Premium fuel,mid grade or regular?

Mak10

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So far I have ran premium fuel in my bike. I live at approximately 5000 ft in elevation. I have read from other members that they are running just regular. What is your experience running fuel other than premium? At my elevation is this a waste to run premium? Thoughts?
 

Juan

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I run on regular, be it at sea level or in mountain passes. Never had a problem
 
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ballisticexchris

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I run premium in everything I own. In reality it's only 2 or 3 bucks a tankful in a 20 gallon tank. I could never get my head wrapped around why the motoring public will wait 30 minutes or more in a Costco or Arco line to save a few bucks at the pump for cheap gas.

BTW, Yamaha recommends minimum of 91 octane and safe to use E10.

Shell VPower premium, but not for performance reasons. I use it because it does not contain ethanol.
Funny how these threads always end up with someone commenting on finding fuel that does not contain ethanol. LOL!! Corn alcohol is one of the best oxygenates out there. There are no downsides other than then a very slight bit of lower mileage.

Of course I'm sure someone will post a google image of rotted rubber or corroded fuel system and blame the ethanol. When it's nothing more than an image of someone letting fuel set stagnant for long periods of time.
 

pkelly20

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I’m not worried about fuel system components not being compatible with ethanol. It’s been a fuel additive for long enough that any vehicle produced nowadays would be designed to run on it.

My issue with ethanol is it absorbs water. I’d prefer ethanol free gas in my tank while the bike is in winter storage.

I have always run premium in my motorcycles too. I’m not worried about a couple $ difference per tank.


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Jlq1969

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The problem is not ethanol, or the octane range, that for the compression 11, the regular one would fulfill it. To me, the problem is more in whether it fuel has MANGANESE...or not.
That is used as anti-knock, and in Premiun, sure do no have it. Manganese obstructs catalyst
 

Cycledude

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With the Tenere I usually fork out the extra money for premium fuel because that’s what Yamaha recommends . But there have been times when premium wasn’t available so I used regular and didn’t notice any difference. Around here premium is about 75 cents a gallon more than regular.
 

RCinNC

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I use both premium and regular fuel. There's never been an appreciable difference in performance between them. I've never experienced pre-ignition on the S10 using 87 octane fuel.

When I was out west last summer, there were multiple places where 89 octane was the highest octane fuel available. Nick Sanders, who has traveled extensively in South America on an S10, has said that premium fuel wasn't generally available during his travels except in bigger cities and on interstate highways, and he ran his bike fuel that was sometimes as low as 85 octane. After putting about 50,000 hard miles on his bike and tearing the engine down after his Tierra del Fuego ride, the mechanics found no evidence of any excessive wear, damage, etc.

I've always read that you need whatever octane fuel your bike requires in order to prevent knocking. My Harley Road King was a good example of this; on 87 octane, it ran terribly, with lots of knocking and pinging. It had to have premium; when I was out west on it, I actually had to use an octane booster when premium fuel wasn't available. I've never run anything lower than 87 in my Yamaha, but it's always run fine on it.

I don't know how bad ethanol is for engines, or if it comes anywhere close to being as bad as some say it is. If it was as awful as some people claim, then I'd expect there to be a commensurate engine failure rate that was directly attributable to ethanol. Yet it's not uncommon at all to see cars and trucks with 200,000 miles or more on the odometers, still chugging away, and they've been running on ethanol since they were made.
 

Jlq1969

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Maybe, this is the Adventure Spirit, that yamaha chose for your S10, and Honda for your Africa Twin, with 11 and 10 compression ratio and the possibility of using regular fuel. With 13 ratio, S10 would like 140 hp...but i think it would only be Premiun.
Multistrada and 1290A, using 13:1, GSA 1250 12,5......nice ratio for power, but fuel?
The weird thing is that both, yamaha and honda, use in their superbikes(R1, cbr1000) 13:1 compression.
Differents concepts, differents needs
 

Paul466

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I run premium but..... always think that most people fuel their cars with lowest price fuels therefore premium sits in storage tanks for a lot longer than cheaper stuff.
 

pkelly20

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I run premium but..... always think that most people fuel their cars with lowest price fuels therefore premium sits in storage tanks for a lot longer than cheaper stuff.
That’s for sure. Higher turnover on regular. During the riding season we fill up regularly so running regular is fine. But when I put my bike away for winter I make sure to have ethanol free gas and I add Seafoam to the tank.


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pkelly20

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In 25 years of riding, and using premium the whole time, I can only recall one time where I suspected a bad batch of gas.


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Paul466

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In 25 years of riding, and using premium the whole time, I can only recall one time where I suspected a bad batch of gas.


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Unfortunately I had a different experience on 125 two stroke, few years back buddy of mine and I decided to go trail riding, after fueling up at Shell with premium we took off on a ride, both of our bikes died within few moments. I’m convinced it was the fuel.
 

pkelly20

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Unfortunately I had a different experience on 125 two stroke, few years back buddy of mine and I decided to go trail riding, after fueling up at Shell with premium we took off on a ride, both of our bikes died within few moments. I’m convinced it was the fuel.
All comes down to how the stations tanks are checked and maintained. I’ve never worked at a gas station so I don’t know how they test for or deal with water in the tanks. But each station is managed by people who may or may not know what they’re doing or simply don’t care.

Bad tank of gas - just shit luck. I try to buy my gas at a station that sees lots of business. Hopefully that’ll minimize the chance of stale gas.


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Paul466

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All comes down to how the stations tanks are checked and maintained. I’ve never worked at a gas station so I don’t know how they test for or deal with water in the tanks. But each station is managed by people who may or may not know what they’re doing or simply don’t care.

Bad tank of gas - just shit luck. I try to buy my gas at a station that sees lots of business. Hopefully that’ll minimize the chance of stale gas.


