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So I was going through "Motorcycle Cruiser" 2010 Buyer's Guide and noticed Honda has caught up to H-D, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Triumph, etc, and is now offering more cruisers with fuel injection.

The new 750cc Shadow Phantom, and the 1300cc Sabre, Stateline, and Interstate all offer fuel injection.

I can't say I'm surprised by the offerings with the 1300cc engine since the mid year release of the Fury in 2009 had fuel injection on it's 1300cc engine, but I was caught off guard by the 750cc offering.

I wonder if Honda was feeling pressure from the Suzuki C50, Kawasaki 900, Triumph America, Yamaha 950, and H-D 883, which all have EFI, and all were only slightly more expensive than the Honda 750s with carburetors?

NewGuy wrote:I wonder if Honda was feeling pressure from the Suzuki C50, Kawasaki 900, Triumph America, Yamaha 950, and H-D 883, which all have EFI, and all were only slightly more expensive than the Honda 750s with carburetors?

Or maybe they were feeling pressure from the EPA and their ever tightening noose of emissions standards.

Gummiente wrote:

NewGuy wrote:I wonder if Honda was feeling pressure from the Suzuki C50, Kawasaki 900, Triumph America, Yamaha 950, and H-D 883, which all have EFI, and all were only slightly more expensive than the Honda 750s with carburetors?

Or maybe they were feeling pressure from the EPA and their ever tightening noose of emissions standards.

+1

Wrider wrote:

Gummiente wrote:

NewGuy wrote:I wonder if Honda was feeling pressure from the Suzuki C50, Kawasaki 900, Triumph America, Yamaha 950, and H-D 883, which all have EFI, and all were only slightly more expensive than the Honda 750s with carburetors?

Or maybe they were feeling pressure from the EPA and their ever tightening noose of emissions standards.

+1

Honda always did this even with cars. They always showed off how they could meet emission standards without going the route everyone else was doing. They had carbs in their cars for the longest time when all other manufacturer went to FIs. They managed to hold off the longest without using a cat converter. Detroit went to cat con in '73 I believe. Honda held off until the early 80s using CVCC heads.
Being a company run by PhDs in engineering rather than MBAs(Big 3, Toyota) their engineering pride sometimes hurt sales. Their bikes having carbs when the competition all had FIs had to have turned off buyers in the showroom.

The irony is that as manufacturers are squeezed in to using EFI they usually set them up so lean that they do not work as well as the previous carbed model in my experience. It's easier to map in a big old lean hole in the mid-range to pass emmisions tests with EFI so that's what seems to happen. Modern motorcycle carbs work so well if you look after them they should really not be a deterent to buying any bike....and in some cases you could be better off.

High_Side wrote: Modern motorcycle carbs work so well if you look after them they should really not be a deterent to buying any bike....and in some cases you could be better off.

Carbs are a lot easier on the wallet to modify for performance then efi too.

High_Side wrote:The irony is that as manufacturers are squeezed in to using EFI they usually set them up so lean that they do not work as well as the previous carbed model in my experience. It's easier to map in a big old lean hole in the mid-range to pass emmisions tests with EFI so that's what seems to happen. Modern motorcycle carbs work so well if you look after them they should really not be a deterent to buying any bike....and in some cases you could be better off.

My only carbed bike is the KLX250S. I have modded the carb and it runs perfectly. Hot or cold, it starts up instantaneously, idles perfectly, and runs smooth from idle to redline.
The other three bikes are injected. I must say the Honda runs flawlessly. The BMW is not too bad. It does have a slight surging but nothing that bothers me. The Ducati surges real bad and it is quite abrupt at low rpms. I'm thinking of getting the fatduc O2 manipulator.

FI on the honda 750 has been around for a few years now also the 1800 was FI starting in 2002

Tennif Shoe wrote:FI on the honda 750 has been around for a few years now also the 1800 was FI starting in 2002

The Shadow 750s have been their only cruiser 750cc offerings for several years and none have FI until this new Shadow Phantom for 2010.

Yes, the 1800s had FI for years, but among the other cruisers, primarily their 1300s and 750s they did not have FI.

Here are the specs on the 750 cruisers for the last 5 years:
2009 - http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2 ... -Honda.htm All the 750 cruisers have carbs, no FI.

2008 - http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2 ... -Honda.htm All the 750 cruisers have carbs, no FI.

2007 - http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2 ... -Honda.htm All the 750 cruisers have carbs, no FI.

2006 - http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2 ... -Honda.htm All the 750 cruisers have carbs, no FI.

2005 - http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2 ... -Honda.htm All the 750 cruisers have carbs, no FI.

High_Side wrote:The irony is that as manufacturers are squeezed in to using EFI they usually set them up so lean that they do not work as well as the previous carbed model in my experience. It's easier to map in a big old lean hole in the mid-range to pass emmisions tests with EFI so that's what seems to happen. Modern motorcycle carbs work so well if you look after them they should really not be a deterent to buying any bike....and in some cases you could be better off.

So true, and so irritating.