Advantages of Dells
1. They're original and authentic.
2. When Laverda triples were designed, they were truly state of the art and certainly one of the best carburetors available at the time.
3. They're pretty simple, fairly easy for most owners to service and tune.
4. Good range of jets/slides/needles available for tuning purposes.
5. Service parts often available at your local Italian bike (DucatiAudi or Guzzi, anyway) emporium.
Disadvantages of Dells
1. Yours are 30 years old and maybe worn out if they've had a lot of use, certainly most moving parts are somewhat worn.
2. They're not state of the art anymore. Carburetors themselves have been left behind completely by technology.
3. Many of the tuning parts are no longer available.
4. Increments between jet sizes sometimes seem a bit large; one size too small, next size too large.
5. Bloody heavy return spring, wears out your right wrist after a few hours.
6. No push/pull cable just in case something jams the throttle open.
7. Current versions are not the same as the originals so you actually can't just buy a new set and be completely original.
Advantages of Mikunis
1. Can sometimes be obtained (used) for a very good price. I've seen them go for $120 (US) on eBay.
2. They fit the available space fairly well.
3. Using Red's adapter kit, they're pretty easy to set up and have working.
4. Much lighter throttle pull.
5. Push/pull throttle cables.
6. Good range of jets/slides/needles available for tuning purposes.
7. Almost all parts available from Mikuni distributors in just about any country.
8. Much better throttle response under every condition (especially compared to worn-out 35 year old Dells).
9. I got a 45% increase in fuel economy. Others may vary but everybody gets better fuel mileage.
10. "Considerably" more power. I haven't seen a dyno comparison between both sets of carbs on the same bike, just swapping carbs and nothing else, and a couple of people have said that the top speed isn't any better. But my seat of the pants dyno says it's a lot faster.
11. They're (usually) not worn out. Even used ones were rarely used for long, usually purchased for the Jappazappy of the day which got wrecked/traded after less than 10,000 miles.
12. If you can't fix them yourself, most contemporary bike mechanics have considerable experience with Mikuni RSs. Even if they've never seen (or heard of) Laverda they can usually set up the carbs for you if you can't.
Disadvantages of Mikunis
1. They don't fit all that well. It's hard (but not impossible) to use the original airbox. Air filter pods also have some clearance problems, particularly on the right side. Fixable but a hassle.
2. They're heavy and will fall off if you back off the throttle after cracking it wide open. You have to have a bracket holding the back of the middle carb to the frame.
3. You need a push/pull throttle. MotionPro is popular, I like the ND throttle used on early Suzuki 750 2 stroke triples, identical to the Laverda one but with 2 throttle cables. Still some NOS ones around, too.
4. Some of the tuning parts are no longer available.
5. Unless you have a Mikuni distributor 3 minutes from your house (I do), you have to order parts and wait for them to show up.
6. The M3 screws on the float bowls are absolutely unbelievably poor quality, you have to replace them at the first opportunity.
7. If you mount them straight to the Laverda stubs the tops of the carbs may hit your petrol tank. They work better if they're angled downwards a bit. Red's angled stubs do this very nicely, or Wolfgang has some angled snowmobile rubbers that also work (probably not as well but they're what I use). Although they do tend to split after a year or so, so you have to keep a spare set on hand.
8. They're not cheap to buy new, and the second hand market is very variable. Actually they're bloody hard to find used these days, I've been looking but have only seen 2 or 3 sets in the last year (in the US).
9. You can't just buy throttle cables off the shelf. I was lucky, the Suzuki cables on my eBay throttle fitted perfectly, but I haven't been able to get new replacements as spares, they all seem to be too long. You need a solder pot and a supply of cable ends to be sure.
10. They're not original or authentic and will definitely reduce the resale value of your bike to collectors. Like you're gonna sell it while you can still ride...
Others may disagree or have their own comments to add. I will NEVER go back to Dellortos.
Ken
