Lean Mix & Higher Altitude riding!!
I had been to such Himalayan terrains several times and as per experts who had covered these terrains before had advised on their blogs and forums to use only rich mix as the bike would require loads of power. It really didn’t make sense to me but I always had rich mix on carburetor. This time around I adjusted the carburetor without any hesitation. My experiment was to see how it really works, my Pulsar 180 is the first model that came out in the market and I always treated her with loads of respect.
This time I cut the air filter cabinet a little to get most air flowing into the filter. It worked like a charm, then I adjusted the fuel mix knob to leaner mix, this would be according to me an ideal mix for my bike. The entire tour of Ladakh, it struggled only when attempting Marsamik La pass and no where else. Basically at higher altitude you would have less oxygen molecules which in turn would not burn all the petrol which is flowing though the carburetor, when the flow of petrol is reduced and air flow is increased the mix of higher volume of air would have more oxygen and less fuel to burn works out to be perfect for higher altitude riding. With the bike in stock condition, only mods are custom adjustable handle bar and regular pulsar alloy wheels. Neither exhaust modification nor any engine mods, the bike had no power lose and gave a mileage of over 65 kmpl in higher altitude and 48 kmpl on plains at a higher speeds.
All those who have Pulsar 180 or 150 classic, can try this. It works like a charm 