GENUINE versus Jets R us OEM EQUIVALENT jets.
For most jets we now offer two types: 1. GENUINE and 2. OEM EQUIVALENT
1. The Genuine jet was made by the carburetor manufacturer and came as original equipment in the carburetor. The engine came off the assembly line with GENUINE jets installed.
2. Our OEM EQUIVALENT jet is a copy of the Genuine jet.
The advantage of the Genuine jet is that it is made by the manufacturer of the carb to very tight tolerances, resulting in an extremely high quality jet.
The advantage of the OEM EQUIVALENT jet is the lower price. We do not buy our OEM jets from the lowest cost suppliers like most places. We only use 1 manufacturer for our OEM EQUIVALENT jets for lot consistency and match the jet number, orifice size and flow rate of the Genuine jets. Our oem equivalents are the best aftermarket jets available, but not as tight of tolerance range as genuine. We have a relationship with 1 manufacturer that we have used for years, most others cannot make that claim.
We often get asked should I buy the genuine or the oem equivalents. Not quite an easy question to answer. If you have genuine then stick with genuine. If you have oem equivalents from us then stick with the equivalents. If you have aftermarket jets from other places the numbers on those jets are probably pretty far off, in that case the oem equivalents are a good alternative. If you know you only need to go up a few sizes and you have genuine, again stick with genuine. If you have genuine and are not sure how many you need to go up then the oem equivalents make sense.
You may ask if it is ok to mix and match, many of our customers do and are satisfied with the results. Our advice is to stick with one type, use either the GENUINE or the oem equivalent and continue using that type. Above all else DO NOT mix our jets with anyone elses. There are too many inaccurate copies available all over and their numbers wont match the correct number system.
Many places sell Mikuni and Keihin jets and tell you and advertise them as GENUINE, however often they are counterfeit. Some manufacturers make counterfeit jets with genuine ID marks, however they are not genuine and many resellers are not aware they are counterfeit. We purchase our genuine jets direct from Mikuni and Keihin to insure we have genuine.
GENUINE MIKUNI jets will normally have a stamping on them which is a "square within a square" on them:
GENUINE KEIHIN jets will normally have a "K star" stamping on them:
We say "normally" have the stamping because some of the jets do not have the stamping, but are still Genuine. On our website we only use the word genuine if the jet was manufactured by Mikuni or Keihin.
****Note that the market is flooded with many places selling fake jets and advertising them as Genuine. Most vendors don't know they have bought fake jets because they don't specialize in jets. The result is people are buying fake genuine jets and paying the same price as genuine. Be careful if a shop has genuine jets at extremely low prices because those jets are probably fake. The old phrase applies, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is not true. ****