Is it my imagination?

[WAC1972]

I swapped a set of carbs on my 96 RSTC today and the bike runs good but it seems to me that it sounds quite a bit different. Is this possible or am I imagining things? I believe that the carbs came off a 97.

[pegscraper]

They're identical carburetors. There's no reason they should sound any different, unless the throttle valves on your old ones were stuck and not opening up. That would do it, but you wouldn't have had any acceleration either. Why did you swap them?

[WAC1972]

I bought the carbs about a year ago off of Ebay when I was having some issues with the carbs that were on the bike. After a couple of Seafoam treatments the problems went away and the Ebay set just sat on my bench. A couple of weeks ago I did a swap of the carbs just for the heck of it and the bike seemed to run alright but I had some popping at idle. I decided to swap back. While doing that swap I noticed that I had never reconnected the lower vacuum hose to the air box. I continued to reinstall the original carbs and for the last couple of weeks I have been wondering if the air box hose was the culprit for the popping at idle. Yesterday I had a little of time so I decided to retry the 2nd set. The bike seems to run pretty good except at high RPM's in first gear I feel a miss. I am pretty sure that both sets need to be synced. I have been considering buying a carbtune but am pretty strapped for cash so it will have to wait.

[BigBoyinMS]

It may simply be the PMS needs adjusting.

I also have a Road Star (single carb, V-twin) and I've found with it the mixture makes a huge difference in the sound. When the mixture isn't right it actually sounds and feels like each cylinder is firing hard; when the adjustment is right it's a smoother exhaust note and feel.