I have a 2023 Super Tenere, the owner's manual says 91 octane fuel?

[Campion]

Living off my military retirement and VA disability from deployments most Afghanistan. I was active duty 1984 to 2012 and in a high demand career field for that area so went three times. Anyways living off what I do it makes everything tight. So, I will do what I can do about the gas and rides.

 

[TimBucTwo]

You can run what ever you want but know the facts.

Fact is (not my opinion), thermodynamics is at play here.
A diesel works by squeezing an air/fuel mixture to the point where it reaches a pressure, creating heat at which it spontaneously ignites.
Diesels operate at 15:1 to 20:1 compression ratio.

Modern cars and most trucks operate at around 8:1 compression ratios.
They require faster burning, lower octane fuel. Firearms are somewhat similar. The faster the powder burns, less is needed to get the same chamber pressures.
These vehicles operate at lower RPM's than higher revving motorcycles and benefit from a quicker cleaner burn.

The super tenere has a compression ratio of 11:1. This is very high. To produce torque at lower speeds, higher compression is needed and therefore higher octane (slower burning) is needed.
Advanced timing (BTC) increases HP but can pre detente at lower speeds. I haven't checked the s10 timing.

So, at highway speeds with HIGHER RPM's and NOT loading the engine down you may and will most likely get away with lower octane.
The trade off is less power and risk of pre detention when lugging along. You may experience some knocking when coming off of a stop.

Each time you get a pre detention it's because the cylinder fires before the piston gets to where it should fire due to improper octane. The cylinder pressure causes the mixture to spontaneously ignite. This expanded gas is further pressurized by the crank pushing the piston up to top-dead-center, increasing cylinder pressure beyond the design limits. When the flywheel is still forcing the crank through the stroke, this imparts a hit on the piston and connecting rod. The connection rod in-turn puts excessive pressure on the rod bearings in that location of crank rotation. If you do this enough, the rod bearings will fail.

I always fill with recommended octane as I never know when I'm going to lug the engine down or open the throttle up from a low RPM.
Some people are lucky at cards and some are not but it never hurts to pay insurance.

 

[WJBertrand]

One of the clues that Yamaha had some challenges controlling the fuel burn rate, completeness of the burn without knock, all while meeting emissions regulations, is the presence of 2 spark plugs per cylinder.


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[TimBucTwo]

^ AND, two O2 sensors.

 

[lund]

You can run what ever you want but know the facts.

Fact is (not my opinion), thermodynamics is at play here.
A diesel works by squeezing an air/fuel mixture to the point where it reaches a pressure, creating heat at which it spontaneously ignites.
Diesels operate at 15:1 to 20:1 compression ratio.

Modern cars and most trucks operate at around 8:1 compression ratios.
They require faster burning, lower octane fuel. Firearms are somewhat similar. The faster the powder burns, less is needed to get the same chamber pressures.
These vehicles operate at lower RPM's than higher revving motorcycles and benefit from a quicker cleaner burn.

The super tenere has a compression ratio of 11:1. This is very high. To produce torque at lower speeds, higher compression is needed and therefore higher octane (slower burning) is needed.
Advanced timing (BTC) increases HP but can pre detente at lower speeds. I haven't checked the s10 timing.

So, at highway speeds with HIGHER RPM's and NOT loading the engine down you may and will most likely get away with lower octane.
The trade off is less power and risk of pre detention when lugging along. You may experience some knocking when coming off of a stop.

Each time you get a pre detention it's because the cylinder fires before the piston gets to where it should fire due to improper octane. The cylinder pressure causes the mixture to spontaneously ignite. This expanded gas is further pressurized by the crank pushing the piston up to top-dead-center, increasing cylinder pressure beyond the design limits. When the flywheel is still forcing the crank through the stroke, this imparts a hit on the piston and connecting rod. The connection rod in-turn puts excessive pressure on the rod bearings in that location of crank rotation. If you do this enough, the rod bearings will fail.

I always fill with recommended octane as I never know when I'm going to lug the engine down or open the throttle up from a low RPM.
Some people are lucky at cards and some are not but it never hurts to pay insurance.

Excellent explanation, the S10 engine is tough as nails and you can get away with plenty with it but that doesn't mean your not harming it in the long run. I've ran cheap shit gas cause my other option was walking and it was fine but not something I do often, only if I have too.
IMO, if you can afford the bike, insurance and riding gear, whats a few more coins on the recommended fuel.
But hey, plenty out there riding in flip flops, shorts and t-shirts that also cheap out on knock off Chinese parts for their bikes.
Who ever said owning and riding a motorcycle is a cheaper form of transportation is an idiot....its not.
Its called pay to play.

 

[Sierra1]

. . . . Anyways living off what I do it makes everything tight. So, I will do what I can do about the gas and rides.

