I’m not sure whether to go for the carb model (a 1993) 900SS or the later injection model (2002)… So, keen to hear which you prefer (preferably from experience) and why? Thanks!
In my experience of 2 carb’d 900SL & 2 fuel injected 1000ds engined bike (1000ss & a Paul Smart) I preferred the rawer feel of the carb’d 900 though they can be more problematic to keep in fine fettle with wear of needle jets / carb icing (in cool damp climates) etc causing crap running etc. The 1000fi bikes felt a bit anodyne & flat in delivery compared to the carb’d 900 engines . The 900 can be improved easily ( if not cheaply) with a set of FCRs in stead of the original mikuni carbs. In terms of riding position the 900ss is a shorter reach to the bars than the 900/1000ssie is, the latter might feel a little stretched depending on what your used to.
I voted carb’d version purely on a biased opinion having never ridden the other one. Go old school f@ck modernity
Do you want your bike to always start when you push the button? If not, a carby is right up your street...
Fuel injection ones don’t have the character of the carb models for me. If I wanted supreme reliability and smooth running then I wouldn’t be looking at any SS to be honest.
I didn't buy an original Monster because of the carbs and reliability. My injected bike never misses a beat. The sunshine is far too rare in the UK to have a non starting bike. If you have to bugger about with the carbs before it will run, how would you ever get to the chippy on a sunny day before it closed?
I guess it comes down to how handy you are. My carb SS has never failed to start even once. It was anon runner when I bought it and I stripped and refurbed the carbs as part of the reconditioning process. Even after a winter layover it will start no problem. I have run bikes with carbs for over 35 years and probably 200,000 miles and never had a an issue with starting. They just need a bit of maintenance which is no problem unless you are paying someone else to use the spanners I guess. The difference is the feel the imperfect fuelling gives, that slight lack of smoothness is the charm that makes these bikes what they are. And they sound so much better. The injection ones were just soulless to me. I think Ducati have purposefully added that feel to the mapping of later bikes as my Multi has injection but has that slightly lumpy feel at low revs, or perhaps that’s just the bigger capacity?
Its a really good point. In my case, the desire to meddle with my bikes has to be mostly choice and not necessity. Fettleing = fun but only when I'm not wearing my gear and trying to go on a ride.
I genuinely cannot remember the last time I had to mess about with a bike instead of riding it there and then, as opposed to routine maintenance, but must be decades ago. Carb engined bikes and cars have covered billions of miles, no reason they should be unreliable any more than injection. Injection is more about fuel efficiency and emissions scores as you can tweak the fuelling in ways carbs simply cannot do. As with any mechanical thing, appropriate routine maintenance is key to reliability.
Where have you found those stats out of interest? There are many engines that have been run on both carbs and injection so a like for like comparison is more than possible but I have never seen any evidence that shows any improvements in like for like applications.
A quick google will bring up any number of articles supporting fuel injection engines being more reliable than carbs. Carburetors almost never “fail”, they just require more attention than fuel injection to keep them working properly. In the real world, all too often, carbs don't get that attention.
Genuinely no offence intended but Google will find anything you like. If you have any links to proper industry studies , as an engineer (albeit chemical engineer ) I would genuinely like to see it as it would be fascinating. I am sure someone must have done some. However I don’t personally think you will find it shows definitive reliability benefits for fuel injection but happy to be proved wrong. The number of issues I have dealt with on mates cars related to dodgy injectors, faulty sensors, wear in throttle bodies etc is far more than I ever did on carbs, but that is a very unscientific group size of 1 person.
I'm with Tee Bay on this. A most reliable and expensive motorway stop on the M6 North. My carby 900ss is something you can fettle..it's fixable without the need for a laptop. If you don't factor your time into the fix then they get my vote 100% of the time. I've also a 748E (i know..cheapo). But to be fair... Once petrol went from E5 to E 10...I filled it up with V+. Problem was, that was diesel. Needless to say..wouldn't start. RAC recovery was less than useless...yoov facked your own bike over...that will be £250 to recover it coz it was your own fault. Error, I didn't do it deliberately. How about I've both. Carby gets my vote. I've one of each. A 900ss (carby) and a 748 (F.I.) I've filled the F.I. with diesel (and once drained) ran fine.
