Demonstration : Cold Start of a Carbureted Motorcycle - 1990 FLH

I hear people say that the advantage of fuel injection is easier cold starts. It occurred to me that there may be a lot of people who have never owned a carb bike, and don't know what they are like.

In this demonstration, I start my 1990 Harley Davidson FLHTC Electra Glide. The bike hadn't been run for about 24 hours. It was dead cold.

Fuel injection by and large works fine, although who knows how much it adds to the cost of a new bike, not to mention having to buy a $300-ish tuner and pay for a dyno run (another $300 or so) to get it dialed in properly.

This old Harley has the factory Keihin CV carb, which I tuned myself in my garage with a few jets (cost a couple of bucks each) and a screwdriver.

As you can see, starting is no problem.