyon sized cracks in the side wall. I also found that the chrome, while it does have surface rust, polishes up nice. I currently have to polish the forks, clutch cover, alt cover, and sprocket cover. This is going to be my daily rider so Im thinking about getting the polished parts clear coated so they hold up to the salt better in a few months.