Over here in the "motherland" we start at 91 moving on up to the extra extra premium of 98, also if they stick ethanol in a particular fuel it has to be identified as "containing ethanol" and its percentage.
I would never knowingly put ethanol in my vehicles.
ANyhoooo, my current bike is a 2006 it recommends 95 octane, if I run 98 in it it will start banging away as I roll off the throttle (Big twins will do that any way but the 98 makes it worse.
Other than that I could not report any kind of performance issue running a higher octane rating fuel then recommended.
Im stunned you have fuels with a rating of less than 90
Side note, my ear wax smells like chocolate.
me
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Different methods of measuring octane ratings. Aus and EU use RON octane. The US and Canada use an average of the RON and MON octane ratings (commonly referred to (R+M)/2).
91 RON is equivilent to 87 octane in the US and RON 95 is about the same as our 91 octane.
US gas stations must also disclose the ethanol content of their gas and are currently legally limited to 10% max. All modern cars and motorcycles are designed to handle up to 10% ethanol in their fuel as oxygenated fuels are required in many areas to reduce emissions and still commonplace in areas where they aren't required.
Hyper is right, use the lowest octane gas that won't cause any pinging in your engine. Octane(rating, there hasn't been real octane in gas since the 40's) just slows the rate of burn of gasoline. Higher octane is for higher comp. engines, you'll get the best performance out of the lowest rated fuel you can run.
Just dropping by, I have read the title of the thread and I want to know something about the difference of the mid and high-grade octane. Thanks for those info.
Last edited by psylocke24 on Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Only differences between the fuels are the resistance to detonation ratings.
Detonation is what happens when the fuel/air mixture explodes before the spark plug goes off. If it does it too early it can damage your engine quite a bit. (Think holes burned in your pistons).
Most stock vehicles are designed to run on 85-87 octane rated fuels.
Most high performance bikes are NOT an exception to the rule.
You may experience slightly higher MPG out of it because manufacturers tend to add in extra stuff to the higher grade fuels to improve their sales, but the price difference means it costs you more than you save with the slightly higher MPG.
And last but not least, HIGHER OCTANE RATING DOES NOT EQUAL BETTER FUEL! It just means better resistance to going off before it's supposed to.
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha
My '09 Harley SuperGlide wants the high-grade stuff, 91 or better. Since I'm usually fueling my wife's Suzuki S50 first, it gets the high-test as well. Never noticed a difference btw 87 and 91+ in performance on the 'Zook, which is graded for 87 or better. But the one time I've had to use 87 octane on the Harley -- emergency situation in the backwoods of Kentucky -- I noticed the difference right away. Boggy and unhappy.
Yah, check with MOM and you won't go wrong.
Harley Superglide Custom
Born to be ... Courteously deferential. If that 's OK with you.
