I had a chance to put about 50 minutes of test time on it today. First off we're going through a January thaw, so the conditions consisted of slop, snow, and slop over frozen ground. Good times!
For starters it starts. Yaa! It took a few kicks to start it the first time because I thought I had the choke engaged but it wasn't. After that it started first kick whether it was in gear or not. That's a relief. It should be good for HS starts.
The idle was set high from the factory, but that was about a 5 second fix that didn't require any tools. It idles very smooooth.
The top end is way stronger than its been in the past. Before getting this carb I decided to buy a Turbine Core 2 to see if that would help the top end, but it isn't needed now. I'm glad the trade with twowheels for a Turbine Core 2 fell through. I don't think I'll get gobbled up in the open fields any more! It's even more impressive because Kevin told me that he purposely set the power jet rich, and that I would need to lean it out some. I guess that means it can get even better than it is because I never touched the power jet.
The mid is quite stellar also with no transition from mid to top. Just a strong pull all the way through. My front end is definitely lighter now even in the slop today.
The bottom end has very good torque, but I'm looking forward to testing it in better conditions. The only thing I noticed is that when at idle and blipping the throttle it could have a tad more spunk, but it never stumbled. Maybe it was spinning out a little? Actually it was very predictable and gives very good low end throttle control. I slowed to a very slow crawl and let the bike idle while in second gear and it ran for quite awhile before it finally died. I thought it was pretty impressive.
Even though I was happy with the way it ran I decided to adjust the metering rod a couple of times to feel the difference. The metering rod only effects mid and bottom end. I leaned it out a 1/4 of a turn to start with, and I could definitely tell a difference it was a little weaker on bottom and had a little hit in the mid range. Didn't like it....too lean. I adjusted it richer than stock next, and it ran very good again, but I can't say that it was any better than how it came from the factory. I think they had it dialed in to a gnats ass. I'm going to switch back to the stock setting before the next ride. The cool thing is I may never have to adjust it again. It took me about 15 minutes the first time since I had to read the instructions. The second time I would've had it done in about 5 minutes if only I could have hit the hole with the metering rod. I need more practice.
Once I figured out what to do it was wham bam thank you mam, done.
I'm very pleased with my purchase thus far. It's too soon to verify improved fuel mileage, but it's accomplishing everything else that I wanted out of it so far. Smooth, strong, controllable power, and it fits my bike better than the stock carb.