Premium petrol bikes

[kawashima]

There are many bikes which drinks premium petrol. What I want to know is that if you own a bike which drinks premium petrol, are you happy with it? Or you wanted it to be regular petrol bike if possible?
Or if you own regular petrol bike, are you happy with it or do you wanted it to be premium petrol bike if possible?
For me, TDM is on a border line between regular and premium(*), and it is said that premium is "better" among users in Japan due to high comp twin and the Octane rating in Japan. But I wanted it to be regular petrol bike if possible even if its power goes down a little bit cause I use it as touring bike.
* TDM requires regular petrol with Octane rating over 91. But many bike shops in Japan suggest to use premium petrol to avoid Knocking at low revs.

The point is do you pay extra for premium petrol happily for extra few BHP?
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own:2020 Serow 250
owned: 2012 YB125SP, 2008 TDM900, 2005 W650, 2002 LS125R, 2002 CB400SF, NS50F, C50 / Trip to UK(2009), Hokkaido touring(2013)

[Dr. DaveJPS]

i currently run a tank of premium/ tank of regular cycle due to teh fact (certainly in france) they've removed some of the additives from the regular and replaced them with ethanol. This mix is wrecking engines so i err on the side of caution in case they've done it over here.

Edit: have never noticed any power increase
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"intelligent inattention is preferable to unintelligent tinkering"
www.davejps.com

[kawashima]

[Dr. DaveJPS]

i dunno but for a few extra quid i ain't risking it.
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"intelligent inattention is preferable to unintelligent tinkering"
www.davejps.com

[Itchy]

Change the CDI to the super tenere? a couple of blokes rode Super tenere across Africa with its 0 Octane petrol and they were fine.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[chris-red]

I usually run premium in the four and regular in the TDM but I will splash a tank through every now and then to give it a clean out. I can get more miles with premium but not enough to justify the cost.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
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[kawashima]

[kawashima]

[chris-red]

Nope never had that problem with regular,

The standard petrol in the UK is 95Ron, Super is 97-99Ron

But there are different systems for measuring octane, the Yanks use Pon, 95Ron = 91Pon so assuming I assume in Japan you use Pon too as you stated standard is 91. I have had no problems running any bike on 95.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[kawashima]

[Ghost]

I would've thought any standard UK production bike will be designed to run on regular 95ron fuel. Plenty of people fill their sports bikes with super but there's no real need, I'm convinced any real performance increase is more of a placebo effect than anything else and the increased mileage is never enough to offset the extra cost in the first place.

I've just had to fill my ZX6R tank with Super as all the regular unleaded pumps were out of order, so I thought I'd give it a try. Honestly can't say I've noticed any difference at all. I might try running it to reserve though to see if I get any more mileage out of it than I normally do.

[chris-red]

[G]

My car takes expensive petrol and it does hurt that bit more every time I fill up, but I don't drive it enough to excessively worry. I bought a fast car because I wanted the fastness, not being cheap to drive.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Plenty of bikes don't even need 95 RON fuel.

From an Autodata book the TDM850 and TDM900 only need 91 octane fuel (and fairly sure that is RON, so about 86 PON).

A few bikes do need higher octane fuel (earlier Aprilia 125 for example), and with these you will quite likely get serious engine damage from using too low octane fuel.

Some bikes can adjust the timing based on a knock sensor and these might well get a minor increase in power from using higher octane fuel. But not much. Only things that are going to see a major change are those with turbos which can adjust the boost to take advantage of the higher octane fuel.

Higher octane fuel on its own will give you zero extra power (and quite possibly less, higher octane fuel often has a slightly lower energy content). It just allows you to modify the engine / ignition so that it can give more power.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Polarbear]

There are certainly more additives in the higher octane petrol, cleaners etc. just as there are more additives in the standard fuel at the oil companys' stations (BP, Shell etc.) that in supermarket fuels.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[sweet angel]

Always use premium, still knock and rattle like buggery tho would worry if they didn't
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Kawasaki Triples Queen 1972 H2, 1974 H2B, 1977 KH250 B2, 1979 KH250 B5

[Pete.]

[Kickstart]

[iooi]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Wasn't that silicone contamination?

Ethanol should be fine as a fuel, but you need more of it. Hence a richer mixture and higher fuel consumption (car with a lambda probe should cope with this automatically, although it might cause issues when at full throttle if it just runs directly on the fuel map then and ignores the lambda probe). Other problem is that it attacks some materials such as some rubbers.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Itchy]

[smegballs]

[Pete.]

[Rob W]

[barnhatter]

All fuel must reach a certain quality to be sold. Tesco had a problem with a batch of fuel but I am sure that due to bad publicity their fuel will be tested and they wont allow dodgy fuel to be sold.
From my understanding most bikes will run as correctly on 95RON fuel. They are designed to be sold/used in all countries with different fuel quality. 95RON is the agreed calorific value that the fuel suppliers will supply fuel at for motor cars/bikes. Designers then produce engines to run at a minimum just below this value.
Putting in higher octain fuel will give a slight increase on power, if this is noticed is up to debate, improved cleaners might assist in a cleaner burn. But as I said the engine will run as designed with regular fuel so I am not sure that the extra cost for most engines is worth it.