I'm too lazy to put together a real ride report but here are some pictures from the trip.
Me and bunch of very good friends spent a long weekend in the mountains close to Telluride, CO riding some of the passes.

Since this is a KLX forum and I respect the privacy of my buddies, I chose only images that show very little or non of the other guys.



















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Mikko

 

Are you loving that MT43? I am really happy with the performance of mine.
I have a question about the jetting on your bike. What main jet are you using, and how did your bike perform at altitude. I should be down that way some time in the next week or so and would like to have a heads up.

Thank for sharing the nice shots and info.

 

The MT43 was a great tire on rocky Colorado jeep trails. There was almost zero mud so this was pretty much a perfect tire for the conditions, it provided amazing grip at already at 15PSI while still being totally usable on the pavement.

I'm running a TM33 carb on my KLX. At 7000 - 13000 ft. elevation the jetting was sort of kind of OK with 115 main. Mid throttle was to rich but WOT was usable even at the highest peaks.

The MT43 is a very tall tire. To compensate for that and to help with the steep climbs I geared my bike to 13/46. Even with that gearing the bike was not able to pull on 2nd gear at the highest & steepest climbs. So I just wound it out on first....

The elevation really kills the power. Someone calculated that compared to the sea level the engine loses 78% of its power at 12000 ft. And that is with perfect jetting. The air is simply so thin that only 22% of the "sea level power" is left at that altitude.
Combine that with extremely steep climbs and you can see how essential the short gearing is.

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Mikko

 

Thanks for the info, I will bring a few smaller jets with me.

 

Hey that looks familiar, pretty sure that's near Engineer pass, (Alpine loop near Ouray)?? I was out there in "04" no bike though.

Great photos!! , got any more you feel comfortable posting?? thanks for putting up what you did. Awesome area for a DS bike. I have been thinking about making up a tank tray for my spare gas can. I just strapped my 1 gal can to the stock rack, but after a ltttle while on some rough stuff, it's dangling by the strap. I like the look of yours.
Dan

2004

 

I like the gas can holder...reminds me of mine.

 

Dang, at those altitudes, you need a oxygen mask if you are use to living at sea level. Oklahoma is realitve flat. The only hill here might break 3,000ft, but all else, you are stuck around 1,000ft.

Seeing those mountian peaks remind me of Washington state.

 

Great pics! I've spent some time there in my Jeep. Hope to take the KLX one day.