| Author | Message | ||
     Pammy |
Rykker777, call me ASAP(before 6 if possible). If not call me on Friday...PLEASE | ||
| Dave |
Welcome Back Brent. How's that killer looking X1? - I was on a short hiatus as well but have got back posting with the renewed excitement of being a Ulysses owner. I've actually already taken it to Chicago and back during a fast paced trip. DAve | ||
| Iamike |
Bryan- Cool! What part of the Cities will you be at? I'll be in Bloomington, I'll ping you with phone numbers. I should be open all Friday afternoon. I was kind of wanting to visit Leo's Cycle and Bob's parts, but that can always wait. | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Dark Vapor, My friend Mike does that in San Diego. Cars/Vans mostly. I never thought of trying a bike! Nice idea... | ||
| Loki |
Mike, will be chillin in Hastings. For some reason we think about the same spots. see what happens... gonna be in the area wed afternoon thru early tues. but ping away | ||
| Blake |
Brankin (1313), Try clicking on the little " " in the message box toolbar.  Pammy, Try sending Ryker77 a PM via his profile? | ||
| Blake |
Welcome back Brent! Hope that killer X1 is still treating you well. | ||
| Spike |
Blake, Speaking of the hyperlink button-- shouldn't it ask for the url and the text separately? As it is it only asks for the url and then posts "newurl{http://testurl.com,http://testurl.com}". It's easy enough to just delete and insert text, but I always 2nd guess myself on which url I'm supposed to delete. | ||
| Sparky |
I inadvertantly filled up my XB9R with 87 octane during the recent gas price crunch and, strangely enough, it seemed to run OK for the normal weekly work commute. Granted, it would ping a little sometimes if I gave it too much throttle at lower rpms but if I lightened up, it wouldn't ping. I'm not saying I'd do this if I were going to, say uh, chase Ferris around on the backroads, but I'm wondering if it would hurt the engine to run 87 octane occasionally and take it easy on that tankful? BTW, I'm at sea level and the air temps are in the 50s & 60s. Anybody else done this? Tanks, Sparky | ||
| Blake |
Spike, You are right. I hadn't noticed that, since I'm used to typing in the longhand formatting tags. | ||
| Tank_bueller |
...but I'm wondering if it would hurt the engine to run 87 octane occasionally and take it easy on that tankful? I wouldn't, but I believe any "pinging" is not good. $.02 | ||
| Rick_a |
I would agree with the above. Do as the manual states, I believe 91 is the recommended minimum. | ||
| Blake |
Sparky, At near sea level you would be enduring a significant risk to use 87 (r+m)/2 octane fuel in your Buell; it ain't cool. Running it easy in that accidental case was definitely a wise thing to do. | ||
| Sparky |
Thanks guys for the advice. I think my little experience with the 87 showed me that: 1) the engine won't blow up if I practice restraint and 2) at a fillup buying 91 octane, I don't have to search all the gas pumps for one that just dispensed 91. I was really getting anal about buying undiluted 91 and it just started bugging me. So maybe I'm not getting 100% 91 if the pump previously had 87, but it doesn't seem to make a difference for commuting purposes where I practically never call for a lot of throttle. All this is moot however if I were going to play with the F'bolt. Then I'd get picky about feeding all 92 horses with a healthy diet of 91.  | ||
| Rocketman |
Sparky, I wouldn't run on anything less than 91 for an intermittent, infrequent or otherwise time / purpose if Buell recommends 91 as a minimum. Sure you can be careful but as 87 is a more usual rating for vehicles with lower compression, if a manufacturer recommends higher octane rating then I'd tend not to want to use less unless doing so was an absolute necessity. You probably won't harm your motor riding careful, fuel injection and all taking care of things, but that's never a petroleum tight guarantee. Rocket | ||
| Blake |
I too prefer filling stations that offer a separate hose for each grade of fuel. Seems like most of the stations around East Texas do, a few don't. | ||
| Darrell_ks |
Has anyone tried running 93 octane? We have one station that still carries it, but since its out of the way for me, I havent tried it in my bike. I believe the manual says 91 or higher, but was wondering if performance/economy went up enough to justify the extra 8 miles to get it. | ||
| Blake |
You'll get no benefit for a stock or near stock engine by running higher octane fuel than required. In fact, doing so may even tend to impede performance. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Blake, could provide a link or reference to any data or information that supports that statement? I can't think of any reason why running higher octane fuel in an engine that doesn't need it would impede performance, but I could easily be swayed in that direction with some real data. I'm on the fence with this, push me to either side of it if you have the time; I can't find anything on the subject myself. | ||
