This thread cracks me up. Let me throw a bit of math to you low grade fuelpenny pinchers. Say you put 2500 mi on your bike a year. Say you average 40 mpg. Thats 62.5 gallons a year. A gallon of 93 octane is about $3.49. Thats $218 in fuel cost. A Gallon of 87 octane is about $3.00. Thats $187. You save a whopping $31 a year in fuel. A trashed top end from detonation will cost about $1600 to repair maybe more? Guys, come on, your $18 large Harley deserves good,just be safe and run premium. (sacrafice one tiny chrome trinketpurchase a year )

 

Yeah but what if you put 6000 miles on in 3 months thats 24000 miles a year. Ow, I just hurt my brain trying to do the math.

 

That is funny. But I guess if one has no idea what pinging is or what it sounds like then stay the recomended octane. High heat outside and stop go traffic or high heat heavy load low rpm one may find pinging with the air cooled harley engine with todays tune of 14/1 ratio. But the average 9.5/1 compression ratio in normal conditions 88 octane is fine.Fact if it was liquid cooled I am sure Harley would give a 88 octane min instead of the 91.Premium is no better then Regular far as gasoline goes, it just has a higher octane. So the whole calling regular a low grade is crap. And who only rides 2500 miles a year?

 

JUst to chime in again here, the brand of fuel that you run is equally as important as the octane your buy. The no name/discount brand fuels use low quality octane boosters and the bare minimum cleaners required by federal law. The name brand fuels (BP/Amoco, Shell, Chevron, Mobile etc) all use high grade quality octane boosters and top notch cleaners. The base fuel that most seller use is the same thing, however the QUALITY of the final fuel product is determined by the boosters and cleaners each retailer puts in.

Ive seen alot of cars come through the shop I work at (Lexus) that are running low octane, no name fuel. It causes all KINDS of problems, and like the bikes will cause pinging and detonation!

As one of my teachers explained to me at UTI one day "No name fuel and brand name fuel is like talking about hot dogs or steak for dinner. Sure the hot dogs will feed you, but a steak makes you SATISFIED!"

too true.

 

I run Citgo or BP 87 octane mostly. My old Evo rund the same with 87 or with 91 octane. Fuel injected bikes might be a different story though.

 

Harley does sell a fuel additive, and by useing it they claim you can run a lower Octain fuel. It comes in a 4 oz. container and cost $5.95, at the recomended mixing ratio it will treat 40 gal. of fuel. So for you Math. Heads who like to crunch numbers see if thecost offsets the .20 differencebetween regular and premium fuel. By the way that Harley part number for the additive is #99893-91a........

 

Well, others can do as they choose, but I'm just stupid enough to follow the owner's manual recommendation of using premium fuel only in my bike.

 

Experts say enginedetonation can occur without hearing it. (I bet it's real hard to hear ping with a set of roaring baffleless drag pipes)If you actually hear an engine pinging, it's doing even more damage.

 

Stop at PepBoys and pick up REDLINE fuel additive. its not the cheapest but you only need to add an oz to your tank every other fill up.

I use it on my 300 HP Hayabusa. it wont let you go to a lower octane but it will keep your fuel line side cleaner.

I just put a splash in every so often when I remember. a bottle goes along way.

 

Guys, I am not trying to run low octane for the cost factor, somebody told me that some of these air cooled engines run cooler with lower octane gas. So just wanted to set that straight here,I am cheap, but not that cheap!!!!!! I will be running full premium from now on, no questions asked!!!!!!!!