Buyers Beware. I just purchased some of the new SUDCO brand carb rebuild kits being offered by Retro-Motorcycles on Ebay. Retro-Motorcycles offers two kits one kit fits CB72/77 and a kit to fit CL72/77. How do they make one kit fit both 250 and 305 carbs? First you include two different main jets with ISO threads which fit no 60's era 250-305 iI am aware of. Next you include only one jet needle ( it looks close to the 250 needle) that is 2.25mm longer than a standard 305 needle. I suppose Retro-Motorcycles figures the 305 guys can shorten them on our benchgrinders. I must admit that the kits contain some interesting parts like rubber tipped float valves and the press in needle jet ( in the CL kit) and I think i like the gaskets better than Keyster's. However as poorly as most of the parts of the kit are reserched, I'm sending my kits back. I'm not overly satisfied with the Keyster product but would gladly take it over the SUDCO. I have made Retro-Motorcycles aware of the problems with these kits however I see they are still hocking them on Ebay with no mention of the problems.
Fast Fred
BEWARE SUDCO CARB KITS=JUNKBEWARE SUDCO CARB KITS=JUNK
65 CL77
66 CL77 76 CB550FKR 76 CT90 Interesting.....when I contacted Keihin directly about jet and needle availability, they initially didn't want to talk to a customer, just tried to refer me to Sudco, and wanted to know where I got their number.
When I told them Sudco couldn't answer my questions and referred me to them, I was finally transferred to a tech rep.......who was very nice and tried to be helpful. 66 dream, 78 cb750k, 02fz1, 09 wing
Keihin notBrewski. it's true that Sudco sells genuine Keihin parts but these kits contain no real Keihin parts that I have seen. The rubber tipped float needle comes in a sealed bag that says Mapco on it. The one needle that comes with the kit is turned on a lathe like a real Keihin needle but has no markings or numbers at all.
Fast Fredl 65 CL77
66 CL77 76 CB550FKR 76 CT90
I also bought a set of these kits, so your warning came too late. I asked questions before purchase and was assured they had jets for both models of bike. There was no 135 jet for my 305, no needle for it and the gaskets did not fit. When I wrote to retromotorcycles, here's his reply:-
"Hi I'm sorry about any problems with these kits, I have had a lot of complains about this now and I have come to the realization that these kits are garbage, I usualy only sell original factory parts, or equal quality replacement, but these kits are obviously not correct fiting for these models, I'm very sorry about this but I no longer going to sell these kits, I refunded your full amount today, and you can keep the kits for what ever parts you can use. Please don't think that any of my other parts are as bad as these parts, these are definetaly garbage, and I don't want to represent my business with garbage. Sorry about the trouble on this transaction, if I had better quality kits I would be more than happy to replace them but I don't have a good source for these kits right now, I will try to obtain a better kit in the future. Thanks marcel" Note that he is still selling them. It seems some of the kit will be ok for CB72, but the jets are ISO and useless for our bikes. Still waiting for someone to put out a kit with 100% parts that fit, have the right threads etc. That is obviously the idea of a kit:- that is has everything you need for a carb overhaul and just buy one convenient item, strip and clean the carbs, fit new parts and reassemble. It's particularly inconvenient for someone like me who lives far from the land of 305 parts. I used the needle valve and airscrew, trimmed the floatbowl gasket as well as possible. It still has straight sides, while it should have slightly curved sides. Also, being rubber, I have heard that they swell. It needs to be made of some inert substance which will not react with the fuel. Grrrr...
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