I completely understand being in the same boat. But there's less than a $5 difference between a 5gal fill-up with 91 and 81. There's a bigger difference between a bike fill-up and car fill-up with the same octane. And with the exception of fuel mileage, bikes are not economical when compared to a car. Everything else costs more and needs to be replaced more frequently. But bikes are the cheapest form of therapy.

 

[gapmtn1]

Living off my military retirement and VA disability ... Anyways living off what I do it makes everything tight. So, I will do what I can do about the gas and rides.

Hi I am from West Texas just purchased a 2023 Super Tenere....

Glad you were able to "do what you could do" to acquire that beautiful 2023! Happy riding!

 

[WJBertrand]

After spending thousands of dollars on a beautiful new machine, the logic of trying to cheap out on the fuel escapes me, even if the risk of engine damage is extremely remote. Talk about penny wise and pound foolish!


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[Campion]

After spending thousands of dollars on a beautiful new machine, the logic of trying to cheap out on the fuel escapes me, even if the risk of engine damage is extremely remote. Talk about penny wise and pound foolish!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was never going to put anything other than what the owner's manual said to put in there unless it is unavailable, and I have no choice.

 

[Quisp]

You can run what ever you want but know the facts.

Fact is (not my opinion), thermodynamics is at play here.
A diesel works by squeezing an air/fuel mixture to the point where it reaches a pressure, creating heat at which it spontaneously ignites.
Diesels operate at 15:1 to 20:1 compression ratio.

Modern cars and most trucks operate at around 8:1 compression ratios.
They require faster burning, lower octane fuel. Firearms are somewhat similar. The faster the powder burns, less is needed to get the same chamber pressures.
These vehicles operate at lower RPM's than higher revving motorcycles and benefit from a quicker cleaner burn.

The super tenere has a compression ratio of 11:1. This is very high. To produce torque at lower speeds, higher compression is needed and therefore higher octane (slower burning) is needed.
Advanced timing (BTC) increases HP but can pre detente at lower speeds. I haven't checked the s10 timing.

So, at highway speeds with HIGHER RPM's and NOT loading the engine down you may and will most likely get away with lower octane.
The trade off is less power and risk of pre detention when lugging along. You may experience some knocking when coming off of a stop.

Each time you get a pre detention it's because the cylinder fires before the piston gets to where it should fire due to improper octane. The cylinder pressure causes the mixture to spontaneously ignite. This expanded gas is further pressurized by the crank pushing the piston up to top-dead-center, increasing cylinder pressure beyond the design limits. When the flywheel is still forcing the crank through the stroke, this imparts a hit on the piston and connecting rod. The connection rod in-turn puts excessive pressure on the rod bearings in that location of crank rotation. If you do this enough, the rod bearings will fail.

I always fill with recommended octane as I never know when I'm going to lug the engine down or open the throttle up from a low RPM.
Some people are lucky at cards and some are not but it never hurts to pay insurance.

No such thing as " pre detonation " most modern cars are 10:1 or more. Vvt helps them run 87 octane.

2012 Ford Focus - Specs

2012 Ford Focus Specs

www.new-cars.com

 

[lund]

^^^ Internet it brings all out.
Fallow your owners manual and your golden, no one on this forum was ever involved in the engineering of the S10, so why even ask.

 

[Sierra1]

Which is why long ago, I decided to just use OE. Who am I to think I know more than a Yamaha engineer.

 

[Madhatter]

when you look at the gas pump and regular is .60 a gallon cheaper than what our bikes require , can make you grit your teeth . but then you may need a dentist .
my 2019 gets 43 to 45 mpg's for my driving style , so a little more money is not a problem .... now my 6,4 HEMI ram and its giant gas tank , it can hurt real quick . I average 17 mpg with it .
my wife averages 29 mpg in her CRV,
my new WRX gets better milage than my truck but not by much . ( window stickers says 22 mpg is the average , I generally get 24 to 25 around town , a highway trip I get 30 to 32 average , and the WRX needs the good stuff . )
so when it cools down I will dust off the Tenere as it gets the best mpg of everything I have .
the only vehicle that likes regular here is my wife CRV.

 

[Fennellg]

There is another reason besides knock to run a high octane gas. Carbon build up. Lower octane gas promotes this, so do prolonged oil change intervals.

 

[TenereJourneyMan]

I have a 2023 Super Tenere, the owner's manual says 91 octane fuel? Is this true?
The manual says you will get engine knock if you don't use the 91 octane gas?

Hello “Campion”,

Can you please clarify THE SPECIFIC FUEL RECOMMENDATION, which is located on the Vehicle Emission Control (VEC) sticker, which is most likely located on the right side of the bike, near the upper shock mount, on the black plastic box which houses the ABS and is under the seat. Can you please post a photo of the actual VEC Sticker from your new motorcycle for us to look at?

