Older Californias

[dxhall]

I’m about to end the 2019 Guzzi California Search.  Before I bag it altogether, are there any advantages to the pre-fuel injection bikes? I’ve come across a couple low mile carb bikes, but was holding out for a low mile injected bike.

[normzone]

Yes.

The amount of issues a carb can develop are finite and touchable, usually fixable with common tools and moderate intelligence. Computer bikes? " Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances " ...

[pete roper]

The amount of issues an injected bike can develop are finite and touchable, usually fixable with common tools and moderate intelligence. Carburettors ? Horrible, dirty, smelly, wear prone things where one worn part may mask issues with other worn parts and they go out of tune at the drop of a hat!

"Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances " ...

Pete

[OldMojo]

Other than a flaky crank sensor early on, (ignition, I know, but still computer related) I've had zero issues with the FI on my 02 EV in 60,000 miles. The only "fueling issue" I have is whether or not my low fuel light is lying to me.

Had she been a carb bike, in that time I would have no doubt had to at least drop the bowls a dozen times, be on my second or third float set, and probably a pet cock valve thrown in too.

Unless it's some sort of vintage machine that warrants the effort, I've left carbs behind, never to look back.

That said, I hear of numerous examples of carb bikes achieving significantly better MPG than the FI models.

I'm not sure why that would be, as it seems to fly in the face of most every other carb vs FI application.

[Shorty]

Some of the older Cali bikes have 7/33 gearing. They also had about a 6 gallon tank. Some had the digiplex ignition, cursed by many, but replacable with a Dyna unit if the Cali is old enough to still have a distributor.

[Gappy]

In my opinion there is not a thing wrong with a carburated California, or any other carburated bike. My 1994 California 1100 is carburated. I have ridden my friends 2000 Jackel, it is fuel injected. Perhaps on paper the fuel injection is more efficient , but as a riders point of view , there is no difference. If an issue would arise on the road, I personally  would prefer to be on one of my carburated bikes with my tool kit. I have 2 fuel injected bikes, granted they seem to be reliable as all heck. But if one of them were to fail on me out on the road, other than being out of gas I would not know where to begin to diagnose the problem let alone fix it. The older fuel injected systems and bikes are easer to understand and diagnose because a computer is not nessesary to diagnose. Carburated bikes do not need a fuel pump, some sort of mass airflow sensor, fuel pressure sensor, electric fuel injectors, electronic fuel enhancers and a computer to sort it all out, just to get a simple air pump to suck air, add gas, compress and ignite.
   
Being able to work on and do the maintence on my bikes is a part of being a motorcycle enthusiast that I truley enjoy as much as riding them. I do want to get a new modern bike , what make, I haven’t decided yet. The breaking systems, suspension , and handling geometry of the new bikes can’t be beat, but when I do get one I will have to take it to the shop like everybody else when problems arise for lack of the training, special tools, and software that will be required to work on them.

[pete mcgee]

The amount of issues an injected bike can develop are finite and touchable, usually fixable with common tools and moderate intelligence. Carburettors ? Horrible, dirty, smelly, wear prone things where one worn part may mask issues with other worn parts and they go out of tune at the drop of a hat!

"Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances " ...

Pete

It appears our well loved,self confessed luddite has passed on.
Passed on into the future  where pressurized smoke has been superseded  by streams of clean electrons.
The king is dead, long live the king.
At least until he retires.

[Sheepdog]

13 or 14 years is about as far as I could stretch a set of carburetors without giving them a good cleaning and maybe new gaskets. Closing the fuel taps when stopped helps, as does a little fuel injection cleaner from time to time. Ethanol is so hard on several fuel system materials (like some rubbers, plastic, and aluminum) that this occasional maintenance is unavoidable.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I scored a set of the "good" brown floats when a few became available a couple of years or so ago. I put them in the AeroLario just before leaving for the Ohio rally when alcohol finally did in one of the white ones. I don't really expect to need to fool with the 36s again.
My old tractor that was my 11th Christmas present has never had the carb rebuilt, and is still running the same points and coil from when the old man said, "boy, the tractor quit running. Fix that." 

[dxhall]

The reason I ask is that, over the years, I have acquired quite a selection of jets, parts, and hard-earned knowledge about Dellortos.  In my quest for a more comfortable touring bike, I’m thinking that I may wish to apply the stick-with-what you-know principle and buy another carbed bike.

I’ll see how the SP III does on the Ouray trip this week.  I’m thinking that I will be looking harder for a California when I get back.

[Chuck in Indiana]

A trip into the mountains will be a good test. F.I. adapts to the point that you really don't pay much attention to altitude. Carbs not so much, but I'm betting it won't be a problem.

[mtiberio]

The amount of issues an injected bike can develop are finite and touchable, usually fixable with common tools and moderate intelligence. Carburettors ? Horrible, dirty, smelly, wear prone things where one worn part may mask issues with other worn parts and they go out of tune at the drop of a hat!

"Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances " ...

Pete

I have rarely worked on FI, but I know that it will be much easier to maintain 100 years from now. We are not far from generic injectors and ECUs being available at Walmart. Add an app for your phone, you are good to go.

[Tusayan]

I’ve worked on EFI bikes a lot and they have one advantage over carbed bikes, that being storage and better cold start performance that results mainly from higher fuel pressure.  Once running, carb’d Guzzis generally get better fuel mileage, often have better throttle response, and are self evidently more maintainable for the long term - Guzzi EFI expertise/tools aren’t and never will be widespread.  Altitude compensation for earlier Guzzi EFI bikes was close to nonexistent, for various reasons.  Of course anybody can learn what is accessible to them about EFI, tuning modified bikes etc, I did it many years ago, but the reality is that much of what would be nice to know is proprietary, more so now than 20 or 30 years ago. 

I’ve learned what I need to know about EFI on my bikes, done a lot of work with it, but have equal respect for carbs and their advantages.  They are clever devices.  Throttle by wire and a lot of the related engine control stuff on the latest bikes is not a positive for my purposes and I could see an interesting project in my future to buy a V85TT, strip it completely and start over with open loop race style hardware and minimal, user accessible software.  I’d like to stick with a single throttle body so it would likely be EFI but open loop, no dashboard gimmickry, no traction control or ABS, and programmed by software I control. I live where bureaucrats won’t have any impact on my ability to road register the bike.