ET: Engine (Twin) Mikuni carbs

Monkeypants

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Since mention was made of replica Amal units, I hope it's ok to add a thought and an opinion.
I installed new Amal Premieres on my OZ Rapide as the high mileage Concentrics on there were very worn. They were installed on the bike in the early 80s and did a huge mileage with three owners in three continents.
Even worn out the bike ran great, started very easily, much easier than my Mikuni VM equipped bike.
So I decided to replace the Concentric with new Premieres and hopefully keep the easy start and nice running. That worked out fine.

Here is the slide at 16,000 miles.
I can't see any sign of wear. The carb body is just starting to polish up in a few spots, no measureable wear there either.
I've always liked the tidy, smooth curves of the Amal concentric. I've never had any problems tuning the UK or Spanish Amals, but the slide wear and lack of removable pilot jet were weaknesses. The slide wear issue is also there with Monoblocs, but generally just accepted.
Mikunis vms can work just fine and do have that nice chrome slide, however you just can't call them pretty!
I've had sticky float issues on both sets of Mikuni VMs. A gentle tap sets it right, but you do want to shut the fuel off on VMs when parked for a lunch or coffee stop
IMG_20181225_131840.jpg
. I generally don't bother doing that with the Amals.

Glen
 
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