What is the deal with Keihin carbs? (2011)

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

warpedscout

Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
232
Country flag
I have been trying to read all I can to find out a good substitute for my Amals to just be able to get dependable performance. I do not want to do a single carb set up and have been looking at the Keihin FCR 35 but $1000 for this setup?? What is the deal? I understand there are several vendors on here and am not saying anyone is taking advantage of consumers but why so expensive?

I have seen Keihin carbs going for as low as $100 and I know there are different types and setups for different bikes. My thing is what makes the FCR 35s so expensive and is there a way to make other keihin carbs or some other dual carb setup for less money and perfomance equal to that of a good running set of Amals?
 
I don't want to burst your bubble, but those are overkill for a Norton. they look trick, they have great pickup with the accelerator pump, but way too much for the street. They really don't help starting the bike since they have no choke, you must dial in the right number of "pumps" depending on the temperature and whatever can upset starting on a kick start bike made 40 years ago.

A better choice is the dual flat slides sold by JS Motorsports http://www.jsmotorsport.com/ jim has them dialed in right for the Commando, start easy, idle right all for half of what the FCRs are worth.

Jean
 
Jean has it spot-on (although I have a set of FCRs on my Blue monoshocker)

The little flat slides are perfect and way more affordable.
 
Gotcha, I was just getting bent a little on the price of the 35s and wondering why I was seeing other Keihin carbs a lot cheaper. $435 is a better deal than almost $1000 for fuel air mixers. I just wich the Amals were more apt to withstand time and usage!

Thought about a single but I dont want to degrade performance just to have a smooth idle! Maybe the money fairy will visit me soon instead of the wallet vaccum!

Thanks guys
 
I'm running Jim's carbs and I recommend them, and his customer service, without any reservation. They bolt on, they work, and he follows up. Bike makes good power too.
 
I bought a pair of Jim's carbs and the Pazon Altair to provide plenty of fire for the fuel. He was very helpful. Why not let your bike run it's best?
 
Hi, to add more question , what's the deal with a dual Mikuni round slide as Sudco propose them, should be nice to dyno them versus flatside and FCR ..........I still do not have buy the carbies for my Seeley, she's on standby right now due to shortage of cash!!
 
Carbonfibre said:
http://www.alexwarehouse.com/genuine-oko-32mm-carburetor-34mm-oko-carburetor_p3381.html 32 or 34mm carbs for $30.50 each sounds a bargain to me! There is a need to buy 15 units, and find some flange to spigot adapters to fit them to the Norton manifold, but still seems possible to have really good carburetion for perhaps less than $200?
Click to expand...

Maybe. But do you really want to go through all that work? And at $200 will you get any return on sorting the jetting and sourcing the manifolds?

And really for just a little more you can get a pair of the new Amals with anodized slides...
 
warpedscout said:
I just wich the Amals were more apt to withstand time and usage!s
Click to expand...

How long do you expect them to last? How many miles have you put on them to wear them out?
 
I went the single Mikuni route because it is what I had. It was a hassel getting it all setup. I am oing to go with a pair of Amal's with anodized slides and atay up floats. The first set lasted this long, why not go with what works. With that said I am still going to try the 34mm flatslides from the gsxr I have and the pair of Gardner's that I have to see how they work.
 
I have the 35mm FCRs on my Commando (and a pair of 41mm FCRs on a 900 SS Ducati).

I think they're absolutely awesome. Eliminating the choke and starting using the accelerator pump is a nice plus, but for power, smoothness, INSTANT throttle response, ease of jetting changes, etc. I don't think you can beat them. Do nearly as well for less, perhaps.
 
Carbonfibre said:
http://www.alexwarehouse.com/genuine-oko-32mm-carburetor-34mm-oko-carburetor_p3381.html 32 or 34mm carbs for $30.50 each sounds a bargain to me! There is a need to buy 15 units, and find some flange to spigot adapters to fit them to the Norton manifold, but still seems possible to have really good carburetion for perhaps less than $200?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great price if you have the setup to make the flange adapters yourself, then sell "plug & play" kits. Perhaps that what Jim is doing; good for him.
 
ya but....

you have to buy MINIMUM of 15 units to get them at that price.

JD[

quote="Carbonfibre"]http://www.alexwarehouse.com/genuine-oko-32mm-carburetor-34mm-oko-carburetor_p3381.html 32 or 34mm carbs for $30.50 each sounds a bargain to me! There is a need to buy 15 units, and find some flange to spigot adapters to fit them to the Norton manifold, but still seems possible to have really good carburetion for perhaps less than $200?[/quote]
 
My Amals are in decent shape with about 10,700 miles on them and need new slides, but I just want a fire and forget set of carbs. I have been through the bushmans guide to amals and set them up and still haveing a lot of problems. Had to kick the bike 12-15 times the other day to get it to start up.

I would love to keep the amals but I really do not know what the bike should idle like, transition while driving, etc.

