Gas

Does everyone run Premium gasoline when you fill up? I always put premium gas which is 91 octane i believe, but I do it because its supposed to be "better gas" and its not that expensive to fill. If I were to use low octane would this affect my ride?

 

I also used to run my bike on premium. I switched to regular and have noticed no difference....except in my pocket.

 

i go for the cheap stuff

 

I used only premium until two weeks ago when I want to regular unleaded. Absolutely no difference in performance or mileage.

 

This has been debunked on MythBusters, debunked by every OEM that sells cars/motorcycles on the US market & debunked by everyone else who takes the time to run back to back tanks of gas:

If your owner's manual says 87 octane, use 87 octane. The ONLY difference running 91/93 will make is that it will cost more to fill up. You might even see LOWER MPG running higher octane.

If your owner's manual say 91/93 octane, you can use 87 octane there as well. The problem with that is the ECU will dial back the timing to combat pinging & detonation. You will suffer power loss & MPG drop. So, you can say a few pennies on each tank but it the result worth it?

So, in other words, use what the owners manual says to & worry about other things. Like the economy & how your taxes are soon to go up to pay for all the new US Gov sponsored hand-outs to morons who couldn't buy a house that they could afford, deadbeats that never had a job, illegal immigrants that don't belong in my country, etc... are being cooked up by the looney left.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Yes KC-10FE; our country is really in a pretty big mess. I wish I had a plan to fix everything,unfortunately I dont . What I am trying to do is continue to work, pay my taxes and my bills. Now I am not crazy about it,but I believe by doing these things that it will help the Country bettter than anything else. And yes it ticks me seeing people getting handouts that shouldnt. Oh,and the gas ,many of us have talked ourselves blue in the face over this one. I USE PREMIUM, high test fuel helps the combustion chambers run cooler, critical things like valves and piston rings.Buy using premium we should theoretically be able to
increase the longevity of our engines.As KC stated, sometimes premium wont give you
better performance or mileage,but to me its a tiny engine insurance policy. eddie

 

I've used both and found no difference between low and high octane. There is another thread on the gas subject with lots of responses.

 

So, in other words, use what the owners manual says to & worry about other things. Like the economy & how your taxes are soon to go up to pay for all the new US Gov sponsored hand-outs to morons who couldn't buy a house that they could afford, deadbeats that never had a job, illegal immigrants that don't belong in my country, etc... are being cooked up by the looney left.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:[/QUOTE]

Yea we got 1000,s here too mate,over here from europe ,pinched our jobs, then their earnings go back to support their home economy while using all our free health service and benifts if work stops ect. oops ,sorry , wrong place to have a bleat on here!!
Now, it`s stopped snowing and raining , iv`e got a gps to bolt on,then i`m off to ride around on my black smooth powerfull bitch! at last!

 

Oh good...I thought I was going to have to be the irritable guy saying "Not ANOTHER gas thread...please use the SEARCH function!" and "of course I only use 87 octane..."
BUT, KC came to the rescue and patiently answered the question (and stirred the pot in about the same way I was going to...)
THANKS KC! Here is a virtual cigar for ya!

 

Never understood why people waste money on premium when it's not required. Octane ratings and their impact should be in the "Man Handbook".

 

I was wondering if a bike gets "use to" a certain level of octane. My friend bought an '87 vfr from a guy who was running 100LL av gas for 4 years in the bike. Now every time he fills up he feels he should put the highest octane fuel in the bike because it ran 100LL for so long. Any educated or uneducated answers out there?

 

If you have an 83-85 your better run premium. They don't have an ECU and can't retard the timing. You might be able to get away with 89 in cool/cold weather. But in warm-hot weather it will detonate a lot, especially under load and knock the rod bearings out. Eventually. Don't even think 87. I had to once. Had to have big control over my right hand. If it came close to any kind of load it would rattle and any sizable load on the motor it sound like marbles in the dryer. OOOOO not good.

Older technology has it's faults sometimes, and sometimes not.

 

I'm not going to be able to keep my mouth shut on this one, so here it goes. This bailout, and it is a bailout, has nothing to do with wellfare (unless, maybe it's corperate!) The vast majority of this ridiculous amount of money is approprieted to corporate america, who for the last eight years have paid themselves inflated salaries and bankrupted thier employees retirement funds through deregulation and cookbook accounting. Who ran these corrupt boards and what party gave them the authourity to do so, you guessed it, republicans.

Now, as always, a democrat has to come in, look the bad guy, and fix the problems a previous administation caused. Clinton had to do it after Reagan and Bush, and Obama is having to do it after JR's run.

A massive bailout, yes! A CORPERATE bailout, absolutely!! An immigration bailout, not even close!! Obamas' fault that all this is happening, get real!

Nobody is happy about this, includeing me, so where was the republican outrage when all of the expenditures and policies that put us here in the first place were actually happening, fiscall conservitives my ass!

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I use 87 octane without a worry.

 

Owners manual says 87 and thats what I run, bike runs perfect. Save your money, even if its only 1 dollar per fillup.

 

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

Many high-performance engines are designed to operate with a high maximum compression and thus demand high-octane premium gasoline. A common misconception is that power output or fuel mileage can be improved by burning higher octane fuel than a particular engine was designed for. The power output of an engine depends in part on the energy density of its fuel, but similar fuels with different octane ratings have similar density. Since switching to a higher octane fuel does not add any more hydrocarbon content or oxygen, the engine cannot produce more power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_number

 

Wrong. 87 is what is recommended by the manufacturer.

You only need higher octane gas if you have a high compression engine. The higher octane gas contains combustion inhibitors so the mixture won't pre-detonate (ping) under high compression. The 83-85 engines are not high compression and don't need premium gas.

 

And we have a winner!!!!:thumbsup:

 

I don't consider 10.5:1 cr a low compression for street use.
The owners manual on page 28 states: Any automotive gasoline with a "pump octane number (R+M*2) of 86 or higher, or a "research octane number" of 91 or higher may be used. If "knocking" or "pinging" occurs, try a different brand of gasoline or a higher octane.

Even though the motor and heads are aluminum they can run higher compression than an iron head of the same design on the same octane. They dissipate the heat faster and need the heat from higher cr's. I know in the summer hot temps, my motor will run hotter than normal than in cool weather. It won't run on 87 without pinging. Even on some of todays 89. Todays head design is a little more advanced from 83 and is designed more efficiently . Hence the lower octane it needs, along with ECU timing retard saves most of today's motors from detonation
Spending .50 cents more at most per tank fill I making sure there is no detonation at high speed/load were you can't hear it.