[AndrewWoodard]

Hiya, Gang!

Speaking of rubber-tipped float (needle) valves, the KZ305 has them. (At least mine does.) I've also seen them on a slew of Hondas, even the little Z50R in my garage.

The rubber-tipped valves are great for absolutely stopping fuel flow. The downside is that, over time, they can harden (due to leaching of the vinyl chlorides, usually due to exposure to ozone and/or sunlight). My 1982 KZ305 sat in my garage for over 20 years and, to my utter amazement, the rubber tips on the valves were in very good condition when I finally disassembled the carburetors to clean them. Perhaps I was just lucky, or maybe the quality of components the factory used was better than I generally give them credit for.

I've seen replacement rubber-tipped valves for sale at various places on the web, some asking $6-$7 for a single valve and one place with a much better price but only selling valves 6-to-a-pack.

At any rate, that's my 2 cents worth.

Thanks!

Andrew....