High altitude effects?

[rleggs]

  Planning a trip to the rockies this summer and was wondering about the effects of the 5000' plus altitudes and the effects on the valk's six pack carbs. I've been on the Electraglide with no ill effects but it's injected. Should I take the electraglide again or will the Valk. be OK?

[eric in md]

omg do you want to make it ?  better take the valk  i rode all over the mountains out west no problems ,, sea level to 14 thousand feet

[CASABROKER]

Had mine to 11k at Beartooth pass never felt any issues.  Plenty of long dives in Yellowstone at 7k same deal.  Leave the hd at home you'll be glad you did.  LOL!! just kiddin...

[CajunRider]

Had mine to 11k at Beartooth pass never felt any issues.  Plenty of long dives in Yellowstone at 7k same deal.  Leave the hd at home you'll be glad you did.  LOL!! just kiddin...

I'll second that account...

From my home at 30 (yes... a whopping thirty) feet of elevation to Beartooth Pass at 11,000 + feet of elevation...

No problems. 

You will loose a little bit of power up that high... but not enough to matter. 

[F6Dave]

I live at nearly 7000' so I see a noticeable INCREASE in power when I travel to low altitudes, like Inzane last year.  Many years ago I read a book that said you lose about 3% for every 1000' increase.  The climb is often so gradual that you barely notice it, but in really high places (12,000' passes) it can be obvious when you go to pass someone.

Aside from the power loss up high you'll run a bit rich but that's no big deal.

[Tailgate Tommy]

I live in Colorado at 5000' and have been over Trail Ridge Road several times which is over 12,000' with no issues except a lose of some power. The lose of air was worse for me than the Valkyrie! By the way I use mid grade fuel which is 87 octane in CO. Have a good trip!
tkylli

[Valhalla]

If you make a conscious effort to keep the RPMs up there should not be any notable difference or any harm to the bike.  Overly rich mixtures can burn with some smokey exhaust.

I am looking at a trip through Bearstooth this summer . I hear its an awesome ride    

[Farther]

Dress in layers going over the Beartooth!

[DenverDave]

I live in Colorado at 5000' and have been over Trail Ridge Road several times which is over 12,000' with no issues except a lose of some power. The lose of air was worse for me than the Valkyrie! By the way I use mid grade fuel which is 87 octane in CO. Have a good trip!
tkylli

+5280 

Take care of yourself, your bike will be fine. Drink lots of water and take it slow while at altitude.

Dave

[Valkorado]

In riding season, my 97 Tourer loves her home stomping grounds at 7703 feet.  Currently she sleeps and dreams of spring days.

[mmurffy03]

my bike is at sea level just over a mile from the roller coaster in the ocean here in seaside heights new jersey

[hager the horrible]

Don't worry about it i have ridden mine from 12000 ft to at and below sea level fully loaded 2 up many times on same trip  never a problem

[~ Timbrwolf]

....Stock pipes and needles ?


I had Two Brothers Six into Six put on when I bought my bike new back in 01.
Shop Manager swore I needed to have after market needles with the Two Brothers..(This has now been proven to not be the case.) ...Fast forward 6 years, I grew tired of the noise and my buddy back in
jersey built me a "custom set" of pipes, using my stock pipes. He cut the cans off and welded on
22 inch "Cherry Bomb" glass packs. Bike sounded great great and ran like a bear.


Then about a year later, we rode out to the first Inzane in Colorado. My bike ran great....until we got to Denver. Its all up hill from there, and about 20 minutes out of Denver my bike began popping like a
popcorn machine, and steadily losing power until semi,s were passing us by.


Long story short....no one could help me until a friend we were staying with told me to pull the chrome caps off my carbs. He then proceeded to take a pair of needle nose pliers and carefully
pulled a tiny round clip off the first needle inside the carb and place it one posistion lower on the needle. He then had me do the rest of them, while he watched. When we were done he told me to
take her for a spin down the highway. I did, and she was back to running like a raped ape.


If you have stick pipes and carbs, you should have no problem.

[rleggs]

....Stock pipes and needles ?
  This could present a problem as I don't know what was done to this bike before I bought it 2 yrs ago. It's always ran rich here at sea level. It's had the piggies cut and drilled with turn down truck stacks, runs like a cat on fire. I'll be rideing with a long time Harley rider friend and will get alot of greef if I start falling back and smoking!
I had Two Brothers Six into Six put on when I bought my bike new back in 01.
Shop Manager swore I needed to have after market needles with the Two Brothers..(This has now been proven to not be the case.) ...Fast forward 6 years, I grew tired of the noise and my buddy back in
jersey built me a "custom set" of pipes, using my stock pipes. He cut the cans off and welded on
22 inch "Cherry Bomb" glass packs. Bike sounded great great and ran like a bear.


Then about a year later, we rode out to the first Inzane in Colorado. My bike ran great....until we got to Denver. Its all up hill from there, and about 20 minutes out of Denver my bike began popping like a
popcorn machine, and steadily losing power until semi,s were passing us by.


Long story short....no one could help me until a friend we were staying with told me to pull the chrome caps off my carbs. He then proceeded to take a pair of needle nose pliers and carefully
pulled a tiny round clip off the first needle inside the carb and place it one posistion lower on the needle. He then had me do the rest of them, while he watched. When we were done he told me to
take her for a spin down the highway. I did, and she was back to running like a raped ape.


If you have stick pipes and carbs, you should have no problem.

[R J]

In my 242,735 niles  on MGM, he has been over about every mole hill you can find.

Back  when I put my Viking pipes on I changed the needles, the ones that have a little clip on them like Timberwolf was talking about.

I'd have to go look to be accurate, but I think they are set on the 2nd clip down.

[9Ball]

And when you get to elevation, stick with 85 octane (which is regular unleaded in Denver, Colorado).

[Hoser]

+1, when I got west of Denver, I filled with Colorado gas, 85 octane, it ran noticably better that it had with the Kansas 87 octane I arrived with.  Hoser 

[mirion]

Couple years ago we flew out to Vegas and stayed with friends. He had two harleys so we went riding. Headed up to some mountain top bar not too far west of town. We has just filled up with gas and as we are going up the grade I ran out of throttle cable, I turned around and told the wife I think we got some bad gas, had to down shift and everything. Turned out I was just too used to riding Valkyries and not Harleys.

[Valhalla]

....Stock pipes and needles ?


I had Two Brothers Six into Six put on when I bought my bike new back in 01.
Shop Manager swore I needed to have after market needles with the Two Brothers..(This has now been proven to not be the case.) ...Fast forward 6 years, I grew tired of the noise and my buddy back in
jersey built me a "custom set" of pipes, using my stock pipes. He cut the cans off and welded on
22 inch "Cherry Bomb" glass packs. Bike sounded great great and ran like a bear.


Then about a year later, we rode out to the first Inzane in Colorado. My bike ran great....until we got to Denver. Its all up hill from there, and about 20 minutes out of Denver my bike began popping like a
popcorn machine, and steadily losing power until semi,s were passing us by.


Long story short....no one could help me until a friend we were staying with told me to pull the chrome caps off my carbs. He then proceeded to take a pair of needle nose pliers and carefully
pulled a tiny round clip off the first needle inside the carb and place it one posistion lower on the needle. He then had me do the rest of them, while he watched. When we were done he told me to
take her for a spin down the highway. I did, and she was back to running like a raped ape.


If you have stick pipes and carbs, you should have no problem.

The popping symptom is usually from going lean (slow burn and still on fire when exh opens) The carb change described should make the mix richer, which is the right adjustment for the too lean problem, but not what you would expect going to higher elevations.  who knew.