Planning an offroad trip to Colorado (The Colorado Back Country Discovery Route) this August with many trails leading over 12,000 ft high passes. Sounds like fun,doesn't it? The difficulty I forsee is I ride a 2006 XT225. I've heard it will need to be rejetted and that's fine. But what else should I expect? Will it really have THAT much difficulty? Any tips would be appreciated.
Head over to xt225.com and read the posts and ride reports by Muniac. He and the misses rides their XT's all over Colorado and they don't seem to have any issues whatsoever. Maybe look into the "dial-a-jet' thing. Then you can adjust to whatever altitude you're at and won't have to worry about the jets.
Will do,thanks. BTW I looked up this Dial-a-jet and it doesn't look as though they make one for the XT 225. 350 and 600 only.Booo http://www.thunderproducts.com/dial_a_jet_yamaha.htm
This one should work: DJ-109 But the Intelajet product looks even better and it's bike specific. IJ-210-AF
XTs are common, They are all over the place. Two people that you might contact who have experience with them is HayDuke, and AnnieGS. HayDuke's wife Bonnie Abbzug had one for years. They are based in Salida Co. I know that she had that bike in some really high country. They are great people. If they decide to help you. You will be in good hands. Other things that you might want to consider, include protection, and suspension. Protection; can be anything from a bash plate for rocks to brush guards for your grips. Shark fins for brake disks are useful too. Lot of rocks in the Rockies. Rocks can be a deal breaker for your ride. Case your bike and it's over. Next is suspension and overall bike balance; This is a hard one, you will be riding everything from rocks to sand. A good suspension is setup to roll over babyheads and not wallow in the sand. Rolling over babyheads requires a loose valving and lower oil levels in the forks. While loading and sand (which is a form of loading) requires higher spring rates. If you bike wheel chatters on gravel ad preload. Get a good setup guy and see what he recomends. PM me if you want a few names. Next up is bike balance. I know a little about sag on more aggressive bikes such as KTMs. Not so much on XTs. But be sure that you have your bike balanced for you. If the front sits to low then you it will over stear. If the rear sits to low then it will understear and the front will kickout on rocks. An out of balance bike will make you ride a living hell. Remember you are climbing and decending. These are two conditions that you might not be ready for. I have never ridden over Cumberland pass and not had snow, rain or hail. Normally I get all three. Think about where you will be. Sometimes you will be 2 hours out from any heat source. There is a reason that they call anything west of the front range Coldado. Dress in layers. and stay warm. Lastly ride your skill level. You will be riding with guys who don't know shit. and guys who have been riding for years. Stay away from the guys who don't know shit. And ride at your own rate of speed, there will always be people riding faster and slower. A lot of people have been hauled back to town in the back of a Ambulance. That includes me. Some say that it's only fun if you finish. I can buy into that. More people crash and burn on Dual sport rides than another type of ride. Lastly bring your camera. And don't be afraid to stop and enjoy where you are. I love back country riding. And Colorado is an amazing place to back country ride.
Wow Hair,thank you for taking the time to share. That is all excellent advice. I'll have to look into those Shark Fins for the brake disks. Will look more into how my suspension is set when the weather turns and I can finally start riding it more. We were able to play a bit with the rear,but not much on the front. Being an XT,there's only so much you can do. I have a decent skid plate and my luggage racks actually do a decent job of seconding as crash bars.It's also equipped with a headlight guard,but does need some proper moose guards instead of these little plastic brush guards. I also have a larger Clark tank,so gas won't be an issue. I do have several years of motocross and Dualsporting under my belt,so I know not to under estimate the trail,but am pretty comfortable with my skill level of riding for this trip.But all good tips including the layering up as I won't be able to run electrics on the XT and I already told the Husband unit that we'll have to alot extra time to allow for plenty of photos. Thanks again.
I have used an XT with stock jetting many times in high altitude. I removed the snorkel on air box, drill two 1" holes in air box door and snap conduit plugs in. When you get above 6k' remove the first plug, and when it starts bogging at higher altitude remove the second plug. I spend most of the time in the San Juans and only needed on plug out. I also had the Z1 exhaust mod done on one of the bikes, not much of a difference noticed. Heck, I'm from IL so what do I know.....
I ride an XT250 in the mountains. I wanted a compromise between desert at 4-6k ft and mtns up to 10k. I jetted the main down two sizes, which is about right for the lower end, and I open up the air box when I'm up in the mountains. You might want to rejet 3 sizes and also open up the air box. I don't know the details on the 225, but on the 250 you can flip the filter cover over and it leaves a sizable gap to let more air in. You might have to cut some holes. Leave the pilot alone, but you might want to lean out the pilot screw a little, and might have to bump the idle speed up as well. The XT will do just fine after being properly jetted. Just don't ride it like that down in the flatlands. Al
All great tips. Thanks so much. I have the Z1 mod already done,but the current jetting is richer. Figured we'd have to alter that for this trip. Will have to look at drilling out the airbox.
my jetting set up when I had one: 115-117 main. stock is 125 as I recall. WAY too big. stock pilot no snorkel shim stock needle slightly ran fine most pace no small bike will run good at 12,000+ feet bullittman
Here are some random photos of my trip to Colorado this summer ... Just to change things up a little ... !!! This is between Silverton and Ouray on the east side of 550 ... Corkscrew Gulch Click for video Imogene Pass Leaving Telluride ... Facing Black Bear Pass to the right Video Day Ride around the Mountains ... 131 miles 8 1/2 Hours White Rim Trail ... Southwest of Moab Day Ride ... White Rim Trail Southwest of Moab ... 135 miles 9 hours As you can see ... my bike is highly modified ... and I was also running stock jetting ... I've had this bike from sea level to 13000 plus feet ... the stock CV carb does a remarkable job of keeping the engine running clean ... Granted you loose HP at high altitude ... but the bike runs fine ... Below is a link to my Colorado/Utah July 2012 vacation trip ... enjoy http://s71.beta.photobucket.com/use...o 2012?&_suid=1359772278966047954343638399954
I had a guy at the top of imogene pass begging to trade me even for his 690 KTM because he saw how light and flickable my bike was compared to his ... He said he lost count how many times he droped it just to get to where he was. I found the comment very amusing ...
