I think its all a reasonably fair argument here Ted EXCEPT ... and its a BIG EXCEPT ... is the difference in frequency that carbs need maintenance vs how frequently FI needs maintenance. By skipping that critical, game changing, area of the topic, you have effectively bypassed the main debate.

No one is arguing that a carb is not easier to fix when broken - however dont kid yourself that they can always be fixed. I know of a carbed bike riding the trans siberian home because of broken needles not "capable of being fixed by 14 year old mechanics in any town".

The counter argument to the easier to fix advantage of a carb is the fact that you almost never have to fix EFI. See Margus's post where is compared 300,000 trouble free EFI kms all around the globe over half a dozen years, vs 8,000km with carbed bikes. (http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...2-2#post506978) I also have around 200,000 km of EFI global (rough) riding under my belt (at least 60% off road) and also strangely never touched the injectors, never touched the black boxes.

A balanced viewpoint has to look at both sides of the argument. Its not only thats its more fuel efficient. Its not only that its better at high altitudes. The MAIN advantage of EFI is that it just works. Its simpler, its more logical, and its infinitely more reliable.

Granted its harder to fix if something goes wrong. Just like its harder to fix a mobile phone than an abacus. It doesnt justify taking an abacus on your trip - because any 14 year old with woodworking experience can fix it.

I currently have three bikes. Two EFI and one carbed. I am looking at ways to convert the carbed bike to EFI.

The equation for the uninitiated is as follows:

You have one system which needs constant maintenance and is less efficient (which also ultimately means heavier) - but its easier to fix when it needs fixing.
You have another system which almost never needs attention, is more efficient, lighter and far less restrictive, but is harder to fix when something does go wrong.

A perfect analogy is CDI ignition vs points. You can reset your points every day, but you cant fix black box ignition. The question is do you actually ever need to fix CDI or electronic ignition?? Is resetting points every day really necessary?

Who votes for points?

There are another couple of downside of carbs ... for carbs to work, the fuel either needs to be carried higher than the carb or you need the same weakest link part - a fuel pump.

If you carry the fuel higher than the carb you lose two things:
(1) low weight distribution. Most EFI bikes these days have tanks under the seats. Carbed bikes have tanks above the seat and in front of your nuts. Long distance tanks on carbed bikes make them very top heavy.
(2) Water crossing ability. Low carb (and very low carb breather hoses) result in lower fording depths on carbed bikes. Maybe not an issue for many, but for me, and loads of marginal water crossings on every adventure ride, that in itself is a huge deal and a major factor to consider.

I dont expect everyone to agree with me or my arguments, but you cannot ignore the multi hundreds of thousands of km of empirical evidence of myself, Margus, people like Simon and Lisa Thomas, Joe Pichler .... people who have racked up hundreds of thousands of non stop adventure kilometres .... just do not find themselves ever touching the EFI system. Thats the reality. Thats the real world evidence. That has to be taken into account. The theory arguments about EFI vs Carb are all great and its all important for new adventurists to hear ... but whats actually the reality? What actually happens to people in the real world in remote places with EFI bikes?

Nothing. They wake up. They press the red start button. The bike goes. All the scare stories in the world do not actually counter reality (unless the reader is vulnerable to scare stories in the beginning). Its not like no-one has done it before. Its not like taking EFI bikes on remote adventures is a new concept that we have to debate the pros and cons of. Its been happening for 20 years. The results are in. The vast majority of bikes crossing Africa or Eurasia are EFI bikes. It works !

Maybe its just me. I never was a big one for other peoples opinions. Every opinion is subjective. Its all twisted and biased. There is nothing objective about an opinion. But statistics are raw. Beginners coming into this debate and confused by the different opinions would be well advised to focus less on opinions and look at real world data.

What actually happens in the real world? What bikes are doing what trips and what issues did they have. Find (independently) 10 examples of people who have done trips like the one you plan. Look at the results.

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