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I also think small bore two strokes are a lot more finicky as far as what you feed them, big four strokes don’t care as much.
 

OldRider

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I run premium in everything I own. In reality it's only 2 or 3 bucks a tankful in a 20 gallon tank. I could never get my head wrapped around why the motoring public will wait 30 minutes or more in a Costco or Arco line to save a few bucks at the pump for cheap gas.

BTW, Yamaha recommends minimum of 91 octane and safe to use E10.



Funny how these threads always end up with someone commenting on finding fuel that does not contain ethanol. LOL!! Corn alcohol is one of the best oxygenates out there. There are no downsides other than then a very slight bit of lower mileage.

Of course I'm sure someone will post a google image of rotted rubber or corroded fuel system and blame the ethanol. When it's nothing more than an image of someone letting fuel set stagnant for long periods of time.
First off there is no benefit to running premium gas in an engine that is not designed to run on premium. The only thing it does is separate you from a little more of your money at the pump, but as always, it's your money to waste.

Second, there is not one single good reason to burn ethanol in anything. It does keep US from importing any more oil than we have to and it lines the pockets of the farmers growing corn.

On the other hand, "because ethanol contains one-third less energy per gallon than gasoline, adding ethanol to gasoline leans out the fuel-air mixture, possibly enough to cause damage. Several manufacturers of small engines have said they will not honor warranties if fuels containing more than 10 percent ethanol are used."

Studies have shown that a pound of ethanol produces 30 percent fewer BTUs of heat than a pound of gasoline. This decreases mileage by the percentage of ethanol added to gasoline. So, E10 mileage is 3 percent less than that of regular unleaded gasoline.

Ethanol related problems for motorcyclists, include:

  1. Exposure to alcohol can rust metal fuel-system part and warp or otherwise damage parts of rubber, plastic, and other sealing materials.
  2. Ethanol soaks up water from everything, including air. Once alcohol in gasoline has soaked up enough water, it causes phase separation and water contamination.
  3. Fuel has a shorter shelf life
  4. Creates engine deposits
Every motorcycle mechanic I know, including myself, will argue with you about the damage ethanol does to petcocks, fuel lines, fuel pumps, rubber carb parts and corrosion to metal parts in the system.

One more problem I'm starting to see more of is with plastic atv fuel tanks. The petcocks are attached to the tank with two metal screws that are screwed into brass inserts in the bottom of the tank. After a few years the screws get so corroded in the inserts that they won't come out without twisting the insert out of the bottom of the tank. Then all you have is a $300 piece of junk plastic.

Ethanol serves no useful purpose and it's time to feed the corn to the cows and get it the hell out of gasoline.
 
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ballisticexchris

Guest
All comes down to how the stations tanks are checked and maintained. I’ve never worked at a gas station so I don’t know how they test for or deal with water in the tanks. But each station is managed by people who may or may not know what they’re doing or simply don’t care.

Bad tank of gas - just shit luck. I try to buy my gas at a station that sees lots of business. Hopefully that’ll minimize the chance of stale gas.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Checking for water in the tank is done with water paste when the delivery is made. Stations also have a Veeder Root system that will shut the station pumps down if enough water is detected to be drawn into the pickup tube.

First off there is no benefit to running premium gas in an engine that is not designed to run on premium. The only thing it does is separate you from a little more of your money at the pump, but as always, it's your money to waste.

Second, there is not one single good reason to burn ethanol in anything. It does keep US from importing any more oil than we have to and it lines the pockets of the farmers growing corn.

On the other hand, "because ethanol contains one-third less energy per gallon than gasoline, adding ethanol to gasoline leans out the fuel-air mixture, possibly enough to cause damage. Several manufacturers of small engines have said they will not honor warranties if fuels containing more than 10 percent ethanol are used."

Studies have shown that a pound of ethanol produces 30 percent fewer BTUs of heat than a pound of gasoline. This decreases mileage by the percentage of ethanol added to gasoline. So, E10 mileage is 3 percent less than that of regular unleaded gasoline.

Ethanol related problems for motorcyclists, include:

  1. Exposure to alcohol can rust metal fuel-system part and warp or otherwise damage parts of rubber, plastic, and other sealing materials.
  2. Ethanol soaks up water from everything, including air. Once alcohol in gasoline has soaked up enough water, it causes phase separation and water contamination.
  3. Fuel has a shorter shelf life
  4. Creates engine deposits
Every motorcycle mechanic I know, including myself, will argue with you about the damage ethanol does to petcocks, fuel lines, fuel pumps, rubber carb parts and corrosion to metal parts in the system.

One more problem I'm starting to see more of is with plastic atv fuel tanks. The petcocks are attached to the tank with two metal screws that are screwed into brass inserts in the bottom of the tank. After a few years the screws get so corroded in the inserts that they won't come out without twisting the insert out of the bottom of the tank. Then all you have is a $300 piece of junk plastic.

Ethanol serves no useful purpose and it's time to feed the corn to the cows and get it the hell out of gasoline.
Actually there is an advantage to running higher octane fuel. More octane will result in a cooler, smoother running motor in high temp/load conditions. It also greatly reduces the chance of pre ignition (pinging). Not to be confused with added performance or HP. All the problems you stated can also be contributed to gasoline that does not contain ethanol. Corroded fuel lines, rotting rubber, plastic, and other sealing materials is just poor storage and maintenance procedures.
 

Nikolajsen

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Denmark
If you put a little isopropanol (maybe not correct translate) in the fuel, the water that might be in fuel/tank, go with the fuel and be "burned".
It will therefore not stay in tank or fuel system.

(must admit that I don't know how big a problem this can be on a injection engine)
 
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