Higher octane or not?

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Globs
Posts: 1557
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:13 pm
Current Ride: Piaggio X10 350

Re: Higher octane or not?

Post by Globs »

Some fuels give more MPG than others in my experience.

This was also backed up by a friend with a modern Mercedes, he complained to the garage about a sudden drop in economy and they told him to avoid supermarkets, and sure enough the economy went back up.

This is also fairy easy to test to see if it affects your machine.

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Ralph
Posts: 965
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:20 am
Current Ride: Yamaha X-max 300 300
Location: Near Fleetwood

Re: Higher octane or not?

Post by Ralph »

You are not going to do any damage and for the amount
extra it will cost it ain't going to beak the bank, so experiment
a bit see if it runs better or gives more mpg on one or the other.
I seem to remember that BP was supposed to give more mpg not
by burning less fuel as such but by having a lubrication addative
so less friction, that to me would be worth a few pence a fill by
cutting wear on cylinder and pistons or more to the point the fuel
pump and injectors.
My DCi Diesel runs noticeably better on Morrison's supermarket fuel.
It is worth thinking about using Shell supper fuel if you run a older
engine not intended for fuel with Ethanol in it as that fuel supposedly
as less than others, the engines will burn it ok but it attacks the seals
in the fuel system.
Ralph
Nr Fleetwood
Yamaha X-max 300
Ariel NG 350
AJS Model 18S.

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SH125Paul
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Posts: 1983
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 7:03 am
Current Ride: SH125 - NC750X DCT
Location: SE London

Re: Higher octane or not?

Post by SH125Paul »

from what I have read on inter google and other forums etc...
Base petrol is all the same - comes from the same depot....
The brands secret additives are added to the petrol when its in the tanker, prior to delivery to the forecourt...

But...
The Tesco Momentum and other supermarket or Petrol Station higher RON rated petrol has additives that can improve things like carb icing...
If your engine does not need the anti detonation extras, the higher RON rated petrol can actually give less bang for ya buck!

abitmad
Posts: 220
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2012 3:16 am

Re: Higher octane or not?

Post by abitmad »

Opinions vary but having read a lot about this, my view is that super fuels make no difference to the sort of bikes we ride here as far as performance and/or mileage is concerned.

You can only really compare two fuels with any accuracy in a precisely monitored rolling road lab and even then any difference would apply only to the test vehicle and could not be assumed to apply to other makes and models.

Back in the real world it's close to impossible to make a fair comparison between two fuels because of fluctuations in factors like weather, traffic, riding style, state of tune that influence consumption between two test periods. No two rides in normal road conditions will be so exactly the same that they eliminate the influence of such factors.

Pukmeister
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Posts: 154
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 6:20 am
Current Ride: 2011 Tmax + 2019 R1250GSA
Location: Fareham, Hampshire

Re: Higher octane or not?

Post by Pukmeister »

If you really want to clean your fuel system, try a product called Techron. Its hard to come by as it is made by Texaco/Chevron Petrochemical and not generally available in UK. I got a bottle via an eBay reseller in the Netherlands. Its like Redex on steroids and seems to do the trick. Redex didn't touch my R1's gummed up carbs, then I followed a kiwi forum members advice to use Techron and it worked wonders. It won't clean your piston crowns (nothing will except a strip down and hand scrape) but it will remove varnish etc from fuel injectors and inlet valves.

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