Super unleaded fuel?

[mikesaa309]

I spoke to a mate yesterday who has a 600 hornet. He seems to reckon that since he's started using super unleaded petrol it performance better than the regular unleaded stuff. I'm tempted to put some in the bandit and see if it actually makes a difference even though it's more expensive.

Just wondering if It will make a difference not only in performance but on mpg too and if anyone who has a bandit has tried super unleaded (my bandit is 97 model btw).

[Kickstart]

Hi

Do you mean super unleaded, as in just one with a higher octane rating, or do you mean Optimax / Vpower / whatever they call it this week?

Higher octane rated fuel on its own will do you stuff all good. Bandit it set up for far lower octane fuel than standard unleaded I think

As an aside, out of amusement I did try it on my 1200 Bandit (which does run a higher compression ratio than standard) when doing top speed runs. Made no difference.

All the best

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

[Beehive Bedlam]

V power smells nicer than regular 95.

[smithyithy]

Placebo.

[EazyDuz]

Some fuels have better cleaning additives in them (so they say). I don't believe it though
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[orac]

the octane rating is a measure of resistnace to ignition, or more importantly pre-iginition. the 1200 bandits run a fairly low compression ratio so i would not expect to see much of an improvement.

the higher compression ratio and the more accuratly controlled the ignition timing is the greater the affect og the super unleaded

i know it cars but the same sort of idea will apply to bikes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQghB4asSnI
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[DRZ4Hunned]

They all come from the same refinery.

[EazyDuz]

[Irn-Bru]

I've tried it in all my bikes, never made any difference at all. Petrol is expensive enough as it is, it would have to make my bike feel much quicker, or increase MPG noticeably for me to bother with it.
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[Kickstart]

[CaNsA]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Abikechatforums.com+"super+unleaded"

About 1,900 results

[FlightRisk]

In a bandit!? Ha!

No, it will make no difference at all. Except maybe the very slight weight reduction to the contents of your wallet will infinitesimally decrease your 0-60 time.

Run on what the manufacturer recommends.

[c-m]

Murco tell me that their Super Unleaded doesn't contain any ethanol

[grr666]

I use Super in my car by manufacturers recommendation, it will run
on regular but loses significant bhp (about 30-45 depending on fuel quality)
My wifes little eco city car starts better from cold in winter on Super so
we run that all year round as MPG is also improved enough on her commute
(2 extra days round trip commute on the same tankful) to cover the extra cost.
My chainsaw (I have 2 wood burning stoves to keep running in winter) runs on super and 2 stroke
for the same reasons, 3 pulls on the cord and it's
going compared to about 10 pulls on regular and 2stroke, runs less smoky too...
I now use it in the bike as well as I'm in the habit of putting super in everything else but can't say I have noticed any benefit so far
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[Slacker24seve...]

[Kickstart]

Hi

For an experiment I tried running the MX5 on vpower / optimax / whatever it is now for a month.

Made no difference to fuel consumption. Did possibly run a bit smoother but couldn't notice any difference in performance (not that I expected any).

All the best

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

[smithyithy]

Very interested to know what car it is that loses 30-45bhp on lower (regular) octane fuel..

I know the top-spec Evo from a few years back was mapped to run on minimum 98 octane to make it's 400bhp, so would probably run a bit crap on 95, but I can't think of another car..?

[gavbriggs]

^^^ that might help! I'd pay a bit extra for that!
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Recent bikes: Varadero 125 - Mod 2 3/2/14 - Bandit 1200 SK4

[grr666]

[smithyithy]

2.0 TFSI.. I'm quite active on the VAG forums and I've never heard of that before, unless it was remapped specifically to run on high-octane, which would be very odd as all Revo and Custom Code maps are done for regular petrol. Strange..

If it's true I'd probably put it down more to the actual fuel than the octane rating.. I've had crap tanks in the past that made the car run a bit sluggish, albeit that was an older, smaller engine..

[grr666]

[Furrybiker]

I have a SEAT Toledo V5, the handbook says 170bhp on super unleaded and "reduced power" on ordinary. Well it does get more miles to a tank and seems to run smoother.

