For the last couple of weeks, I've not been able to buy anything but regular 87 octane (as opposed to the usual 93 octane) in my '08 stock UC. But the motor seems to run fine and just a bit cooler.

Could a cooler running motor be possible using regular gas???

 

I am not sure about cooler, but I realize mine runs better,,,,except when it is real hot.
I try to buy the lowest grade possible,,,
Just high enough to avoid ping..
Ping is bad

 

Your running cooler because you have less power. When you really need the power the engine will heat up and cause pinging. Such as riding in the mountains. Lower octane burns faster, higher burns slower. With low octane , in the right conditions, the combustion will end before the piston reaches it's high point.

An old mechanic once told me "You don't mess with fuel"

 

^^^yeh, what he said

 

87 buyer here,cooler and runs better,Sunoco and Marathon especially.92 gives me blisters and backfires.No ping and power is just fine for my old butt.

 

If your engine runs on 87 octane without pinging, that's fine. Octane does nothing more than stop detonation of the fuel before the spark plug ignites it. The higher the compression of the engine, the higher the octane needed. Because engines are now computerized and have knock sensors, the timing will adjust to the fuel. Thus you will lose some power, but the engine will run fine on lower octane fuels.

"The key is to figure out whether premium gasoline is "required" or "recommended." If it is recommended then a driver could opt to use a lower grade of gas, if they were willing to accept slightly reduced performance and fuel economy.

However, Mazor added, "We don't recommend that people switch down. Let's say you switch down to regular, and you have to accelerate to avoid an accident and it doesn't accelerate fast enough."

 

You can always add octain booster. That's what I've been doing and it works fine. In fact, I may just do that all the time since the difference in the cost between regular and premium is more than the octain booster.

 

Man.
Do you guys just make stuff up as you go along?
That's called PRE-IGNITION and has nothing to do with fuel octane rating
My Harley doesn't have a knock sensor. Does yours?
Unless you have an aftermarket ignition, no it doesn't.

 

I is my understanding that the higher the octane the slower the burn which would make it run cooler but would not help power unless the engine is knocking.

 

Wrong.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question90.htm

Octane stops detonation, where "detonation" used in engine terms, is the spontaneous ignition of the fuel under compression before the spark plug ignites it.