[Silverback]

I have had mine for several years.  I live in el paso texas. Its.about 3800.above sea level.  I want to get the best mileage I can without overheating the engine.
Doea anyone remember what hitchcocks baseline main and pilot jet settings were.  I think it was 185.main and 25 pilot.
I have an email to hitchcocks but thought someone here may have the info quicker.  Thanks

[Crabsapper]

Yes, 185 main with 180 and 190 supplied.
25 pilot, plus 20 and 30 supplied.

I've gone down to a 17.5 pilot, and main I'm up to 190.

[Silverback]

What kind of gas mileage are you getting
 Plus dont you get a lean pop when you let of throttle at high speed?
I was at 190 with27.5 pilot. I would get lean pop occassionally.
Recently switched toe 185 with 25 pilot same occassionally pop.
 I think I got a few miles less per gallon at that setting

I think I am going bvb to try 190 with 30 pilot. Maybe it will eliminate the pop.  I don't mind it as it is an occasional occurrence
 But my OCD has me trying to eliminate it. Lol..
I want to get best mileage per gallon I can without buffering up engine.

[Crabsapper]

I'm not really interested in fuel consumption; I got 85-90mpg when the bike was stock, but it ran badly!
That said, I'm getting about 65mpg now, but obviously that depends on how hard you ride.
For comparison I got maybe 75mpg when I had a FuelX Lite and booster plug fitted.
I get zero popping on the overrun.
(Those are imperial gallons BTW.)

[Silverback]

Isn't the 17.5 pilot too restrictive?  How does it affect the engine?  What position is your key needle.  Mine is at three notches.

[Crabsapper]

Well, if it was too restrictive it wouldn't be in there!   
Set up using the correct Mikuni procedure, plus riding. The 20 required the air screw 4 turns out, which is too much. With the 17.5, I'm at 2 turns, plus it feels much better. Idle and starting are perfect.
Needle is on the 3rd notch.

[Silverback]

I am interested in why you went with the smaller pilot.   Do you get an occasional.oean pop when coming off throttle?  I need to try the 185 and 25 and recheck my air mixture. 
I am sorry to keep aking but I am trying to get better performance from the carb.  Thanks for being paitent.

[Crabsapper]

Because bigger jets were too rich on my bike. Seems obvious!
If you find the official Mikuni VM set up procedure (it's available online, Google it) it tells you how to assess whether the pilot jet is the right size. As I said, I was opening the air screw more than optimal (4 turns out or more) to get correct running, so you go down a size.

As I also said, I get zero popping.

Bear in mind your bike, exhaust, air filter, fuel, atmospheric conditions are all different to mine, so set ups are not necessarily transferable. Hence why you need to be able to fine tune the carb yourself.

[Silverback]

I decided to try the pilot jet the carn was awnt with 35. I almost had to wind air screw all the way out. It ran well but not to my liking. It was smooth but rich.

So today I put a 20 in and set the screw 1 and 1/2 out from bottoming out. I turn about 1/4 to the right and it stumbled. Turning to left it just kept getting faster.  So I left it at 1 and 1/2 turns out.  Went out to check out main and yes the 190 was the best.   No more pop from exhaust. when I let if throttle. Yeah!!!
Now I am beginning to wander if a 20 and 17.5 would be even better.  I think I am going to order them and try. 

If I turn the air to about 1 and 3/4 the pop returned and experienced a pop on starting up. Put it back to 1 and 1/2 all good.  Bike is running great.  When I down shift the idle is so quiet.

I cant wait to see what my mileage will be.

So like I decided to fine tune this set up.  Hopefully the other pilot jets will be better or verify the the 20 is my go to jet.

I am going to monitor plug and engine temp with the various jets.

Thanks for the patience.

[Crabsapper]

Glad it's working out. 

[manxmike]

I've left the fuel injection on my 2018 500 and I'm getting between 100 and 110 mpg (Imperial - UK gallons). Fair enough I don't ride much over 70mph, but that's a combination of town and country riding.
Not sure what the benefits of converting to carb are, unless it's to try and go retro?

[Crabsapper]

 

[Beeza]

I've left the fuel injection on my 2018 500 and I'm getting between 100 and 110 mpg (Imperial - UK gallons). Fair enough I don't ride much over 70mph, but that's a combination of town and country riding.
Not sure what the benefits of converting to carb are, unless it's to try and go retro?

If they made a CV 36 conversion I’d be more interested. The VM is primitive and that wasted fuel has to be going somewhere. A CV carb is just a throttle body with a vacuum controlled leak upstream.

For me, getting rid of the fuel pump would be the big draw. Gravity doesn’t need a relay and attendant computer to turn it on. My thumb and index are used to a gas tap.

Fuel injection is love it (when it’s working) or hate it (when it screws up) but a carburetor you just live and deal with. Running poorly beats dead every time, which I’m reminded of more often as I get old.

[Silverback]

For me the switch was born out of necessity more than anything else. I purchased a 2011-12 classic chrome because the idea of has and go EFI classic bike that got great mileage was appealing.    BUT........Kick starting the EFI was laborious and unpleasant.  No matter which technique I followed it wasnt something I would want to do on the regular.
My commute is about 40 to 60 us miles daily.  Speed between 45 to 55 and several long traffic lights.  I was only achieving about 50 miles per gallon. 

While replacing the head stay I took off the tank and must have bumped the fuel outlet spickot.  It developed a sever leak. That piece of plastic is fragile and you cant buy a replacement.  I had to buy a new pump. 250.00 dollars. 

The EFI system seemed to make the engine run hard. It always felt like the engine was beating itself up.  From the info I read the efi classic 500 actually got better as time went on.  I wish I could have found one around your year or even a 2020.


so I decided to convert the bike.
I couldn't be happier.  The bike kick starts first  or second try.
The engine is much more relaxed , less vibrating and seemingly more powerful.   Of course that's only a perception.

I dont have to worry about a cheap plastic part breaking costing me 250.00 anytime I take the tank off.

My OCD is what drives me to chase the perfect jetting for the carb and my environs.

I dont have to be concerned with an electronic part breaking down.

Seriously if I wasnt obsessed by my OCD the carb would have been a set and forget situation.

In hind sight I probably should have spent much more time learning how to ride with the EFI.    As we all know the bike isn't a high revving machine and takes time for the rider to adjust to it.   I think I still would have switched to help the engine .

A cv carb might be even better requiring less setup to environs.   Still the carb setup only took about an hours time and the characteristics of the bike was well worth it.  I purchased my carb from niche cycles which was about 200.00 less than hitchcocks. All in with the other bits necessary I saved about 100.00.

Again it an entirely a personal decision.

[Beeza]

Starting the efi sounds easy, but the reality is that - and this is just my analysis - when you shut the motor down overnight the fuel in the injector leaks out and air takes its place and the bubble travels up the line. When you start it it will fire twice and then go blank for another two compressions and then run. This is the cause of the ‘took three stabs to get it not to stall out’ syndrome.

The fix is to hold the starter button until it feels steady running. Automotive experience would have you release the starter immediately, but the one way roller sprag doesn’t care if the motor is running or not. You can push that button with the motor running and all that happens is starter motor whir. And the starter running without load uses very little juice.

If you’re kickstarting the thing you will have to do it several times to get past the air bubble, if it has sat for a while. Not going to happen on a carb.

Kickstarting my CGT is a horror show. I only leave the lever attached because bump starting it is even worse. Once in a while when hot it just refuses to turn over if it’s been left for about five minutes. Take a short nap and it works again. Who knows.

But I always get home. Big singles…….