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[Jswerve]

I've run alcohol based gas in 3 bikes since 08 with zero issues as well.

[tweeter13]

You may have a problem If you would pump E85 fuel.  The vehicles I work on have flex fuel so you can run both but when we first got the the e85 ate the fuel pump up.  The regular 87 octane fuel worked just fine.

I use pump gas in every thing like Jerry and add sta-bil as well.  Never bought any of that snake oil stuff like octane booster or anything like that before. 

If you do let your bike sit for a while I would fill the tank before you park it and add a fuel stabilizer to the tank.  It also helps keep moisture out of the tank.

The fuel for the bike is the last thing I would worry about these days.  I worry more about my tire pressures and if I have oil in it than anything else. 


Todd.

[SERK3]

You may have a problem If you would pump E85 fuel.  The vehicles I work on have flex fuel so you can run both but when we first got the the e85 ate the fuel pump up.  The regular 87 octane fuel worked just fine.

I use pump gas in every thing like Jerry and add sta-bil as well.  Never bought any of that snake oil stuff like octane booster or anything like that before. 

If you do let your bike sit for a while I would fill the tank before you park it and add a fuel stabilizer to the tank.  It also helps keep moisture out of the tank.

The fuel for the bike is the last thing I would worry about these days.  I worry more about my tire pressures and if I have oil in it than anything else. 


Todd.

X2

[nascaroutlaw]

Both of you guys need to come to the Maggie Valley GTG for some great roads, a great motorcycle museum, good food and meet some of the best site members around.


SBB

i second that, maggie valley is awesome i love it there it offers the best riding in fact i love it so much im currently looking for property there to build my retirement cabin.

[SBB]

i second that, maggie valley is awesome i love it there it offers the best riding in fact i love it so much im currently looking for property there to build my retirement cabin.

Send me a pm with your contact info.
We spent a year looking and know the area well.
The most important criteria for the Maggie Valley area is as follows,
1) Elevation
2) Access
3) View
4) Water (stream or lake)
5) Your home location in regards to distance to Maggie Valley the town, the Blue Ridge Parkway and good roads.

Our property meets all 5 criteria, so we are very happy.


SBB

[hrdtail78]

Stoichiometric of pure gasoline is lambda of 1.  Stoich of pure gas plus 10% alcohol is 1.  Stoich of E85 is also 1.  A stoich mixture will always make an O2 sensor put out a mv of 450.  How we read this.  Either in air fuel or lambda.  It really doesn't matter as long as we scale it correctly, but 450 is 450 and that is what our HD ECM see's.  Voltage output of the sensor.

[Fullsac Performance]

 

[Steve Cole]

10% Ethanol is all we get out west. The bad thing about it is that the 10% Ethanol does not stay mixed with the gasoline. If you let it sit long enough it will separate from the gas. So if you get fuel from an old gas station that doesn't have the newer style storage tanks you can get much high levels of Ethanol. The newer storage tanks have a mixer built into them that mix the fuel so it stays in suspension. Problem is not all stations have them and there have been fines issued for stations turning them off. It was about a year or so ago there was a study done taking samples of gas across the the states west of the Rockies and found Ethanol as high as 25%! This is one of the bigger untold problems with 10% Ethanol gasoline that they seem to not want to tell the public about. Another is the 10% Ethanol attracts water vapor so water droplets form in the tank, so using something in the tank when you are going to let the bike sit for any length of time is what you have to do these days.

[FLTRI]

Steve,
Excellent explanation! This is something misunderstood by most.
When a customer comes in with detonation complaints most of the time it turns out to be poor quality fuel...too much ethanol? Prolly.
Or a customer says he got pinging on a trip after filling up at a station out in the wilderness. Then, after a couple tanks, the pinging stopped.

There are a few issues that can affect combustion temps which can cause detonation (pinging).
* Intake leak(s)
* Too much timing advance
* Poor fuel quality
* Lean AFR
* Sumping
* Excessive vehicle load

Bob

[Montanakid]

I too, try to use non ethanol gas whenever possible, question is , if ethanol is added to the gas why is non ethanol fuel more expensive ? I put in e259 cams and bigger pistons when I bought the bike to pump me out to 10.5 to 1 compression. My bike is notorious for pinging with Shell gas, just returned from a trip to Hollister Ca and found when hot with one tank of Chevron fuel and one from Shell and the pinging returned. The Chevron was with  ethanol, and the Shell was 92 octane non ethanol. Will get a fresh tune to see if that helps.

[Steve Cole]

Ethanol burns slower so it will slow the burn of the fuel in the cylinder and that could be what is reducing your pinging. Many things play into the over all mix but as the fuel changes it does effect things.

[Chains]

I run 87 octane with ethanol and (knock on wood) never had a issue with pinging. Run Shell most of the time but have used Racetrack and various other brands with no issues. Always ran high test till the guys on the forum convinced me to get a proper tune and 87 would be fine. As usual the gang was right.

[Jswerve]

I run 87 octane with ethanol and (knock on wood) never had a issue with pinging. Run Shell most of the Tim but have used Racetrack and various other brands with no issues. Always ran high test till the guys on the forum convinced me to get a proper tune and 87 would be fine. As usual the gang was right.

87 with ethanol huh? Damn that's all over here in Iowa but I have never run it. Maybe after my tune next week I'll give it a go 

[grc]

87 with ethanol huh? Damn that's all over here in Iowa but I have never run it. Maybe after my tune next week I'll give it a go 

That only works if you have it tuned with 87 octane.  If you really want the ability to run a lower octane fuel, then by all means fill up with 87 octane before the tune and let the guy doing the tune know what you want.

You will give up a small amount on the charts, but unless you're one of those "bragging rights" kind of guys I think you'll find the seat of the pants dyno won't see much if any difference. 

Jerry

[Steve Cole]

Just remember IF switching and getting a tune it is very important to get the tank as low as possible prior to the refill. Then also make sure that if your station pumps are like ours out west that you put about 3/4 gallon into a gas can prior to filling your bike from the pump.

Out here most station today have one pump and that gives you ALL grades of fuel. The internal system of the pump and hoses holds about 1/2 - 3/4 gallon of fuel. So if the person before you pumps 93 and you switch the pump to 87 your going to get at least some 93 first then the rest 87! With our small tanks it has a large effect on the average in your tank. That's why when riding with a group I always fill after someone else has at the pump and I know what they used. On my RG 103 I've tuned for 87 and it's fine so with that I donot have to worry about it. Jerry is correct your going to give up about 3-5 Hp and TQ by running it and a few miles per gallon but its nice not to have to worry about it. Now on my Dyna that's the hotrod, bar hopper it's 91 all the time as that's the best we can get out here.