altitude
I know it's VERY subjective, but did you notice any perceived change in performance? Simple drivability stuff, no quarter-mile comparisons or anything.
I did notice, on my two carb bikes, that they ran a little bit rich as we were actually going through Tioga pass. I don't have any specific memories of any concern. I know I had no problem getting up to the elevation, passing cars along the way. My '80 FXS shovelhead had a cam, straight pipes, and an SU II eliminator carb. It ran very well at sea level...
A fellow rider on a Honda 750, (circa 1983), started running very rich as we got up towards Tioga... He had a major loss of power going up hill, in his words, "I got passed by a ****ing Winnebago!" That quote became famous among our group... A couple others said they "felt" the altitude. A small loss of power, kinda of like running with the choke on after the bike warmed up, but only the Honda had real drivability issues...
We had a group of seven that year, I was the only Harley. All the bikes were running well the rest of the trip.... Only the Honda had issues at altitude, but he had "some work" done on it before we left, I can't remember what.. It ran better after crossing over Tioga
On my EFI bikes, I never felt a thing... not a skip, or a hiccup.. Recently, I've done the trip with as many as 5 Harley baggers, various years, but all Delphi EFI... My two baggers, and three others, were tuned via my PowerVision tuner, and had FuelMoto maps in them... Mine also had autotune sessions on top of the FuleMoto maps, but the three others were just the basic FuelMoto maps for their mods, no auto tune sessions...
All ran really well at sea level, before the trip... I think if an EFI bike is tuned well at sea level, it will have no problem at altitude..
Again, all anecdotal, but that's been my experience....
Last edited by hattitude; May 11, 2021 at 10:45 AM.
I'm using the power commander 1V .
Additional info if relevant:
2010 RK
S&S 106
AN big sucker
V&H power duals
Amer. Custom modified mufflers
Thanks for thoughts .
If your bike is running well, then you're wasting your time looking for ghosts. If you really think there is a problem, take it to a local tuner.












