You north americans are a lucky people... here in Brazil, by law, we have a minimum of 24% ethanol mix...
What many don't know is that engines can be made and tuned to run optimally even on 100% ethanol, and you can see the results in alcohol-burning racers. The problem is they can't run well on both, as with pure ethanol you need very high compression (12-13:1) among other things. When you start adding ethanol to a typical gas engine it will not run as well or as efficiently.
Unfortunately, your Harley in Brazil is likely little different from ours, so you have to deal with the performance issues of running E24. BTW how do they run on this mix and are there any differences that you know of between our bikes and yours? Are they US-spec?
Brazil is the 1st country in development of vehicles technology for using ethanol. Our cars uses any mix you put in the tank. They self adjust automaticaly. Gasoline have an adition of 24% minimum of ethanol. The trouble are with imported vehicles. Ethanol corrodes fuel lines, carburetors, injectors, intake manifolds and so on. Imported cars have to be "tropicalized" to handle our fuel. But, fortunately, the fuel octane ratio are higher with this mix. No pinging whatsoever.
By the way, we only feel a almost unperceivable loss of power in our bikes, comparing with what we use when we are in the USA, and ours "drink" a lot more fuel...
same here... I don't go into 6th until I'm at or above 65. I usually set my cruise control for around 74mph. I agree with the other posts that you should let your engine dictate when you go into 6th gear.
Bottom line is, Ethanol sucks! Since the increase percentage here with summer formulation, my wife has lost 1.25 MPG in her car. I'm curious if an Octane booster might not help.
same here... I don't go into 6th until I'm at or above 65. I usually set my cruise control for around 74mph. I agree with the other posts that you should let your engine dictate when you go into 6th gear.
That's all well and good, but when you get there and roll on the go, it shouldn't ping..