XT600e Altitude Sickness

[dionysos]

Hi,

I was hoping someone with a bit of XT carb knowledge could help me.

I've got a 2002 XT600e. It runs fairly well at sea level, but appears to have a slight mixture problem that gets worse at high Altitude.

Symptons:
At sea level, with a wide open throttle, it accelerates cleanly, but closing the throttle quickly results in a small lurch (No big problem)

Above 1000m (3000ft), it starts struggling on load. If too much throttle is given under load, it will "chug" and falter, and backing off the throttle results in it smoothing out. At higher heights this gets much worse, so the barest throttle opening results in the bike losing power and faltering, leaving me crawling up hills at 30mph.

I suspect this is because the mixture is too rich, made worse at higher altitude with less dense air. The iridium spark plug appears normal in colour and deposits.

Reading the archives, people have mentioned a notch on the carbs right hand side. Could someone please explain in laymans terms clearly how to lean out the mixture a little so I can have a few horses back as it is not immediately obvious what to do!

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Will
XT600e (In line fuel filter. 23ltr Acerbis Tank
San Jose, Costa Rica.