Octane Recommendations?

I finally got a chance to put a few miles on my bike today! First stop was the gas station and I filled her up with 91 octane (unfortunately that's the highest octane we can get here in Maine now).

I was wondering what recommendations you all might have as far as what octane I need to/should run in my bike? (1985 VF1000R)

The Honda parts manual says "86+octane" but with the compression ratio on this bike it seemed like higher octane fuel was in order, but hey, if I can just chuck regular in it and be fine that's definitely OK by me!

Any thoughts?

Got a little over 50 miles on her today just scooting around town, bring on the summer fun!!!


-Paul

 

The lowest octane she'll run on without knocking/detonating generally is the one with the most energy content. Some cages though get a lot of carbon buildup on lowish octane fuels......

 

Use what the manual says. They design it to run on a certain octain. If you make mods, then things may change. I burn 87 in my 06. I have 42k + miles on mine and all is good. I am told that to burn higher octane does not do your valve seals any justice

 

Cool, thanks, I'll throw 87 in next tank and see how it goes! I just wanted to check because I've heard quite a few people talk about running higher octane in bikes.

-Paul

 

BTW. 87 is the lowest octain level I can get here. But as I said, no problems. There has been a lot of talk in the media recently about the higher octain fuels. The basic conclusion is that the higher octain means only that you are spending more than you need. The gas companies will love you though. Of course in a cage, with a performance engine, you will want the high octain but again, the manual will say so. Let us know how things go for you whatever you decide to use.

 

The manual for my 1984 VF1000R ( in Australia ) states that low lead gasoline with 94 octane rating or higher. I used to run mine on 100 octane fuel and it went really well.

Am in process of re-building my bike, but, in Australia, the lowest octane fuel here is 91 octane. We alos have 95 and 98 octane.

I will be running 98 octane when it is back on the road.

All the best Peter

 

Thanks gearsau. Someone a while back here mentioned that octain ratings are different over here to Europe. Maybe this holds true for Australia too.I don't understand this but am no expert either. I would think that "octain" is octain. A 84!. You are rebuilding just because or is it showing its age. What is the odometer reading on it out of curiosity. How long have you owned it. If not since new, do you know its history? YOu have a gem there.

 

if you have taken any classes in principles of internal combustion engines you will learn that an increase in octane makes the gas burn slower and cooler thus lowering the point of detonation... if you run higher octane than needed it will result in faster carbon build up than usual. unless your bike is modified or you are taking it to the track, do not use higher octane than what honda recomends!

 

Easy now! I have quite a bit of experience with octane differences and internal combustion engines in automotive applications. I was just asking for recommendations and experiences regarding this particular bike, because I am new to the motorcycle world and many sportbikes seem to require higher octane fuel. I was especially confused when the Honda PARTS manual (not my service manual) said "86+ octane" because it seemed low, and I can't even get 86 octane here, the lowest available is 87. I was also thinking that with the relatively high compression ratio of this engine that detonation could be an issue with lower octane fuel, thus requiring the use of higher octane "more controlled burn" fuel.

As I said, I will try 87 octane on my next tank and see how she runs!

Thanks for all the input so far!

-Paul

 

In the U.S. the octane is the average of the research and motor octane numbers (R+M)/2 that you see on pumps.

In Europe and Australia and other areas, the octane shown is the 'research' octane only, which is higher than the same (R+M)/2 value.

 

Ah! Very interesting, good to know!!

 

Any ways i use 93, but my bikes not really stock...

 

Randy,
Thanks for the compliments about the bike. I have owned it from new when I picked it up on June 4th., 1984. So, this bike is probably the one of the oldest VF1000R's around.

The bike has done 18,000 Kilometers since new ( thats 11,250 miles) . I have not ridden it since 1990 or so, as the bike developed a vibration in the motor, and HONDA didnt want to know about it. The vibration did develop some time earlier. I dropped the sump off at the time, but, no foreign particles there. Compression was good, and so, I just lost interest in the bike.

One thing I learned to my cost, was never park a bike with fuel in the tank. Fast forward some years, and of course, the fuel had turned to gunk, and the tank was rusted. Fortunately, I was able to pick up a 1985 tank on eBay in USA, and had it shipped to Australia. Tanks now are unobtainable. I was lucky, as I picked up the tank for US$ 255, and the last new one that I saw on eBay went for around US$ 700 or so. Also picked up some near new mufflers on eBay as well.

Oh yes, the bike also went through two sets of cams. First set at 2,500 miles. I have purchased an " oil kit" as well to install with the rebuild.

So, its just a slow process, but, I will get there. Body work is perfect, except for some small marks on the bottom of the belly pan.

All the best from " Down Under" Peter