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[SneakyPete]

Here, here!  I have been known to make one "give its milk", Pete!  She ran good while she was runnin'!  Later--HUBBARD

That's a fact!

[r0de_runr]

More than I ever wanted to know about fuel:

http://www.fuel-testers.com/ethanol_engine_precautions.html.

[Foot Loose]

I remember when JC Whitney sold pills that would partially rebuild your engine.    I use zero additives.  They just don't fix a problem. 

[Bald Eagle]

Leaving for a trip to Alaska in June and I think I will run into a problem with any gas over 87 octane.  My 110 isn't tuned for that but don't want to retune for 5000 miles.  Might give the the Lucas booster a try

[sadunbar]

Leaving for a trip to Alaska in June and I think I will run into a problem with any gas over 87 octane.  My 110 isn't tuned for that but don't want to retune for 5000 miles.  Might give the the Lucas booster a try

I would not recommend it, but if you decide to use an octane booster, be cautious to not exceed the recommended mixture amount.  Excessive quantity of octane booster in your fuel mixture absolutely can foul spark plugs and 02 sensors.  It's a situation where a proper mixture maybe can help (although I personally don't think it will help), but to strong a mixture can be harmful.

[Bald Eagle]

I would not recommend it, but if you decide to use an octane booster, be cautious to not exceed the recommended mixture amount.  Excessive quantity of octane booster in your fuel mixture absolutely can foul spark plugs and 02 sensors.  It's a situation where a proper mixture maybe can help (although I personally don't think it will help), but to strong a mixture can be harmful.

Thanks for the advice.  I might take some with me and only use in small quantities if absolutely needed.

[brassspike]

Keeping along the thread,
I have had my bike tuned by a member of this board. Absolutely perfect tune here in NC. I have taken a couple of trips out west (California and Wyoming). When at altitude, high load, and heat, I get pinging. Notably around Cody. Granted, you guys out there have pretty lousy 91 octane gas, but what would the best resolution be? I tried a tad of booster. Still had the ping so I just down shifted and tried to keep the motor out of as much strain as possible. My guess is that I got a tank or two of really weak fuel because the condition did not continue throughout the trips. So, since octane booster seems to not be beneficial, should I squirrel away a quart of aviation fuel and add a pint to the tank when needed on my trips out west?

[grc]

Keeping along the thread,
I have had my bike tuned by a member of this board. Absolutely perfect tune here in NC. I have taken a couple of trips out west (California and Wyoming). When at altitude, high load, and heat, I get pinging. Notably around Cody. Granted, you guys out there have pretty lousy 91 octane gas, but what would the best resolution be? I tried a tad of booster. Still had the ping so I just down shifted and tried to keep the motor out of as much strain as possible. My guess is that I got a tank or two of really weak fuel because the condition did not continue throughout the trips. So, since octane booster seems to not be beneficial, should I squirrel away a quart of aviation fuel and add a pint to the tank when needed on my trips out west?

If you get a bad tank of gas I imagine all the magic elixirs and other various forms of snake oil aren't going to fix the problem.  You did the right thing by dropping down a gear and keeping rpm's higher, avoiding large throttle openings under load, etc..  Btw, octane requirements of a naturally aspirated engine go down at high altitude, thus the reason you don't see 93 octane in those areas, or even 91 in many places. 

The smart thing to do, IMHO, if you plan to travel to areas where this kind of problem can occur, is to get the bike tuned conservatively so that it will run on 89 octane even at sea level.  I doubt many tuners are going to do that unless you ask them to do so, since so many customers only care about the peak numbers.  You can't ride that dyno chart, so who gives a chit if it peaks a couple horsepower lower?

Jerry

[MIKEYTEE]

I just add a little shine to the tank and go down the road. Not recommended for external use.
Mike
 

[Twolanerider]

The smart thing to do, IMHO, if you plan to travel to areas where this kind of problem can occur, is to get the bike tuned conservatively so that it will run on 89 octane even at sea level.  I doubt many tuners are going to do that unless you ask them to do so, since so many customers only care about the peak numbers.  You can't ride that dyno chart, so who gives a chit if it peaks a couple horsepower lower?

Jerry

Of course it's not a case of having to ask a tuner to do that if you either just don't want to or don't want to put up with what you fear might be his BS argumentation if you do.  Just take the bike to the dyno shop with the bike's tank filled with 89 or 91 octane fuel.  The bike gets tuned without pinging to that fuel load and you're good to go. 

You then never have to worry about what fuel you can find.  You can buy much cheaper fuel from there on out.  And, yeah, you lose a little bragging rights on the dyno sheet.  50 cents a gallon over and over and over again will quickly pay for a lot of bragging rights.

[brassspike]

10-4 It was tuned on what I normally run. The tank was full of home brew 93. The tune was for drivability not peak #'s. I am a firm believer in the "can't ride a dyno". I was just wondering if anyone had a solution for going into areas where we know the gas is going to be below average for a tank or two.
I guess I could just start throwing things off to lighten the load......but I don't think the BSR would be in favor when it got down to her! 

[phato1]

I'm more concerned with the Ethanol content than the Octane rating, although the two may go hand in hand. I keep a small bottle of 'Startron" or "Stabil" (the ones that are formulated for the Ethanol) in the tourpak for use when I have to fuel up with stuff like that E85 that they have in many states now. Heck I normally treat every other tankfull any way, even when it's 91 octane with 10% Ethanol that's usually available at Mobil stations in my area.

[Steve Cole]

Tuning for the lesser grade of fuel is no different than tuning for high Octane. Just a little more care in the spark tables. My personal 2011 103 RK has been tuned for several years now for Ca 87 Octane. It dropped about 4 miles per gallon and about 6 HP but I can stop pretty much anywhere and buy fuel and not have to worry about it. I do have a tune I made for high Octane (91) and use it once in awhile for testing. Can I feel the difference between them, yup. Is it really a big difference nope.

[SDCVO]

I found a station in town (VP racing gas station) that has 100 unleaded octane which was wonderful, bike felt like it was "on crack". Maybe it was just my imagination but whether it was real or not I certainly had a blast!
Bad news is that the station is about 40 miles from my house but is on the way home from most of my rides.

[Twolanerider]

I found a station in town (VP racing gas station) that has 100 unleaded octane which was wonderful, bike felt like it was "on crack". Maybe it was just my imagination but whether it was real or not I certainly had a blast!
Bad news is that the station is about 40 miles from my house but is on the way home from most of my rides.

That it might be a no ethanol rather than a higher ethanol blended fuel might make a difference.  Octane rating, in and of itself, won't though.  Higher octane fuel isn't more "powerful."  It just has a higher anti-knock rating.  Only way one engine will run "better" with a higher octane fuel compared to a lower octane fuel is if that engine is retuned to take advantage of a timing curve (since it is very inefficient to change heads and/or pistons change compression from one fill up to the next  ) that better pushes the anti-knock abilities of the higher octane fuel.