get a bigger bike, I've got a 2007 s40 as my commuter and I like it a lot. As it's a good little cruiser too. Cruising is 50-60mph, if your doing 70+ get a sport bike or as i said a 800cc or bigger.
                                                                          smitty1

Rocco,

I had the same problem/scenario as you--struggled above 60 mph stock 96 thumper.

This is what I did and it worked wonders.  DO AS FOLLOWS for more horsepower and top end...

Get Lancer's jet kit~$25.00
Get a K&N type cone filter off Ebay or Lancer~$25.00
Get a take-off muffler from a Harley Sportster 1200~$25.00
Get a 1 5/8" exhaust C-clamp off Ebay~$5.00

Now drill a 1/2" hole down thru the baffle on the muffler.  I bought a real long 1/2" drill bit but ask around and someone may have one you can borrow.  Mount this new muffler on the bike with the 1 5/8" C clamp.  This will give you the sound and performance you're looking for.  The 52.5 pilot jet and 152.5 main jet worked perfectly for me (VA humidity and close enough to sea level).  Maybe a slightly different jets will work better for you but only way to know is to try.  FWIW I'm just under 2 full turns out on the air mixture screw.

=This worked wonder for me and I can run 70-75 mph all day and still get 50+ mpg.  The drilled hole in the baffle will still give you a nice pop pop pop pop on hard decel you're obviously into  

-Matt

My Lancer kit has a #55 pilot jet and a #150,#152,5 and #155 main jets, along with 3 brass washers for the jet needle mod.

BTW air flow or lack there of is the largest reason you may be getting poor performance.
Less air makes it richer and being rich kills power production.

I had a 650 honda nighthawk that was really gutless past 90 when I discovered its air box to carb boots were squished and collapsed.

I put the things back in and fit them with hanger wire holding it in and open and it cleared up.

In fact the 86 savage used to have a nice smooth air box to carb boot if I recall. The 87 on is ribbed and I suspect that boot was caving in under vacuum and that was why they did that.

Cool.
Srinath.

2 jets, & access to the mixture screw is what you have.

Yea, like that. You pick a main & try it. Once youve had the carb apart, you can drop the bowl & change jets, on the bike. You can try different mains & adjust the white washer thickness, which is necessary. Thats a pretty nerve wracking event. Gotta get some tiny screws out & theyre down in a hole. Dont screw that up. Tools, quality tools.
There are some Carb Tuning tips online, Lancer put them out. They are like a "paint by numbers" set of instructions. Youll need them. Ive been in & out of several carbs, & I need them.
This is a potentially several days project. If you are gonna really do it & get the best performance possible, youll have to try different mains & make test runs & swap things back & test & make sure of what the results are. I need to go do it & do it right. I just wanted to make sure it was rich enough to not hurt it.


& No one who rides these can afford to send it to the shop to have a carb tuned to the best performance. Its time consuming when done right.( Or someone got lucky ORRR, some of these guys just know what the heck theyre doing) Just gotta mess with it & enjoy studying how these changes affect performance. Once you understand how the different circuits work, where they overlap & what part of the RPM range each impacts, then itll make sense & youll be able to decide what to do to create a more rich or more lean burn at different parts of the RPM range. I didnt want to apply myself to that level at the time, just tossed a jet in & went. I am thinking I want to finish that project soon.

Yep, as you gain experience you'll take steps deeper & deeper into the bike. When I got mine, I couldnt bring myself to do the valves, but I watched it done & read this forum & decided I could do it. No Way would I have even considered doing the cam chain back then, but with each experience it gets easier & I get faster ( read: Less slow).
Ive yet to see anyone here take on a normal maintenance, jetting, tuning, oil change, etc, type task & hurt the bike. Ive seen 2 engines smoked by morons in a shop putting the oil filter in bakkerds.
I think this is a great bike for learning how to do maintenance. Its a simple design & the help available here is sufficient to allow anyone with the least desire & ability to succeed.
Success being found at the intersection of desire & ability.


Edit: Your bike wont be down long for any one time after youve been into the carb the first time. The first time you'll be up against those stock screws & the white washer mod is a one time deal if you get lucky. Talk to Lancer & the carb specialists before you go in that part.Once is plenty. I went in twice.
At worst, the bike will be down for a few hours at any one time.Not days.

The 1st time you'll need to take the carb out.
once you get all the screws broke loose, you can just drop the bowl while it's on the bike.  Get a small mirror and a stubby standard blade screwdriver and you're good to go.

Another thing about jets is the mpg, I went up from a 145 to a 150 with no appreciable drop in mileage.  but when I went up to 152, it dropped with no increase in performance.  A telltale example of oversizing the jet.