| Bison |
Since the discussion of fuel octane has come up I would appreciate the list's thoughts.I do a lot of travel out of the US and Canada on motorcycles. Fuel quality has not been a problem on my BMW's or KLR's. I am planning a trip to Panama in January on my Ulysses. Any comments much appreciated. ref | ||
| Court |
For what it's worth, I tried using 87 instead of the 93 we usually use in the Saab. Mileage went to hell in a handbasket. | ||
| Sparky |
Court, does your Saab have a knock sensor? If it does, the ECM (or equivalent) might provide for 2 ignition/fuel curves, the normal one for spec'd fuel and one for lesser octane. Quite possibly, running on 87 would result in driving with retarded ignition which could explain poor mileage. Some GM autos, like the Corvette, have this capability. | ||
| Iamike |
I've used 89 octane (10% ethanol) almost exclusively since I bought the '99 S3 new. I got tired of trying to find stations that had higher. When I did the top end at 38,000mi. there was no erosion at all on the pistons, with very little carbon build up. Now at 55,000mi. it still runs fine. Before I put the race ECM on it pinged a lot but now I never notice it. | ||
| Tomd |
Hi, My 2 cents worth on the octane talk. My 04 12s rattles with 91 just like my old Chevy 396 did on regular. It has rattled under load at various RPM since new. My moron dealer says "they all do it, you just don't know how to ride a V-twin, just run 87 and let it ping" Of course, I didn't pay attention. I had to pay an hours labor for the dealer clown show to tell me that there was nothing wrong with the timing even though the bike runs like it got way too much initial timing. In the colder weather, (today it was 46 degrees) I can get away with running 91 out of the pump. When the temps climb to the mid 70's, I have to run 91-93 with octane booster. Once it hits 80, I have to switch to Sunoco GT100 race gas (105 RON). Above 90, I switch to Sunoco GT+104 (109 RON) and it will still rattle at times. I have a race kit and I modified, (spaced out) the right hand scoop to cool the rear cyl better. I almost wish they came with a Vertex or Mallory magneto so you could adjust the timing with a 1/2" wrench. Tom | ||
| Rocketman |
You gotta watch some of those funky Saab's you know. Some don't have a knock sensor fitted on the block these days but they can still knock sense. They do it using smart electronics in the ECU / direct ignition cartridge to see how the spark plugs are performing. Yes ignition retard is part of the function and I guess pulse time too. Over in the UK we get treat to 97 Super Unleaded fuels or the more normal 95 Premium Unleaded varieties, depending on what you want to pay per liter. For a few years now I've had people rave about Shell Optimax which is a 97 RON Super Unleaded. I believe Shell claim the additives they put in it make it behave more like a 98 RON. The S1W seems to perform better on it and it sure does smell weird. That's the fuel not the Buell!!!! Rocket | ||
| Firemanjim |
This octane question comes up all the time.Here is how it works,high octane gas is made to burn SLOWER,thats why your engine is LESS likely to ping on it.Lower octane will burn faster,so if your bike does not require high octane fuel you may actually be hurting performance--and wasting your gas money.Isn't nearly everything we do to improve performance centered on burning the fuel faster and more effeciently?We are not talking exotic oxygenated race gases or such.Just your out of the pump stuff. | ||
| Sarodude |
In race classes where compression is regulated, people find out quickly that there is such a thing as too high of an octane rating. This is no secret. Octane does NOT equal power. A buddy's 91 Integra ran best on 89 and got the best mileage on 89. Not 87, not 91 or 93. This was when it was mostly stock with some bolt ons. -Saro | ||
| Djkaplan |
I know octane doesn't equal power. What I want to know is why octane impedes power if it isn't needed. I've heard the whole "it burns slower, it leaves deposits" et al. I'd like to read some credible documentation that supports it with facts, not conjecture. | ||
| Blake |
Non-optimum burn/ignition characteristics for the state of tune of an engine can compromise performance. An engine that is tuned/optimized for a lower octane fuel and its ignition/burn characteristics may tend to lose performance if higher octane fuel is utilized. Please note my intentionally careful use of the words "may" and "tend." Note that some modern automobile engines will via knock sensor and such actually take advantage of higher octane fuel and adjust their state of tune (timing) accordingly for optimum performance relative to that higher octane fuels ignition and burn characteristics. I'm really no expert on this. Not sure where I read about it. Might have been a Kevin Cameron or Donny Peterson article or something like that. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Wow,not gonna trust a fireman talking about something burning----I'm hurt.  |
