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78 Suzuki gs 1000 gas octane

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bjones89
  • Start date Start date
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Bjones89

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I know yall... stupid question but do y'all know what grade of octane gas do I use in my 78 grand? I know most bikes take 91 but that's wat I seen on most newer bikes and I don't own a owners manual...I would love to tho but I know that'll never happen!
 
If it is pretty much stock (compression, displacement, etc.), all you need is "Regular", which is probably 87 octane in your area.

In the summer heat, if you hear it pinging a bit, use some 89 until it cools off a bit.

.
 
If you have WAWA convenient stores up there, they sell nonethanol with 89 octane. It's gotten up to $2.99 a gallon down here, but when your only getting around 4 gallons at a time, it's affordable.
 
Gas loses Octane numbers over time. If you don't go through gas regularly it could be of benefit to pick a higher number...
 
How much for petrol/gas do you pay in USA, Here in UK we pay around ?1.25 per litre, there is around 3.8 litres in 1 US gallon.
 
Just doing some conversions:
1 Pound is $1.39 (today).
1.25 Pounds per litre would be $1.74 per litre.
$1.74 per litre for 3.8 litres would be $6.60 per gallon.

The station where I usually fill up is at $2.25.

In your currency, that would be about 0.43 per litre.

.
 
It appears that you are paying about three times as much for fuel, but let's look at the BIG picture for a moment.

Let's say that you put 15 litres of fuel in your tank. At 1.25 per litre, that would be about 18.75. How long did you have to work at your job to earn that much? (Generalizations, only, please.)

That same 15 litres would be 3.95 gallons, and at Steve's rate of 2.25, would cost about $8.90. The Federal minimum wage law here is $8.00, I think, so the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds would have to work just over an hour to earn enough to fill the tank. Some who are in better-paying, professional jobs, will earn $25-30 or more, so they would have to work for 15-20 minutes to earn enough to fill the tank.

If your rate of pay is somewhat comparable, the cost of fuel is really no more or a burden.
 
Pretty much without fail the UK is 2 times the California (Los Angeles) price. It's been approx that way despite multiple currency changes ever since I've been paying attention... (2005). :)
 
salty_monk said:
Pretty much without fail the UK is 2 times the California (Los Angeles) price. It's been approx that way despite multiple currency changes ever since I've been paying attention... (2005). :)
Click to expand...

And California fuel prices are at least $1/gallon more than the USA national average.
 
...and on topic, using 95 ROZ (which is the lowest grade available here. Equates to something around 91 MOZorwhathaveyou).

Price is about 1.5 per litre.
 
Dragon Breath said:
It appears that you are paying about three times as much for fuel, but let's look at the BIG picture for a moment.

Let's say that you put 15 litres of fuel in your tank. At 1.25 per litre, that would be about 18.75. How long did you have to work at your job to earn that much? (Generalizations, only, please.)

That same 15 litres would be 3.95 gallons, and at Steve's rate of 2.25, would cost about $8.90. The Federal minimum wage law here is $8.00, I think, so the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds would have to work just over an hour to earn enough to fill the tank. Some who are in better-paying, professional jobs, will earn $25-30 or more, so they would have to work for 15-20 minutes to earn enough to fill the tank.

If your rate of pay is somewhat comparable, the cost of fuel is really no more or a burden.
Click to expand...


That's interesting. I'll unpack it a bit with two scenarios from my perspective.

Being self employed and running a company vehicle with a 33 gallon tank, I can fill it with what I'd recieve for an hour of labor. Generally speaking, on a good day, with things running very smoothly of course...

Since I file my taxes as an S Corp, I draw a pretty reasonable salary. I also have decently fuel efficient vehicles to use when not working. If I consider the fuel capacity in my personal vehicles and figure in my hourly earnings, my little pickup truck would take around two hours of earnings to fill at 22 gallons. The bikes on the other hand, GS 850 or KLR 650, would fall into the one hour earnings range each holding a bit under 6 gallons.

I am amazed at the fluctuation in fuel prices depending on the location of the station. Next to the freeway or main highway seems higher just about anywhere around here. Yesterday after exiting the freeway I paid $2.35 per gallon. Had I waited and looked around a bit I could find as low as $1.99.

In regards to octane rating, I've always used the lowest grade in my vehicles. I've never heard any pinging or noticed a difference in performance.
 
I have a road test that states that the 1000G pinged on regular. Mine do that too. My 1000G has never exhibited any ping.

If your bike doesn't ping, your octane is fine. If it does ping, you can usually ride around it by winding it out more and avoiding short shifting. I like to short shift and use the low range torque, with larger throttle openings. Because of that, I run premium.
 
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