Lancer,

I live in Tucson, Arizona, and I was communicating with a local tuner about doing some work on my bike.  During the course of our conversation, I mentioned that the Mikuni VM was highly regarded on the Savage site as an upgrade.  This individual stated that he felt that the kehins were more tunable, and as he put it, "streetable."  I am a total ignoramous about such things, but I highly regard your advice, and would appreciate an comparison information that you could provide about the two carbs.

Thanks.

Yep, Old-dude is correct; the Kehin's (both flatslide and roundslides)  work as well and it very much depends on what you are accustomed to using and working on.  I started teaching myself on the stock  Savage carb, then spent time with Edelbrock Quicksilvers, then went through about 100 of the Amal Mark II's and then on to the Mikuni VM's of which I have sold 200+ carb kits over that past several years.  The Kehin is highly regarded by many but I see no significant defference between a Kehin roundslide vs Mikuni roundslide...they both do the same thing in the same way.  I have experience with the VM and its jetting requirements for the LS650 and it works well, especially with the UFO and Dial-a-jet added to it, so that is what I use in the Performance Carburetor Kit that I created.

Price wise, I believe the Kehin is slightly higher than the VM but it is in the ballpark so is not really a factor.

lancer is the man, plain and simple!!!