djelliott
Real bikes are built in garages.
Seriously. Is it because they are that much better then stock? Did someone see them on a race bike and say "gotsta get me those"? Is it because you find them all over the web as an "upgrade" or "performance mod" pre packaged by various dealers (albeit with the wrong emulsion tubes and very ambitious jet selections)? I feel like I drank the Koolaid and dumped a bunch of cash into something that didn't REALLY add any performance. Especially for a street bike. I spent the better part of a year tuning these suckers. Dumping cash into different jets, needles, and various airfiters and velocity stacks. I'm sure I bugged the complete shit out of crazypj as well.
The sum of my exploits produced a bike that ran from OK to good to pretty good but still not quite right and down to awful. When the top end was powerful, good luck keeping it idling at the stop lights or running well in slow traffic. Figure out the lows to mids and your top goes to shit. I won't say the VM30's are bad carbs, I've just come to the realization that they are not the right carbs for a CB350 street bike.
The realization came to me a couple of weeks ago when my bike was in a mood of running like shit and a bunch of my crew wanted to take rip. My friend offered up a bone stock CB350 he had just picked up and sad about not being on my bike it was better then not going. It's been awhile since I've completely caned the shit out of a stocker and lord let me tell you, it just kept giving and giving. I beat the hell out of that thing and was able to keep in line with the Buell Cyclone, GS550, and CB750 I was with. Damn near cracked the ton on the little sucker! After a great ride I asked my self why the hell I've been fucking around with the mikunis when I can access instant fun with the Kei-hins. So after I got home, out came the stock carbs for a good cleaning and rebuild (plus a minor jet change). I had everything I needed right there so it cost me nothing. I popped them back on last night and the bike runs better then ever. Plenty of throttle response, pulls hard throughout the RPM range and idles great.
So, that leads me to the question that is the subject of this post. Why? I read dozens of posts on many forums about "Mikuni VM30 tuning" or "VM30 jetting". I have yet to find a single one that says "bike runs perfect". Nearest I've found is "got it close, gonna have to do". For racing I'm sure they're great. For street and daily riding I'm not so sure. Discuss.
P.S. If you really want them, they'll be up for sale in the Selling section of the forum soon.
The sum of my exploits produced a bike that ran from OK to good to pretty good but still not quite right and down to awful. When the top end was powerful, good luck keeping it idling at the stop lights or running well in slow traffic. Figure out the lows to mids and your top goes to shit. I won't say the VM30's are bad carbs, I've just come to the realization that they are not the right carbs for a CB350 street bike.
The realization came to me a couple of weeks ago when my bike was in a mood of running like shit and a bunch of my crew wanted to take rip. My friend offered up a bone stock CB350 he had just picked up and sad about not being on my bike it was better then not going. It's been awhile since I've completely caned the shit out of a stocker and lord let me tell you, it just kept giving and giving. I beat the hell out of that thing and was able to keep in line with the Buell Cyclone, GS550, and CB750 I was with. Damn near cracked the ton on the little sucker! After a great ride I asked my self why the hell I've been fucking around with the mikunis when I can access instant fun with the Kei-hins. So after I got home, out came the stock carbs for a good cleaning and rebuild (plus a minor jet change). I had everything I needed right there so it cost me nothing. I popped them back on last night and the bike runs better then ever. Plenty of throttle response, pulls hard throughout the RPM range and idles great.
So, that leads me to the question that is the subject of this post. Why? I read dozens of posts on many forums about "Mikuni VM30 tuning" or "VM30 jetting". I have yet to find a single one that says "bike runs perfect". Nearest I've found is "got it close, gonna have to do". For racing I'm sure they're great. For street and daily riding I'm not so sure. Discuss.
P.S. If you really want them, they'll be up for sale in the Selling section of the forum soon.