Has anyone experience about that CNW keihin "bolt on"kit for Commando,is there after installation lot of adjusting(jets etc),how about the throttle,how it fit with cluster(switch)

Hi Mr. Norton,
There is a fellow forum member "BrianK" who apparently has the Keihin carbs you are inquiring about, use the search function to contact him. In one of his posts back in June of 09 he makes high claims about them, and also acknowledges their "immodest price". I hope you are aware that the Mikuni set-up (popular and well sorted) can be had for about 1/3 the cost of the Keihin set-up you mention?
GB

I do not have experience with the CNW kit but I purchased the Sudco Keihin kit from my local dealer and have installed the same kit on 2 different MK3's, one stock,one not.
http://www.sudco.com/carbkits.html
I purchased a set of 34mm Amal MK2 intake manifolds thinking they would blend down to 32mm. They do not. I blended the manifolds to the 35mm carbs and installed them on the stock Mk 3 in spite of the 2mm mismatch at the head. The fit was very tight. I had trouble getting clearance on the right side fuel petcock but with some fettleing made it work. The switch cluster was no problem except I did have to drill a small hole in the handlebar. On this bike, with the 34mm intake manifold, the jetting was spot on and the improvement was amazing. Better throttle response and perfect idle.
These carbs were to ultimately to be fit to my 880 Mk 3 which was being completely rebuilt and painted. This time I bought a set of 32mm Amal Mk 2 intake manifolds and blended them to the 35mm carbs, The 34mm manifolds are 2mm larger than the intake on the head leaving an abrupt step but this worked very well on the stock Mk3. I thought the 32mm manifolds without the "step" at the head would be better. This bike has 880 pistons, Megacycle 560-00 cam and 1.5" exhaust. It runs rich where the stock Mk 3 was right on. I do not know if the richness is do to the difference in the intake manifolds or something else.
When it warms up I will do more playing with it and find out.
Bill G

Yes, I have a set on my Commando. I never really got it running with the original Amals, so no basis for comparison there, but I love the FCRs. I have a set on a Ducati too, and was able to compare it to the original Miks - and there is no comparison.

Great performance, great mileage, easy starting, incredibly smooth power delivery. Yeah, the price reflects all this! I'd still buy them all over again.

The carbs themselves are a tight fit. I was glad I bought a set intended for Commandos, as otherwise I might have lost faith and concluded they don't fit. Getting to those little allen-heads on the intake runners is a PITA too. But they do fit.

I had no problem with the throttle - as pointed out, you do need to make a small hole in your handlebars; that was easy.

If you have any specific questions, let me know. I installed these a couple years ago so I don't really remember the specifics of the installation process, but it would probably come back to me. (And I've been planning on doing new rings this winter, so I'm gonna have to do it again at some point - haven't had the gumption to tackle that yet; also have been tied up with my "new" 72 Eldo, so that's given me some projects that I've done instead of the rings.)

PS, my original jetting as received was way rich. I experimented quite a bit and came up with settings that work well for me. I can dig those out and post or send them to you if you'd like - indeed, I'm sure I've done so in another thread.

Here, I looked up the settings I posted in another thread:

140 main jets (came with 152s)

Needle clip in #2 slot (from top; there are seven slots; the needle clips came in #5 slot I believe)

Stock pilot jets

Slow air screw out two turns (were originally out one turn)

Slow fuel screw out 5/6 turn (Right side was originally about 2/3 turn out. Left was originally 1.5 turns out)

I have a pair too, but I didn't get the chance to use them since my bike was completed right before I hibernated. I bought mine on e-bay from the same guy who sells them to Sudco (and CNW). My application is a bit special so I made my own manifolds. Take a look here http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/image/93195688 and the other pictures around there, you will see what can be done. FWIW, I paid about $900 for mine, but remember, no manifolds, no clamps... so the CNW price is in the ballpark for a plug'n'play installation and you can call Matt if you have any problems.

Jean

BrianK wrote:The carbs themselves are a tight fit. I was glad I bought a set intended for Commandos, as otherwise I might have lost faith and concluded they don't fit. Getting to those little allen-heads on the intake runners is a PITA too.

I cut about 3/8 of an inch off an allen wrench and that made it easier to tighten the bolts down.

As long as we are talking carbs, I currently run a single Mikuni (34mm I think). Are there advantages or disadvantages to running dual Mikuni's?

calbigbird wrote:As long as we are talking carbs, I currently run a single Mikuni (34mm I think). Are there advantages or disadvantages to running dual Mikuni's?

advantage: better flow, each combustion chamber should have it's own carburetter

disadvantage: twice as ugly

RennieK wrote:

nortonspeed wrote:

calbigbird wrote:As long as we are talking carbs, I currently run a single Mikuni (34mm I think). Are there advantages or disadvantages to running dual Mikuni's?

advantage: better flow, each combustion chamber should have it's own carburetter

disadvantage: twice as ugly

LOL!!!

So Renniek......Mikuni ROOTER

You lost me on the "rooter" reference unless you mean am I rootin' for mikunis. The twice as ugly was just priceless though.

I've only used amals so I don't have an opinion on mikuni's (other than appearance)

In the looks department it's definitely FCR's!

RennieK wrote:You lost me on the "rooter" reference unless you mean am I rootin' for mikunis. The twice as ugly was just priceless though.

I've only used amals so I don't have an opinion on mikuni's (other than appearance)

In the looks department it's definitely FCR's!

Renniek, guess your right but hey I couldn't think of any other disadventages

calbigbird wrote:As long as we are talking carbs, I currently run a single Mikuni (34mm I think). Are there advantages or disadvantages to running dual Mikuni's?

I have dual 34 mm VM carbs on my cafe/PR replica and with cam, milled, big valve head there is definitely an advantage to the extra flow from the dual 34's over dual 32 Mk1 Amals. I tried a single Mikuni on a stock 850 once, but took it off in favor of a pair of sleeved Amal Mk1's. The single ran fine, I had more trouble starting it than the Amals. It was probably more to do with me being used to tickling the Amals and firing off on the first kick, but I never was able to get the single Mik to fire off in less than 3 kicks. My double set up fires easy on the electric button but also takes 3-4 kicks from cold.

When I discover oil in my back yard, I'd like to put a set of 35mm Keihins on the cafe racer. I have a set of 41mm FCR's on my Desmodue 944 cc Ducati and am amazed. With no chokes the beast fires in less than a full revolution. Very sweet carbs!

I think Jim Schmidt is working on flatslides , more compact and cheaper ( I hope) than Keihins .
http://www.jsengineering.net/