Are pods worth it?

Thanks for the very informative replies.

Being as I'm a car guy, and my knowledge is in fuel injection, I think I'm going to track down a stock airbox, get some new rubbers from Z1, and toss in a K&N air filter. The real shame is, I just threw the airbox away, I didn't even sell the bastard!

loudhvx, I'm really glad someone has run a wideband on these things. I was considering it, but once I have the AFR numbers, I wouldn't know what to do with them! I came from turbo cars, so I know the importance of the numbers, but with carbs, I wouldn't know what to do next.

I am glad to here the 550 LTD is torquey. I'm not an avid motorcyclist, so I feel the torque would be an advantage for me. Seems to make riding a bit more forgiving.

Yeah, the LTD motor is a good one to learn on. The extra torque makes for easy riding, and the motor won't get you into trouble on the top end. Really, though, the LTD motor is pretty decent with pods if you're willing to do the jetting. Quite a few members here have gone that route.

Also, I usually mention this to new 550 owners, because it's not obvious:
If you ever take the valve cover off for maintainance on the valves, make sure to release the tension on the cam-chain tensioner. The reason is, the valve cover has a chain guide that presses down on the chain. If the tensioner is tight before you install the cover, then the chain will be too tight after you bolt the cover on. It's real easy to do, but not obvious that you need to do it.

On a 550 with TK carbs, LTD, daily driver, cruising is the main application....absolutely not worth the hassle to go pods.