Hi,
I have a 2008 ZX-14 with approx 24000KM. The bike is pretty much stock other than the K&N air filter and the Acropovic exhaust.
I live in Calgary which is at 3500 feet of elevation. I went on a trip last fall down to the coast and started noticing some strange behaviours at higher RPMs in 1st and 2nd gear: It feels like I'm running out of gas (kinda). I'm saying kinda, because it's like when you first start to run out of gas, in other words I can hear it, but it doesn't cause the engine to cut out so badly that the front dives or anything.
Some details/things I've tried:
- It only happens at sea level. The problem went away when I got back to higher elevations.
- I rode about 2000 kms at sea level and it always did it in 1st and 2nd but not in 3rd, 4th, etc.
- Level of fuel in the tank seems to make no difference.
- I went through many tanks of gas from different companies / octane and it didn't seem to make a difference.
- The problem disappears as soon as I shift to 3rd.
All of this seems to rule out bad gas? I know the earlier versions of this bike had some sort of RPM limiter in 1st and 2nd gear. Is this the way it worked: cutting off the fuel so you got less torque?
Anyone have any ideas? I've been searching the forums but I haven't found anyone with the same issue...
Thanks in advance!!
Gilles