Your thoughts on using 88 octane E0 with 1085 pistons.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

91 octane E0 is getting hard to find here in Utah so I have to try the 88.
I can't run the 91 ethanol, or any ethanol, because it gums up my carbs due to only riding maybe once a week.
I don't ride fast anymore, just cruise/moderate speeds you might say. Do you think the bike will ping on 88? Wiseco pistons are 10.25 to 1 and the stock compression was 9.2 to 1.
Thanks for any experience or help.

[Nessism]

The carbs won't gum up riding once a week, unless the gas in the tank gets old. That said, just use some Stabil in the gas and you won't have to worry for months. I use marine grade Stabil, and my bike starts right up after many months of sitting.

[zuluwiz]

I had problems with ping on my 82 1100e. I went a range colder on plugs and had a lot of improvement, but not complete.

[Nessism]

I had problems with ping on my 82 1100e. I went a range colder on plugs and had a lot of improvement, but not complete.

Spark plug temperature range doesn't affect combustion temperature. Retarding the timing will help ward off knocking, but, obviously, it's a last resort.

[rphillips]

This 88 octane stuff is relatively new around here. The first station I saw it at, a yr. or so ago, had stickers that said it would be fine in any automobile mfg. after (I think) 2001, I've no clue what changed in 2001, but it also said not for "other engines", I didn't know what was meant by other engines, chainsaws, lawn mowers, motorcycles. It just seemed skeptical so I've just never tried it

[bonanzadave]

91 octane E0 is getting hard to find here in Utah .

Go to an airport and get some avgas 100LL.

[Big T]

I have zero problems running 87 octane E10 in my 1085 without any issues, save some pinging when the air temp gets over 100.
I switch to ethanol free in the fall, since I ride my dual sport in the winter

[hank2]

This 88 octane stuff is relatively new around here. The first station I saw it at, a yr. or so ago, had stickers that said it would be fine in any automobile mfg. after (I think) 2001, I've no clue what changed in 2001, but it also said not for "other engines", I didn't know what was meant by other engines, chainsaws, lawn mowers, motorcycles. It just seemed skeptical so I've just never tried it

Not really questioning that it's E0, but the pump disclaimer you mention about 2001 and newer is what is always on E15 pumps. Yes, 15% ethanol, not 10% and marked as 88 PO. I would double check it to be safe. The E15 pumps started popping up around me about a year or two ago. Big push from the EPA that had been held back for a while by the AMA and others.

I'm don't know what the octane requirement is on a 1000 or 1100 is, but with a 10.25 static CR, it's got to be up there. My GS650G is known for tolerating lower octane with its chamber design. Luckily, I have access to a number of E0 pumps. One source is 89 PO, all the others are 90 PO. 90 is the highest octane CBOB gas that come through the pipelines before it gets dosed with ethanol by the distributor truck at the stations. It was 91 PO until about 2 years ago. E0 marked as 91 may not be accurate anymore. My 650 runs fine with 89, which is what "regular" gas was for a long time.

edit...rphillips, I just realized that you didn't claim the 88 to be E0. Alert for others though.

[rphillips]

Sorry, don't remember any EO, PO, or CBOB, just remember that 88 that I hadn't seen before. I got really confused, first time to that new station, that pump had 4 different hoses, green, blue, orange, and black and 5 or 6 different fuel selections. Finally figured out how to get the gas I wanted, then went inside for coffee and had to ask for help figuring out how to use the new computerized coffee machine. Always remembering how simple things were in thee past.

[hank2]

Sorry, don't remember any EO, PO, or CBOB, just remember that 88 that I hadn't seen before. I got really confused, first time to that new station, that pump had 4 different hoses, green, blue, orange, and black and 5 or 6 different fuel selections. Finally figured out how to get the gas I wanted, then went inside for coffee and had to ask for help figuring out how to use the new computerized coffee machine. Always remembering how simple things were in thee past.

I get it, you just wanted some gas. With some stations having an E0, 3 E10's, E15 , E 85 and diesel, you've got to watch the hose colors lol. I avoid coffee machines that make me work for a coffee.

[rphillips]

Didn't know till now what E0 was, around here all I've seen is called Ethanol free or No ethanol, I've not seen E0 mentioned anywhere but in this thread, and still have no clue about what the P0 or CBOB is. I did go by that station today and looked. The colors for the hoses are green for diesel, yellow for flex fuel (85 % ethanol), orange for 88 (E15), and black for 87, 89, and 93 octane with up to 10% ethanol. Also an odd station at next town over has 3 selections, 87 octane with 0 ethanol, 87 octane with up to 5% ethanol or 87 octane with up to 10% ethanol. I remember well you got reg. (94) octane or premium (100 octane). Then in 1971, I got a job at a new local station that had reg. (94), ethyl (97), and premium (100). Also back then, best I can remember, all gas had plenty of lead, except Lead Free Amoco.

[hank2]

Yes, it used to be easy, years ago. CBOB or RBOB is the pipeline gasoline normally dosed with ethanol after the fact. Ethanol is far too corrosive to send through the pipelines.

I recall that the factory recommendation on my '72 BMW R75/5 was 98 US pump octane. PO or PON is pump octane number. US uses the average of the Motor and Research octane ratings to get the pump octane number. Europe and some others use only the Research octane rating. 91 Research would be about 87 PON average.

[rphillips]

Maybe, back in the day, premium was 100 research. Today, after averaging the motor and research octane brings the PON # down to todays 93 for the same stuff that was 100 in the past. Interesting!!

[hank2]

Yeah, I believe that 100 Research was more like 95-96 pump octane. A common octane in the later days of leaded premium. We had a budget chain for decades, Hess, now sold to Marathon. In the late 60's and on, they heavily advertised their leaded premium as Hess 101. Of course, it was a Research rating not used by others. About the same or a bit lower than the common 97.5--98 PO of other premium brands at the time.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

The carbs won't gum up riding once a week, unless the gas in the tank gets old. That said, just use some Stabil in the gas and you won't have to worry for months. I use marine grade Stabil, and my bike starts right up after many months of sitting.

Thanks for the reply. I never had carb problems (specifically, the pilot circuit) until I moved to Utah. I ran the 91 octane 10% ethanol, same as I did in California, but I rode more often in Cal'. Maybe it was the combination of a hot garage, riding only every 7-10 days and the 10% ethanol. I only bought about 1 1/2 gallons per fill up to keep the fuel fresher. I had to take my carbs apart 3 times in 4 years to clean them. I did try the Stabil marine grade and it didn't change anything, although the Stabil worked well with my lawnmowers over the years.
I then found a thread here that provided locations for ethanol-free gas. The carb problems stopped. That's why I think the problem was the ethanol gas more than the hot garage or lack of riding.