Fuel Tricks for “Older” Bikes

Hey, fuel injection is cool. More power, cleaner burning, precisely tunable. There’s plenty of advantages, but there are few devices man has created that astound like the carburetor. Nothing turns the gears in a gearhead’s noggin like good ‘ol analog mixed air and fuel. Plus, lots of us still ride “older” carbureted bikes on a regular basis with no problem.

Thankfully, the aftermarket is there for us loonies. CV Performance offers tune up and performance parts for H-D’s equipped with Keihin Constant Velocity carbs, found on most 80’s and 90’s Sportsters and Big Twins.

While they offer a few different parts from stock replacement jets to quick adjust idle mixture screws, we’ve saved the shop’s ’96 Sporty a trip to the shop by fitting one of their brass Fuel Inlet Elbows. The one piece fuel elbow presses in place of the stock plastic piece, which is prone to cracking, leaking, or just shattering if you happen to yank at it a little to hard. (Ahem…)

Years on, it’s held up beautifully, so we’re believers. Check out their website at