View “Dr. Stefani is Called to Surgery: The Patient? An Ailing Carburetor”

Photography by Peter Belanger, Eli Mikiten
Written by Owen Edwards

Since modern motorcycles use fuel injection systems instead of carburetion, fixing an old-school, mechanical carburetor has become almost a lost art. *Photo by Eli Mikiten.*

Motorcycle owners, especially if they ride old bikes, often try for better performance by doing their own customizing. While that sometimes works, it can cause “knock-on effects” that make the repair more challenging. Stefani says. *Photo by Eli Mikiten.*

When Stefani gets a bike that’s been tinkered with, it always makes him wonder what the owner was trying to achieve. “Manufacturers spend millions to create a well coordinated system,” says Stefani. *Photo by Peter Belanger.*

“Every bike has a different personality,” Stefani says. With the old mechanical bikes, their central nervous systems are relatively simple. But they can still require some brain surgery from time to time. *Photo by Eli Mikiten.*

Ever since California outlawed the use of solvents as cleaners, Stefani has had to resort to a soap-based solution in the shop’s parts washer. The process is slower, more of a hassle, but safer for the environment. *Photo by Peter Belanger.*

After a thorough cleaning, and a few new float valves and gaskets, these carburetors are ready to make the owner’s 2000 Yamaha YZF-R1 run like new. *Photo by Peter Belanger.*

Peter Belanger is a commercial photographer based in San Francisco, California.
Eli Mikiten is a Berkeley, California based photographer whose work includes sports, architecture, portraiture and the performing arts.

Owen Edwards is the author of several books about design and photography, and has been the arts editor of Saturday Review, executive editor of American Photographer, managing editor of Cosmopolitan, founding editor of Parenting, and a columnist for GQ and Smithsonian Magazine.

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