This may be a stupid question from a "flatlander," but it's alien territory to me. All of my riding to date has been at elevations less than 4,000 feet. (We call those mountains out East.) I am riding to Colorado in August and will be at altitudes ranging from 5,000 to 14,000 feet (Pikes Peak). Will there be any difference in how the bike runs? Anything I should be aware of?

 

If you have an EFI bike you should have no problems and it will adjust itself. If you have a carb or some type of programmers don't use the o2 sensors then you might need to look into setting it up for the real mountains.

 

As stated the EFI will take care of itself. Your CCP will drop reducing power to degree.

 

You'll see some power loss that's normal.

Closed loop EFI will adjust the amount of fuel based on available O2. Just got back my bone stock Road Glide Ultra did just fine.

I ran a power commander 5 on my 13 Street Glide that's an open loop tuner. it was tuned for 700' elevation. Last year I did Colorado 2 up with the bike loaded on the 13' including pikes peak and had no problems.

 

Better fuel mileage the higher you go.

 

I have a pc5 also. so what's is the difference between open and closed, pros/cons? does the closed have anything to do with Harley dealer told me my pc5 wouldn''t work decatting my '10 ultra and needed the SE tuner instead?

 

Mountain Riding: I live at 4400 ft, often ride up to 9000+ ft & back down to almost sea level. You may have to shift a little more at higher elevations but the EFI will take care of the rest. I have found that gas from Chevron, Shell, etc performs better than the discount gas at higher elevations. Make sure your brake pads & tires are in very good condition... what goes up, must come down & hard braking is common. Enjoy the Ride !

 

Living here in the Mile High state and haven ridden to the tops of Pikes Peak, Mt Evans, Independence pass, etc - your bike should have no problems, you will notice a little less HP the higher you go, but you will also be lightheaded from the same lack of oxygen....

 

Yup, as they all said. Assuming your bike is EFI, and running well, it will be fine. I live at sea level, and mine ran fine at 8,500'.

 

Of course he told you that because he wanted to sell you something. Total BS, personally I wouldn't kick a blind hog in the *** for a SE tuner. I have PCVs on both bikes and will never run anything else. It had the SE tuner which I took off and replaced with a PCV. My gas mileage on the Road king goes from about 38 MPG to about 55 MPG in high altitudes.