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What type of fuel do you use?

14K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  NateDawg 
#1 ·
I was told by someone who I would consider an expert on old Honda cruisers that these bikes should be ran on Premium gasoline.



Normally, I would just take his word but a big advantage of riding a motorcycle in my opinion is the increased fuel economy. Switching over to Premium cuts into this.



What fuel do you use in your bike? Has anyone had any problems running the regular stuff?
 
#2 ·
Well, I use premium, but thats only because it seemed to make a differnce in the bike. Not sure about there, but here (in toronto) I only fill up at either shell or Esso, as "crappy gas" is not a myth. Im not sure if it really makes any difference, but once I rebuilt my bike I found premium made it run a bit smoother. Also (here anyway) the premium gas seems to be the only one without a load of ethanol in it.



Im sure some of the experts here can give you a better answer, as for me I just put the top of the line in it due to paranoia, as it seems every time I get the bike perfect, something messes up the good riding weather (like a bad Stator and stupid postal strike to make getting parts really hard).
 
#3 ·
Well, in my part of the country all grades have ethanol, so it's pointless for me to use anything higher than 87. I've tried the premium a few times and it didn't make any noticeable difference for me. Other than ethonal/no ethanol the higher octane shouldn't make any difference for our bikes as they aren't (or shouldn't be) close to detonation.
 
#4 ·
I've heard that running premium in a motor that calls for 87 octane will cause carbon build up in the cylinders. I don't know how true this is , but I run whatever the owners manual calls for.
 
#5 ·
I use regular all the time. Anything more is a waste of money. But several have said that if a bike is going to sit for an extended amount of time that a higher octane fuel makes a difference when the bike is started back up.



If you leave your bike with regular in it for a week or two without use then the good stuff in the gas that would start it quickly evaporates off leaving you with something less than potent in the carbs. The stuff in the tank will be fine but the stuff in the carbs will be questionable.
 
#6 ·
Turn the petcock off and run the carbs dry, maybe? I don't know if this is a good idea or not, just a suggestion. So the manual does call for 87 octane regular fuel? I don't have a manual to check. I say that - maybe I do have a manual. I have only had the bike for 2 days. I need to check under the seat and behind the side covers.
 
#8 ·
Snagged from another post.



DAVID wrote:

If you will look at the spec tag on the frame by your right footpeg, it says 91 octane. I have not had a problem running 87. You may have got some bad gas on that first tank of regular. I had to drain the system on a couple of cars that went to a little mom & pop station that was delivered low grade jet fuel (similar to Kerosene) instead of gasoline about 15 years ago.





LonEagle


Actually, it says 91 RON, which is called the "research octane number".

The number we see at the pump in the States is (MON + RON) / 2, or, the average of the motor octane # and the research octane #.



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



That article has this choice line buried in it: '87 octane fuel, the "regular" gasoline in the US and Canada, would be 91-92 in Europe'.



So, the engine is designed to burn regular gas. Only time I ever buy a higher grade is before I put it up for the winter, since that's the only way to get gas without ethanol in Minnesota. (I've heard conflicting stories on the separability of ethanol, and I'm erring on the safe side.)
 
#9 ·
I used to use a mix of 90%Nitromethane, 7% Methanol and 3% castor... this required shimming the head to reduce compression, and required an idle of about 6k rpm. Top speeds of over 100mph in less than 100yards... lots of blown wrist pins, thrown rods, and burnt pistons...






on my CX, I use 87 and because of some sort of octane superstition I put a half tank of 89 in occasionally. I try to get ethanol free fuel as alchohol works better as a two stroke fuel or intoxicant imho
puregas.org









( the above mentioned fuel was what I used to on speed trials with on .21 powered model boats )
 
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