Looking at the site Carbonfibre sent, what about these carbs:

http://www.alexwarehouse.com/KOSO-made-in-China-30mm-carburetor_p3320.html

Would these do ok? I am sure they would have to be jetted and adjusted some but Jim sells the manifolds and is there a chance the needles and jets would fit it??

It is like when I was working on my Mustang, when I would buy "Mustang" parts they were pretty expensive, but when I could find the same part for a Tempo it was considerably much cheaper. I have spent a lot of time i junkyards and online finding parts cheaper and saving a lot of money buy knowing what I was looking for and what other vehicles used the same part. See what I mean?!

A lot of parts for the Nortons are going to be somewhat one off, but carbs, tires and a few other parts are out there avialable and I just want to make sure I check out all the options before popping for the "Norton" parts.
 
Hi

I have owned my Norton for 36 years now and still run Amals and it has over 130,000 miles on the clock, I replaced my orginal Amals at 70,000 miles and still running the secon pair to this day, the Norton still starts on first kick most of the time, if it don't start on the first kick it will start on the 3 rd kick, but it has always been like that, I have run points, electronic ignition and now a Joe hunt Maggie, I replace the jets, needles and anything else that needs replacing every 3 years, I have never had any problems with idling, the orginal Amals had that much wear in the slides you could just about spin them around in the bores, but the bike still ran well with them, I have always read what others have said about Amals issues but they have worked well for me but have found the Joe Hunt maggie has been the best running set up so far, the Norton just runs so well with it and with the Amals they work so well together.

Ashley
 
ashman said:
Hi

I have owned my Norton for 36 years now and still run Amals and it has over 130,000 miles on the clock, I replaced my orginal Amals at 70,000 miles and still running the secon pair to this day, the Norton still starts on first kick most of the time, if it don't start on the first kick it will start on the 3 rd kick, but it has always been like that, I have run points, electronic ignition and now a Joe hunt Maggie, I replace the jets, needles and anything else that needs replacing every 3 years, I have never had any problems with idling, the orginal Amals had that much wear in the slides you could just about spin them around in the bores, but the bike still ran well with them, I have always read what others have said about Amals issues but they have worked well for me but have found the Joe Hunt maggie has been the best running set up so far, the Norton just runs so well with it and with the Amals they work so well together.

Ashley
Click to expand...

I agree 200 %
even on our outfits , we tried different carbs but nothing can beat an AMAL for ease of tuning and they give very good pick-up
I have fcr's 39mm (got a set of 41 as well) on my Baines and they run very well NOW but took a lot of time and hassle , and as Jean stated , they are definitely overkill on a commando
on those fcr ,one has to set up the spray-tube (i think that is what it is called)first and adjust everything to that . BUT the spraytube is for running at full bore .so you can set your fcr up only to loose on full throttle and than you can start it all again .so if you buy fcr's from an unknown source , check with someone else the size of those spraytubes
side by side , my commando and the Baines (both are a bit souped up and both 160kg ) the Baines has only a little advantage in pick-up
when you concentrics (not a single set-up )are well synchonised they perform VERY well
 
The "unbeatable" Amals mentioned here must be made out of something other than the lead/zinc pot metal that is used more commonly? Like it or not making precision parts using materials which are totally unsuitable, results in rapid wear and in the case of a carb reduced levels of performance.

This is the reason why its so popular to get Amal carbs lined, which while it does improve things considerably is not comparable to using properly made carbs, which are fit for purpose and do not need to be lined to overcome problems with wear.

Bikes will very often still run with badly worn carbs, but performance will be greatly reduced, and the effects of replacing them with new carbs will be even more noticeable.
 
warpedscout said:
My Amals are in decent shape with about 10,700 miles on them and need new slides, but I just want a fire and forget set of carbs. I have been through the bushmans guide to amals and set them up and still haveing a lot of problems. Had to kick the bike 12-15 times the other day to get it to start up.

I would love to keep the amals but I really do not know what the bike should idle like, transition while driving, etc.

Looking at the site Carbonfibre sent, what about these carbs:

http://www.alexwarehouse.com/KOSO-made-in-China-30mm-carburetor_p3320.html

Would these do ok? I am sure they would have to be jetted and adjusted some but Jim sells the manifolds and is there a chance the needles and jets would fit it??

It is like when I was working on my Mustang, when I would buy "Mustang" parts they were pretty expensive, but when I could find the same part for a Tempo it was considerably much cheaper. I have spent a lot of time i junkyards and online finding parts cheaper and saving a lot of money buy knowing what I was looking for and what other vehicles used the same part. See what I mean?!

A lot of parts for the Nortons are going to be somewhat one off, but carbs, tires and a few other parts are out there avialable and I just want to make sure I check out all the options before popping for the "Norton" parts.
Click to expand...

If you have a pair of Amals which need new slides, you will almost certainly need to have the carb bodies lined before fitting new slides, as both the slide and body wear together, as they are made out of totally unsuitable lead/zinc pot metal.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

B
  • Locked
What's the deal with pre-1971 Commando's?
Replies
6
Views
801
DogT
DogT
Back
Top