Hey guys, im planning a trip to Colorado to ride with some friends but my 2006 monster is jetted to ride here. I'm worried that in the higher altitudes I will have issues, so I was wondering what people from the Denver or southwest side of Colorado run for jets.
Currently my bike has a modified airbox for more flow (previous owner) and a full termignoni exhaust.
For reference, the altitude at home here in Wisconsin is in the range of 600-1000 feet and I plan on riding in the range of 4000-14000 feet when we get to Colorado.
Any suggestions for riding at the higher altitudes would be greatly appreciated.
Have you converted it to carbs? AFAIK, all 06 Ducatis were fuel injected.
The fuel injection system is pretty forgiving... you might be a little rich, but not so much as to cause issues. Mine had the trim set at about 2500 ft, I live where it is ~4500 ft, and I've ridden it through the mountains in CO with no issues (due to fueling).
Well then, now I feel dumb haha
The monster is actually a friends bike, I just said my bike to make things simpler, and I didn't want to start a Honda vs Ducati fight. The main reason I brought it up though is the bike has had power issues at higher altitudes before (in Arizona) and I saw what I thought was a choke but after some quick research just now I guess its just a "fast idle" lever?
Any thoughts why it might be having a loss of power at higher altitudes? Need less restriction on filter? Others?
Theoretically the engine would run rich at high altitudes but if its EFI it should be able to mostly adjust for that, maybe it just cannot move far enough?
When the bike was in Arizona my friend had to pretty much open the throttle wide open up high to get anywhere.
Pretty sure all 2006 bikes came EFI. I bought my 2006 s2r1000 (for sure EFI) in Oregon, at 1300' above sea level, lived and road it regularly at 4100' in Klamath Falls, OR and often down to Redding CA at under 600'. I now live in Maine, at under 50' with regular trips to New Hampshire at over 500' in elevation.
Shouldn't be a problem... [thumbsup]
Quote from: herm on March 29, 2017, 07:46:21 PM
Pretty sure all 2006 bikes came EFI. I bought my 2006 s2r1000 (for sure EFI) in Oregon, at 1300' above sea level, lived and road it regularly at 4100' in Klamath Falls, OR and often down to Redding CA at under 600'. I now live in Maine, at under 50' with regular trips to New Hampshire at over 500' in elevation.
Shouldn't be a problem... [thumbsup]
Remember the S2R1000 was different than other 2006 bikes. No fast idle lever. Not sure that it makes a difference, but I'm thinking the OP's problem is not altitude.
True.........And I wish it DID have the fast/high idle lever instead of that stepper, or whatever the heck it is that I don't like as much as.
Well, you have the fast idle lever... that seems to point to a "small" Monster. 800?
How many miles? Do you know the service history?
The EFI isn't self-adjusting, so it will lose a little with altitude, just not enough to hurt anything.
It could be the fuel filter though... Ducs don't like more than 12k or so on a fuel filter.
Where in AZ (my stomping ground) did you have issues?
This community tends not to hate hard on other brands, but if you are comparing a Monster to a Honda you are used to, the experience is different. You don't get the high RPM rush of HP as much (more so than a Harley, but it's not the same as a 4cyl bike).
Interesting that the EFI system doesn't adjust for o2 levels, maybe just mapped off throttle position and rpm or something.
Anyways, as far as where in AZ he was having problems Im not sure but he said it was getting higher in altitude 12k maybe?
Its a monster 695 or 696 I believe.
Ill check on fuel filter though, I could see that being the issue.
Yeah... higher altitude makes it run rich. not bad, just not the best power. If it has been dyno'ed with the airbox, I would expect an exhaust also. It seems that dyno for best power wants to be a little rich. That will make more of a difference at altitude (generally not hurting things, just not good for power).
IMO, the small monsters are hit harder by tuning for best power at altitude....
All Monsters were EFI as of '02.
All EFI Monsters can compensate for air temperature and pressure (in total, air density).
How effectively they compensate for altitude depends on how good the correction tables are.
Also, whether the air temp/pressure sensor is providing a good signal to the ECU, or whether the ECU is getting that signal.
None of the Monsters can eliminate the fundamental problem of lower air density at altitude.
They can have correct mixture through compensation, but there's less oxygen available, so there will be less power no matter what.
IME, they seem to do okay up to ~8000 feet.
Lizardhead at 11k (or whatever) in April, I had to stop and put on my serious long underwear. It gets cold up there. I carried extra warmth with due to the destination of my folks place.
^^ This.
Not sure if you're coming to CO in the near future or later in the year, but Spring in the Rockies is unpredictable and even more so at elevation. Even mid-summer can be brisk at midday. Plan for cold to freezing temps, wind, snow and rain. As they say, if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes...
I'm sure you'll have a blast, though. What area(s) will you be riding?
Thanks everybody for the feedback, I'm checking into a few things to see if i can track down the issue.
We are planning on coming down around august 10th to the 14th I think. We had initially planned on having Gunnison as our "home base" but now we are re evaluating that, any suggestions where to ride out of?
We rode the Tail of the Dragon last year and loved it, and we are hoping to have a great time in Colorado and see some different scenery.
For reference, the bikes we are bringing are the Ducati Monster, my CBR1000rr, an SV650s and a GSXR 600. Anybody have any recommendations on places to ride that would suit these bikes? ie more curves than straights.
Is DiTR going on this year?
Quote from: Speeddog on March 29, 2017, 09:13:00 PM
All Monsters were EFI as of '02.
All EFI Monsters can compensate for air temperature and pressure (in total, air density).
How effectively they compensate for altitude depends on how good the correction tables are.
Also, whether the air temp/pressure sensor is providing a good signal to the ECU, or whether the ECU is getting that signal.
None of the Monsters can eliminate the fundamental problem of lower air density at altitude.
They can have correct mixture through compensation, but there's less oxygen available, so there will be less power no matter what.
IME, they seem to do okay up to ~8000 feet.
Yes, just not enough oxygen. I think the rough rule of thumb is 3% HP loss per 1,000 feet of elevation so a 100 HP bike will be making about 70 HP at 10,000 feet no matter how well it's tuned for high elevation.
I'm thinking this must have been hammered to the last detail by piston-engine aircraft folks.
This shows 3.5% power loss for every 1000 feet:
https://yakimawpa.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/density-altitude-and-aircraft-performance-handout.pdf