I bought a new Hawkeye a few weeks ago, the weather has been pretty cold here so I have only ridden up and down the street until last weekend. I took it to a popular riding place here. The parking lot is about 5000 ft elevation. the machine seemed to run just fine but as we rode up the rode the machine got weaker and weaker until it finally got to the point that the fastest I could get it to go was 20mph with the throttle buried. This was on the road that was not very steep.

I assume that the dealer has not done the high altitude tuning but I am no expert, I was hoping for insight from those that know more than me.

 

I'm assuming you were bogging due to running to rich, just as you suspect. Factory jetting for those is for 0' - 3000'. Once you get above that you probably need to rejet to a slightly smaller jet.

That's my guess...

 

Thanks for the reply. I figured that was the issue, I like to going to the dealer with a little bit of knowledge to try and speed up the process.

 

Oh yea, don't blame you there at all...

 

I just rejetted my hawk to the 142.5 jet. It runs so much better even at lower altitudes. From what I have read, it seems that Polaris' are always jetted on the rich side. I havent had it in high elevation yet but I dont get the power loss during climbing like I did with the factory jeting at 2500 ft. Pull the plug - I bet is is black. Get a new plug and rejet and you should be good.

 

What is the top speed on the hawkeye and how is the power? Does it pull pretty good?

 

I have not had much chance to ride it yet so I can't make a real good review, but I feel like once I get the jetting done it will be great. I think the top speed is 43mph. I did climb a pretty steep, long hill at about 5000ft and it pulled really good till about 3/4 the way up. It slowed down and I started to worry a little but it just chugged over the top with no belt slippage at all. I am about 250 so for a small machine to pull me up a hill like that I am pretty impressed. I can hardly wait to get it rejetted and see how it does.

 

I have found that climbing the long steep hairy hills that it slows down to a speed 7-12 mph and will always carry you over the top. After jetting, I could tell just from the sound that it was a smooth sound and not sputtering or missing and a lot stronger. I could slow climb most hills with plenty of power after the jet, that I had to pin the throttle on before. I have 25 x 8 fronts and 25 X 11 rears and mine will hit 45 mph. They are radials and it rides so much nicer with those tires and the extra clearance made a huge difference. I think the tire upgrade is a must.

 

dahui, going from 22' to 25' will change the mph you see on your speedo.

 

I know - It reads 41 on the speedo but per the GPS it was doing 45.