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Carb jetting for '59 R60

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 11:57 am
by Bikesmith01
Hi Everybody,
I'm Jon. I'm new here. I acquired a 1959 R60 so recently that I don't even have it yet. It's still en route from Boston. I'm really excited about diving in and fixing it up. I'm familiar with both older and newer vehicles than the R60, but this will be my first time working on a bike from the 50s.
Among (many) other things I'm planning to tear apart and familiarize myself with, I'm thinking about the carburetors. Specifically, jetting for altitude. I live at about 6,000 feet (1800 meters), and I expect the bike will spend most of it's time at this altitude and higher. Some of my favorite rides take me above 8,500 feet (2500m). So I've rejetted all of my carbureted vehicles for the altitude. I expect I'll want to do the same for the R60.
Do any of you have any experience with this? Am I right in thinking that jetting for altitude will be more or less a necessity? Any recommendation on jets, or sources for jets?
Thank you in advance for any advise you may have!
-Jon

Re: Carb jetting for '59 R60

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:28 pm
by Lincoln
Here's a chart from Bench Mark Works on the specs for your carbs, just so you can check what's on the bike now:

http://www.benchmarkworks.com/articles/tech/carb2.html

And here's how you can figure what you need to do to rejet your carbs to compensate for altitude:

http://www.benchmarkworks.com/articles/tech/carb2.html

You can also experiment with adjusting the clip position on the jet needle. Moving the clip up on the jet will lower the needle and so lower the fuel to air ratio in mid-throttle ranges.

I run my 1967 R69S at ~7000 feet and a bit above here in northern New Mexico with 125 main jets. Stock is 135. I haven't changed the clip positions, though a knowledgeable friend suggested that that's all he's ever done, leaving the main jets stock, and he did a speed record at Bonneville on an R50, which is at 5000 feet. The bike runs fine, though the back ends of my mufflers are still a bit sooty, so maybe I should change the clip positions.

Hope this helps.

Re: Carb jetting for '59 R60

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:55 pm
by Bikesmith01
That's VERY helpful. Thank you! However, the two links are the same. Was the second one supposed to be different?

Re: Carb jetting for '59 R60

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:20 am
by Lincoln
Sorry for the doubling of the one URL. Here's the other one which I meant to send:

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tech/carbjet

Re: Carb jetting for '59 R60

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 10:51 pm
by jnclem
For what it's worth, I live at 8000’ and regularly ride my 58 R60 to well above 10,000’. It had 110s in it when I brought it up from Montana (4000’). I have a set of 105’s that I planned to put in, but so far the plugs look absolutely perfect, so I’m going to leave the 110’s in it.