Knowledge Base Meeting Thread » Motorcycle gasoline article

If you are interested in reading a very long and detailed discussion regarding gasoline and its use in motorcycles, here is a link to an article that was just published by Motorcycle.com:
https://www.motorcycle.com/features/ever...cycle-fuel.html

An interesting read even if my eyes did glaze occasionally.

So the headlines:
Avoid ethanol - Less mpg and absorbs water too readily
Use the highest grade fuel available not because it increases power but because it is more highly refined, has less crap in it and more good additives.

The first I buy readily. The second proposition is more novel. However my friend Tim who has got 300k miles out of his FJR1300 Jiffie (and features in August Ride magazine) swears by premium fuels and never uses anything else.

It would be good if a reliable country wide supplier introduced a high quality, highly refined, medium octane fuel that is ethanol free. A marketing opportunity for somebody?

Chris

They do that already - Shell or BP posh unleaded. It says E5 on the pump but apparently there isn't enough ethanol in production to make up the cheap stuff to 5%, so the posh is usually ethanol free in fact (this may change in future or may already be out of date information). That is what goes in my tank in the autumn.

In my part of the world there are lots of high performance boats that require non-ethanol, high octane gasoline, so there are a number fuel stations that offer it. All of my Euro-3 bikes run better with this fuel.

Excluding the winter fill-up, the longest any gas sits in my tank is about 1 week. I'm pretty sure I'm safe from the dangers of water absorption.

89 AKI, E10 or E0, whichever is cheaper, based on BTU/gal.

Having two bikes there are occasions when fuel may sit in a tank for a while. (Not a problem pre-Covid I commuted on the F800GT and would use the RS for weekend leisure riding etc). Now I try to use the F800 for local boring motorway journeys and the like and the RS for longer more interesting journeys.

However what made me sit up was the comment about plastic fuel cans. I normally fill up two 10 litre plastic cans at the same time as the tank at my local supermarket PFS and then top up from those cans before setting out. Might have to reconsider that. Will re-read the article on that point.

Chris

In my area there are a lot of new QT (Quick Trip) stations that offer non-ethanol (red handled) pumps at a higher cost. I've been using that a lot lately (there are two within two miles of me) and think the gas mileage improves slightly. As far as performance, I can't tell any difference. I filled my K-bike's tank with it since it sits for months+ at a time.

Frank

I was in the Philly area on Wednesday and refueled at a WaWa. The 89AKI E0 was cheaper than the 89AKI E10. Why?, I do not know........