Not sure if it really produces more power.

[grr666]

(Last post on this as it's not really bike chat so off topic. )

I have a friend that owns a large performance car workshop who is also a revo agent,
he does data logging as part of his remap service. He is also my general mechanic.
I don't work on my own vehicles as much as I used to, I have a business to run
myself and and it does okay so I pay someone else to keep my little fleet tip top
He has told me he's seen as much as 60bhp difference on some cars he works on and 30-45bhp
is the approx figure he came up with about my car, this also is variable depending on season
as in winter tuned turbo cars make more power because the air is denser so no figure can be 100% accurate.
So, in all honesty my evidence is anecdotal at best, but from someone I consider an expert.
This guy really knows his onions and is a very, very clever guy a VAG Master Tech
who started out on his own and is doing very well now with a large successful workshop of
his own and a further 8 or so techs he employs inc 3 MOT testers.


I've put a LOT of money in his till over the years, I always have about 4 vehicles on
the go and he works on all of them regardless of marque, but is a VAG specialist really.
He has a mental fast Stage 2+ Mark 5 Edition 30 GTi it's bonkers!!
I have run VAG cars for years but I'm a builder by trade so there comes a point where
my knowledge gets flaky on the whole car thing, it's all moved on quicker than I have.
But I was often found under a car in my younger days but now they are too complicated.
It seems so wrong that you can fix them with a laptop now rather than a spanner
Back to unleaded fuel, In my S3 I got caught out once and had to refuel at a rural station
that didn't sell anything but regular, just before I had to use a motorway for 70 or so miles.
Bear in mind I can get this car down to 5mpg if thrashing it according to the dash so when
it needs petrol it really needs it. After £30 of unleaded on the motorway I could certainly
feel a noticeable hesitancy up in the 120+ zone that just isn't there normally on super,
it usually pulls hard all the way up to the limiter(On track of course).

I concede these cars have an adaptive ECU which can iron out some flatspots over time
and it may well have improved over 100 miles or so, or after a battery disconnect, but
I suppose that's where the extra ponies do their thing, up in the higher speeds.
In normal everyday driving you'd be hard pressed to notice, I just wanted to see
if there was a difference when flogging it after using regular fuel and there definitely was
but I never had a laptop plugged into vagcom to get figures etc.
I later mentioned the occurrence to my mechanic and he told me the ballpark figure he
reckoned I was losing by not using super. If I had no confidence in him I'd employ another
mechanic, so I take that as gospel.
At the end of the day a car with 100bhp can do 120 on a long enough straight,
getting there quickly is what the BHP is for.

But bikes are where it's at for me now, looking to do some track days on 2 wheels next year
at Castle Combe which is my local circuit and one I'm familiar with from doing track days
through a couple of other car forums I use. But I haven't had this much fun with my clothes
on for years. Turning 40 just over a year ago hasn't slowed me down one bit.
Am loving being back on a bike and am keen to do more of it and maybe buy a couple
of old school bikes from back in my day (1988 ish) as hobby/projects.
I'm done with cars, I spent a lot on that Audi and only a quarter of that sum on my bike
yet smiles per mile the bike wins every time.
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[Bunny Lingus]

I only really notice the difference in little bikes. The free public dyno at Muswell Hill is the best test track in north London. I can nearly get to the top on me Cub... The defence rests y'honour!
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[Llama-Farmer]

Both the bike and the cars run smoother on super unleaded. There seems to be a slight power and mpg increase, I think this is due to the detergents in the fuel, cleaning all the internals over time and therefore more efficient combustion than previously.

A secondary effect of the fuel rather than primary effect.



The difference is MASSIVE in the Subaru Legacy though, which is a twin turbo.
Regular unleaded in NZ is 91 RON, "super" is 95 RON, but BP Ultimate is 98 and it runs on that all the time.
It was a JDM Japanese import which was mapped to run on 100 in Japan, then remapped to run 95 in NZ but it much prefers 98. It'll run on 91 but it runs in almost a limp mode... ignition timing is massively advanced and boost is restricted, instead of 270ish bhp it's more like 190bhp
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