When I took delivery of the sporty (2011 1200C) sales rep told me to stay away from ethanol blends if possible. (manual says up to 10% is OK)

Now I never payed much attention to Premium Unleaded before because I never used it before the Harley. There are two stations im my town I have found so far that have unblended 91 premium...

I am planning a ride to my sisters when it warms up later that is about 3hr drive on interstate. Me being new, I plan on taking state highways and county rd's to avoid the interstates.

Question is, how hard is it to find good premium on road trips? Is most premium unleaded 10% blend? Is there Premium that is higher % blend? What are you guys doing?

 

I run premium gas in my 2010 1200 48 and havent had any problems. I think its 93 octane. I was told not to run standard regular unleaded gas. Always use premium pump gas. I put 8mm wires and Iridium plugs also to get better spark.

 

I just run the highest octane i can find for my 08 1200. If it happens to be of an ethanol blend then so be it. Although i prefer no ethanol.

 

Part of the reason I asked is in town here,, we have a chain called Kwik Trip that does NOT use blended premium. We have 5 Kwik Trips's here in town and I stopped by one the other day and they only had regular unleded! I never noticed before. Do you ever run into that on road trips? I just never paid much attention when driving around because all I ever used in my truck is regular....

 

Well In Missouri we have Quik Trips and they "Guaranteed Gasoline"
I cut and pasted they're little thing from the web but the key thing is
they do stand behind there stuff I had a problem with a car once Mechs sayed it was bad gas called QT got a check for more than the cost of repair and within 4 days they where replacing the tank at a pretty new store


QuikTrip gasoline is among the highest quality gasoline you’ll ever find. In fact, it’s Top Tier rated fuel, which means it meets the voluntary deposit control standard established by General Motors, Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, and Honda. Top Tier standards significantly exceed the deposit control standard set by the EPA. And it’s all because of our IQ additive, which enables your car to run with fewer emissions and get better gas mileage.

We sell and replenish thousands of gallons of gasoline every day at every location, so you know our fuel is fresh. Our storage tanks and fuel pumps are also closely monitored to exceed state inspection requirements and provide consistent quality. We’re so confident in the quality of our gasoline, we offer it with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. If your vehicle ever experiences a gas-related problem, we’ll pay to fix it. We simply produce the type of gas we’d like to put in our own cars, then pass the quality on to you.

 

Go to Pure-Gas.org and find the stations selling pure gasoline by state and city. Heard the fed is gonna mandate 20% next year, goodie.

Ethanol burns very inefficently, and costs you fuel mileage. Only thing it is good for is racing, the stuff doesn't detonate.

 

10% Ethanol will not hurt your bike.
IMO 93 octane 10% ethanol runs just fine In my efi 1200
Non ethanol fuel will give better gas mileage by about 10%,,Imagine that XD

 

Ive ran 87 a few times when out on roadtrips. Not going to hurt anything as long as you fill up with a higher octane as soon as you can

 

Lower octane will cause pinging. The thing with pinging is you can't hear it until it is severe. Yes, you cannot hear mild pinging, although knock sensors can. Sportsters do not have them. Even mild pinging can damage the engine.
The bottom line - better stay away from low octane. If you need to use it do not drive it hard.

Another question is - do I get the fuel I'm paying for? The truth here is there is about 0.5 gal of previous fuel in the hose and pump, in case of common hose. You must be very lucky if someone pumped premium before you. Normally it was regular and with our peanut tank you'll get mixture of 25% regular / 75% premium when pumping 2 gal.
Tip: Look for gas stations that have separate hoses.

 

I definately agree with running 91 octane or a 10% blended premium. But it seems like more and more stations are dumping premium and its getting harder to find, especially somewhere you are not familiar with. I use the stations with the seperate hoses also. I so badly want to run gas on the ground when stations have single hoses. If it was a car or truck i wouldnt care, but when you only get 2 gallons in a tank, that sucks