Unleaded fuel

[Tarbash 27]

WELL MY BIKE RUNS PERFECTLY FINE. THERE'S NO PROBLEM WITH IT. MY FRIEND PUT 110 IN HIS HONDA 450 AND FELT AN INCREASE IN POWER. MY MOMS BOYFRIEND PUT IT IN HIS 2004 HARLEY AND FELT A DIFFERENCE. IM NOT GOING TO TELL ANYBODY WHO'S RIGHT AND WHO'S WRONG. IM JUST SAYING IT WORKS FOR ME.

[Pete Logan]

Well, reading through his first post, you will see that IN EUROPE they rate gasoline with a RON value. So his 95 is about a 90 octane value, 92 is about 87, and 98 would be our supreme or 92/93.

This comes up from time to time. You are quite correct, the octane ratings are measured differently in US and Europe.

The simple way to think about it is Regular is Regular, and Premium is Premium.

There's about 5 points difference as a rule of thumb, so our 95 is your 90, and our 98 is your 93-ish.

But the thing to remember is that AFAIK it's the same gas, regardless of displayed octane rating.

Just in passing, I run European 98 (Premium) in my '82 750E and it does not like the Regular

But I also run the Premium with Lead Substitute through there quite happily.

The motor's good for Unleaded, as has been said.

[mckdavid]

All,

Well, what can I say, thanks for all the replies, I certainly didn't expect this many responses. To summarise, there is basically no problem with unleaded fuel for this engine, as the inlet and exhaust already have hardened seats in the head and was designed with this in mind if the official manual recommends unleaded. Good news, so we can run without major reworks or modifications.
Reference the fuel grades, it seems there is a lot of debate on which is the best fuel rating, I can't assist on this one, except to say that as long as the engine is running smoothly without detonation, the spark plugs being a nice brown colour, and the mpg being about right, then the fuel your are using is pretty much spot on, and there is no point paying for a higher grade than necessary, you probably aren't gaining much advantage in practical terms.

As Clone stated, here in Europe we use a different classification, but in essence it's all the same stuff. I don't have a conversion table to hand so can't compare the US rating system with ours, but 98 is the highest rating available here "off the shelf", I'm sure there are more exotic brews available but from specialists, and with the price of fuel here, 98 is more than enough already.....

Thanks again.

regards
David

[toymechanic.]

I have never been in Europe, so I can not say what is better there. My experience with Higher actane fuels, the bike runs stronger, faster and responds better than lower octane fuels. And the higher octane fuel also give a higher top speed. The next time your buddy keeps out running you by a small amount. Go put in some high octane fuel and race him again. You'll beat him. I had a '97 Polaris Sportsman 500, a friend had a '02 Yamaha Warrior he would also beat me by a small margin, then secretively a got the racing fuel and he couldn't figure out how I started beating him all the sudden. But he could smell it in my exhaust so I was busted. It does make a difference and there was nothing wrong with my atv. Had the same results back in the '80s with dirt bikes. We were also told by someone"not to use it all the time and not to use it full strength". We didn't use it all the time, but we did use it at full strength!

[duaneage]

The US environmental protection agency required the bikes to state that only unleaded gas should be used. The truth is leaded can be used because there is no catalytic converter on these bikes.

Lead clogs the screens in the converters and they fail in short order. Lead was used to lubricate and protect the exhaust valves. In 1972 almost all companies ( including Suzuki) went with more expensive hardened valves and seats, negating the need for leaded gas.

Engines that have a steady diet of leaded gas will have white coating at the exhaust pipes. I have not seen white exhaust ports on an engine in 18 years. (sigh)

[Tarbash 27]

YEAH, IT DOES LEAVE LIKE A WHITE POWDER ON THE END OF MY MUFFLER WHEN I RUN 110.