This bike only likes high octane brew!

Adrian R

Adrian R

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Almost 4k on the odometer now, and have been running 91 octane, ethanol free fuel. Bike ran good, but would still ping ocassionally off idle, idle like a Harley, and sometimes ping slightly under hard acceleration. Today I by chance stopped at a Marathon station, one I never stopped at before, and saw they had 93 octane fuel. I filled my tank, rode a mile down the road to a coffee house. An hour later I started the bike and immediately noticed a difference. Man, different bike. Smoother, more power, better throttle response...idled better too. Going to experiment with octane boosting products as 93 octane fuel is hard to come by.
 
I know this is very subjective because some owners say just put in the minimum octane the bike will accept (in the manual) and save money whereas others (like me) feel modern bikes run much better on the 5% ethanol super unleaded branded petrol like Shell, Esso, BP (i.e. not supermarket stuff). I always use the best stuff I can find for my bike I am not surprised you noticed a difference.
 
I too only use 93 octane in all my bikes. I can immediately notice when I am forced to use anything less.
We are fortunate here in Wisconsin to have Kwik Trip stations that dispense 93 octane from its own fueling hose. No blender pump that gives you a batch of water crap the last customer pumped.
 
Around here you can only find 91 octane. A while back, I ordered a case of Amsoil Motorcycle Octane Boost, which will add a couple of points to a tank of gas, making 91 effectively 93. Bike runs great with it.
 
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