Can it be the Rockies?
 

Question: I recently bought an '04 RoadStar Midnight while on vacation in Oklahoma. Bought it, love it, couldn't be happier. I'm in the military and I'm stationed in Colorado Springs, CO, where the elevation is 6000+ feet, an estimated 4000 foot difference of my hometown. I noticed once back in Colorado, unloaded and warmed up, that the throttle response isn't where it should be; I've noticed an apparent change between elevations. Nothing bad enought to raise performance questions, but it is a difference. I noticed the same in my old '97 Virago 750.
I've been handed a few suggestions, but I thought I'd try my luck and listen to some veterans and see what you've got to say. The main suggestion I've received is jetting it for the altitude adjustment. I wanted to know if it's worth it to pay for parts plus installation for that difference. Any thoughts on the matter? Thanks!

~Joker

Is it carbourated or injected? If you have a carb then you need to ask yourself where you will be doing most of your driving and rejet accordingly. If you have FI then remapping would need to be done.

It's got carbs, but I don't want to jet it for 6000 feet and then bring it down to Oklahoma and still have problems with it, though. Would jetting it cause a problem with such? I was thinking about buying a bike with fuel injection versus a carb bike, but it wasn't in the cards. Any history in this field?

You might want to pick a jet that would be in the middle of where you will be driving and then adjust your carb accordingly if you don't want to rejet when you make the change in altitude. That's just an idea of mine since I have not had to deal with it personaly. Talk to your local dealer mechanic and see what he says.

Yea, that was my next plan of action. I was deterred from the whole thing last winter simply because of some of the mechanics here in the Springs were telling me that they didn't make a jet kit for my old '97 Virago, when I could go onto bikebandit.com and find one. I just don't have the confidence to jet it myself, now that I've gotten a bigger bike, so I've been looking for advice.

I have the 05 roadstar 1700
I had mine rejetted when I put the hyper charger on
(I had to rejet when I put new pipes on anyway)
which has an ajustment on it that helps some when I go into moutians if needed. I was in Utah and thought guy in front of me was running racing fuel.
turns out it was me running rich.
there are many more knowledgable than I on performance but it seems
to work for me.
I have had two issues with mine at 5000 miles the valve seal went(warranty)
and now at 18000 my clutch is slipping( I pay)
I am going to put in the Barrett hi performance one with Kevlar and steel
and am switching from the yamalube semi synthetic oil to full synthetic.
Enjoy the bike and be safe.