Agreed 8k-10k and Zn slides at least are worn and maybe needles too. 8k-10k more and it's slides again and needle and jet too. 8k-10k more and it's carbs. In the 70s the carbs were basically normal service parts and cost very little so none of that mattered much. Go forward to the early 2000s and they were expensive and still wearing out. Later anodized slides came out which caused the slides to last MUCH longer and the bodies to not wear as fast. As far as wear goes, the Zn Premiers really meant StayUp floats and anodized slides from new. The AL Premier brought longer life still, factory testing, much better bowl machining, etc.
Even brand new non-premier carbs were hard to get to idle well once they changed to the hidden pilot jet. I the beginning with the pilot jet that screwed into the bottom of the body, they were better at idling and MUCH easier to clean - I have no idea why AMAL changed that!
Of course, all along a pair of AMAL MK2 or Mikuni were nicer to deal with (no ticklers), but they also wear, don't look original, require more than carbs to mount, etc.
It's really about do you want the bike to look original or not. There are MUCH better fuel systems available but of course, they don't look original.
So, absolutely, horses for courses.