The following photo is from my 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere 1200: The actual photo indicates 89 RON Unleaded Fuel is minimum needed/factory recommended. Explanation of RON conversion is below photo:



“When comparing the RON measurements with the AKI, it would result:
93 RON=87AKI. (Regular)
95RON=89AKI. (Mide-grade)
98RON=91 AKI. (Premium)”

For what it is worth, my bike has 72k miles and I have mostly used mid-grade…

However (as a little background) shortly after I purchased the bike (at 32k miles) I had the cam chain tensioner replaced. While the mechanic was in there he scoped the engine and said the prior owner must have been using low grade fuel because the carbon build-up was extremely thick on the cylinder walls and on the valves. This mechanic was a Gold Certified Yamaha Service Technician at the Colorado Davis Service Center in Montrose, Colorado. He advised me to add Yamaha’s Engine Med-RX to every fill up. The part info is below.

Part # :ACC-ENGIN-RX-16
Part Description: ENGINE MED RX 16OZ

I have used this product on every fill up since then, and my bike runs like a Yamaha should, “like a bat out of hell”.

Anyhow, 89 or better octane fuel and a Yamaha engine additive to counteract the affects of poor fuel. In my humble opinion.

I am still curious what the actual Vehicle Emission Control sticker says on your new motorcycle. It could be different from my 2012 and probably is. A photo of that would be helpful to all of us.

Please let us all know

 

[Sierra1]

. . . .


“When comparing the RON measurements with the AKI, it would result:
93 RON=87AKI. (Regular)
95RON=89AKI. (Mide-grade)
98RON=91 AKI. (Premium)”. . . .

Wh-a-a-a-at? I see 95 RON on the sticker. Which is 89 AKI. And keep in mind, the longer you don't ride your bike(s), the lower that octane is.

 

[WJBertrand]

I just checked the sticker on my 2015 ES California model. It also states a minimum of 95 RON should be used.

(Tenerejourneyman, I don’t see in your photo anywhere that says 89 RON as you describe?)

In the US the pumps are marked with PON (Pump Octane Number) not RON, which is an average between RON & MON. The equivalent PON to 95 RON is 91. This is the highest octane widely available throughout the western if not the entire US. European and many other places in the world label their pumps with the RON value. This makes for some confusion in discussions on the topic in an international forum like this.

I’ve never seen any pumps labeled with AKI numbers.

 

[TenereJourneyMan]

I just checked the sticker on my 2015 ES California model. It also states a minimum of 95 RON should be used. In the US the pumps are marked with PON (Pump Octane Number) not RON, which is an average between RON & MON. The equivalent PON to 95 RON is 91. This is the highest octane widely available throughout the western if not the entire US. European and many other places in the world label their pumps with the RON value. This makes for some confusion in discussions on the topic in an international forum like this.

I’ve never seen any pumps labeled with AKI numbers.

Spot on, mate!

 

[jeckyll]

Like so often, I recommend a balanced approach:
Run what the manual says. Not more, not less.
When on a road trip to remote places, sometimes 91 isn't available, so then run what is available and don't panic.

 

[TenereJourneyMan]

I just checked the sticker on my 2015 ES California model. It also states a minimum of 95 RON should be used.

(Tenerejourneyman, I don’t see in your photo anywhere that says 89 RON as you describe?)

In the US the pumps are marked with PON (Pump Octane Number) not RON, which is an average between RON & MON. The equivalent PON to 95 RON is 91. This is the highest octane widely available throughout the western if not the entire US. European and many other places in the world label their pumps with the RON value. This makes for some confusion in discussions on the topic in an international forum like this.

I’ve never seen any pumps labeled with AKI numbers.

Hello “WJBertrand” and “Campion”,

All of my comments are based on recognized US standards and terms:

You are correct, I mistakenly typed 89 RON, instead of the “95 RON” which was reflected in the photo of the VEC sticker from my bike. The notation should have stated the following,

“The actual photo indicates 95 RON Unleaded Fuel is minimum needed/factory recommended”

And I probably should have added the following, just after the above notation,

“95 RON = 89 Octane Rating”

And also this small notation,

“AKI = US Octane rating”

And I probably should have added the following, as well,

“AKI = Anti-Knock Index”


And I probably should have added the following, as well,

“Minimum Octane Rating = AKI”

And I probably should have also added the following, from WIKI,

“Octane rating

Description
An octane rating, or octane number, is a standard measure of a fuel's ability to withstand compression in an internal combustion engine without detonating.” WIKI

Much of this was covered by earlier posters., But it should now (hopefully) be clear enough for our new Tenere owner/new forum member/“original poster” to make reasonable fuel purchasing decisions (based on his individual driving/maintenance habits, budget and the (wind/mountain grade/pillion/luggage-loaded weight/conditions of his motorcycle) during the decades and decades that he will likely own, ride and enjoy his wonderful new machine.

To Campion, I say, “Ride it Your Way!”