Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Carb balancing: how often?

Hi, guys. A very quick question or 2. One of the pipes on my Speedie is bluing a lot more/faster than the other and the whole bike vibrates a ****** of a lot more than I'd like. I'm led to believe that these are symptoms of incorrect carb balance-ness. I don't really wanna buy something that gets used once a year or less so is it worth me buying a balancer? How much use can I expect to get from one or is it something that's as well letting the dealer handle as and when it needs it? Are carbs something that slowly (or quickly) fall out of balance and, therefore need to be checked regularly, or do they only need adjusting after they've been tampered with?
(I hope this makes sense!)
Cheers, neill

carb balance 1 a year or any time you tinker with the carbs.

one side bluing,
check all the vacume plugs , is the ai removed?
check exhaust header bolts for tight.
air leak maybe?

Neill,
Maybe you could hook up with another member or 3 in the UK and buy one together. You're correct that you don't need it all the time but if there was one to share?????

Neill

On the 03 the carbs might have been touched on the service, I'm not really sure. Other than the AI removed it's as stock on the engine as the come. (OK there's the extra disk up front and the rear baffles have been removed....ut that's all...). The 06, had crap from the tank go through the jets and so the carbs have been cleaned/maybe jets changed - I didn't really listen. But since then the carbs haven't been touched.

And one of the header pipes has gone slightly more gold than the other. On both. I remember seeing somewhere that it's due to the way the bike leans when it's parked. Something about fuel going to that side due to gravity. Don't know if it's bollox or not, but I nearly believe it.

And Grzegorz has a balencer. I'm not an expert, but I think they'd only need balencing after being tinkered with.

they should be checked from time to time and balanced everytime you messing with them

See told you I wasn't an expert...

Don't know that your dealer charges but generally they going to charge an hour labour at least. You can buy a carb balancer for less than most shops charge for an hour.

Build your own manometer for less than $10. Now you can balance your carbs as often as you like. Oh yeah there are several threads about building your own its easy and cheap.

Thanks for the replies, peeps. I've bitten the bullet and sent off for a Morgan Carbtune Pro. It's not too dear and, with it, at least I'll know my carbs are balanced accurately.
A few more issues I have: Although I've not got small hands, I'm really struggling with the controls of my bike. With my gloves on, I find the stretch to the levers too far for comfort. The levers come to just behind the first joint of the my fingers, whereas ideally I'd like them just in front (closer to me). I've tried the adjusters but they're still too far away or, on the closest setting, the brake lever comes too far back. This 'stretch' also makes braking difficult; for example, if I'm approaching a corner and want to knock a few MPH off my speed, I let go of the throttle and touch the front brake but, by the time I've got back on the gas, I've lost too much speed due to engine braking. (This is my first twin and I'm not used to the huge amounts of engine braking they produce.) Also, the throttle seems very on/off-ey, that is, making small speed adjustments is difficult.
Any comments/hints/tips/advice?
Another thing...how do I go about buying bar grips and levers? What measurements should I be looking for?
Cheers, Neill

Have you tried rotating the grip mounts up a tad so your fingers aren't reaching "over" the grip to the levers? That also makes it easy to maintain contact with the throttle when applying front brake.

Also if you are losing that much speed maybe just let off the gas a second or so sooner and don't use the break. Thats how I tend to ride , use the breaks as little as I can. Thats harder to do in a group though.
Our bikes do have a great deal of engine breaking as opposed to the old twins. It took me by suprise when I first got it.