what grade of fuel does everyone use?

First topic message reminder :

i have always used premieum gas in all my scooters just because i figured it was better for the engine ,and it wasnt much difference in price when you only put a dollar or two in. does anyone use reg rather then premieum for their swing and if so do you see any difference in performance,MPG or such?

Jolly Bodger wrote:

£1.10/litre here

And that's cheap compared to some places!

cliffyk wrote:

This is especially true when you consider that 87 octane* here costs just $2.09/gallon--about 42p per liter...

So you pay the equivalent of 42p per litre! That's what we were paying per litre in 1992, all of 25 years ago.

Winger61 wrote:

Jolly Bodger wrote:

£1.10/litre here

And that's cheap compared to some places!

Agreed. Coming back from Oxford late Sunday night I pulled into Birchanger services  (off M11) and got my pants pulled down at £1.30 a litre.

As it's a small tank and I was tired and coughed up  (as you do)

As for fuel grade I use standard unleaded as I find super unleaded gives extra mpg but is offset by price.

In France I find E10 unleaded gives worse mpg in both my car & bike and on pay motorways is 10 pence + more a litre to purchase

Just thought I'd throw a spanner in here...time has moved on....should we use 95 octane or 97 octane?

Some Shell stations in the UK provide only 97 octane. My SW is a 2001 model and I tend to stick to 95 octane. Is 97 octane OK for my engine?

Did Honda adapt the later engines for 97 0ctane? I'm not going to lose any sleep over this but I'm curious

I use non ethanol 89 octane and my 2004 does not seem to have an issue, but I did upgrade to new fuel lines.

Remember there are 2 ways of rating octane (Ron and ROX) Over 90,000 miles with 2 new SilverWings, found me using the cheapest Reg in N America with no problems.

I've been running 91 in my Swing with no known issues. I run my VTR1000F on that as well, it's happy, but my ST1300 starts to knock under load at low revs on 91 (if I'm a bit lazy on the shifter) so I feed than one 95 and it is much happier.

I use 87 octane (USA rating) and it runs just fine. Regrettably it is also 10% ethanol ‘cause that’s what we get round here.

A few new fuels are around lately here in PA. The usual 87-89-92 10% ethanol. New one is 15% and cheaper but not for vehicles 2001 or later or most motorcycles. Flex fuel 45% to 80% ethanol more common also. Zero Ethanol is becoming easier to find but more costly.

87-89 octane SW runs fine.

US and UK have different standards for octane. 97 in UK is about 91 in US.

U.S. 87 Octane in all my vehicles / equipment, currently @ $ 1.95.9 a US gal.

Once in a galaxy far away and long ago (Arctic FAA Station, (1962) I poured 3/4 quart of 151 proof rum in the state trooper's truck parked in front of his place in Kotzebue. I was having enough trouble trying to walk home to my apartment in the snow without carrying that bottle. His truck apparently didn't have any problem digesting the rum. He stopped by the FSS (Flight Service Station) and was driving the truck. He did say he found a rum bottle in his stuck fuel tank opening with the gas cap sitting on the bottom of the bottle. I wish I could have been functioning that morning as well as his truck did.

I also use 87 octane normally; what Honda requests. And yes it is 10 % ethanol. Now in my Forza in Ely, NV I use 85 octane (replaces 87 here). We are over 4000 feet (6400 actually) so that works fine.

exavid wrote:

Once in a galaxy far away and long ago (Arctic FAA Station, (1962) I poured 3/4 quart of 151 proof rum in the state trooper's truck parked in front of his place in Kotzebue. I was having enough trouble trying to walk home to my apartment in the snow without carrying that bottle. His truck apparently didn't have any problem digesting the rum. He stopped by the FSS (Flight Service Station) and was driving the truck. He did say he found a rum bottle in his stuck fuel tank opening with the gas cap sitting on the bottom of the bottle. I wish I could have been functioning that morning as well as his truck did.

But was it leaded or unleaded rum?

Are you guys across the pond talking RON, MON or PON?

RON + MON divided by 2.

But was it leaded or unleaded rum? < well if you had trouble moving then it was definitely leaded

I use what the Owner's Manual suggests. Basic 87 Unleaded.

Only thing is ... I'm not sure if that is Metric 87, Imperial 87 or S.A.E 87?

I usually just follow the directions on the pump.

sonuvabug wrote:

I use what the Owner's Manual suggests.  Basic 87 Unleaded.

Only thing is ... I'm not sure if that is Metric 87, Imperial 87 or S.A.E 87?  

 
Well jeez, all ya gotta do is divide by 0.62137119223733

No wonder I've been having problems I've been multiplying by 0.62137119223733 and that's Witworth

All you need to do is multiply that by 3.14 and that's the answer. I'm hungry wife just made a nice pi.

It's been five years since the last post and fuel has changed. The whole methanol content in petrol has been covered but I am curious to know whether using 98 octane fuel will damage my SW.

I've done some reading but I'd like to know if anybody has been running their SW on 98 octane or if there is any danger in it?

Here in the UK we have 95 octane (E10) or 97 or 98 octane (E5)..E = Ethanol. I've started using 98 octane but I'm wondering what effect it might have my poor old 2001.

Has anybody had problems with 98 octane?

The Silverwing was designed and produced before ethanol in fuel was a “thing”. And there were riders then whose preference was to not use 95 octane fuel but to opt for a higher grade. Consensus then was that 98 octane was throwing money away.

If 95 octane was OK then why not now. My 2¢

We've been using E10 and E5 fuel in the UK since Unleaded fuel was discontinued over a year go.

The forum hysteria about using the dreaded ethanol has mostly died down. I've no issues using E10 in my Euro 4 engined Forza, and there's motorcycles out there on the road that far older than early Silver Wings using it.

Maybe if the naysayers did a bit more riding instead of worrying and letting E10 sit in the tank to go stale, they'd realise it's just petrol.

I fill the bikes with the good stuff about now because it's approaching winter and I'd rather not have E10 sitting for months. In reality that probably won't happen because the first sign of a good day I'll be out riding anyway.
The fuel will also be useful should I need to fire up the generator again this winter!

steve-h80, what do you mean by 'the good stuff'?

I always pump Shell V-Power 97

Loosemarbles wrote:

steve-h80, what do you mean by 'the good stuff'?

Y'know when I read posts on here there's times I think I'm living in a different UK when Brits post about fuel.

A few weeks ago it was this E00 fuel that doesn't exist, now it's 'the good stuff'.

I looked on a FB maxi scooter page some time ago, and was amused at some lad stating emphatically he was still using Unleaded in his scooter and not E10.

There's E5 and E10 available on the nations forecourts, whether it's multinational, independent, or supermarket brand. The pumps are clearly marked, although some fuel companies are better at it than others.

We as a country now use ethanol fuel, mainland Europe has been using it for years. Despite anyone's misgivings they'll still  queue up to panic buy it like everyone else. Then there's the national pastime of looking at and comparing prices of every filling station we drive or ride past.

There's no small micro brewery type oil refinery knocking out a special type of fuel.  There's just E5 and E10.

Now that you mention it Meldrew, the station I was using which sold E0 has been busted! It looks as though the ethanol Police caught up with them. They have a chain of filling stations here in the SE and one-by-one they lost their E0. They're still in business but selling only E10. I'm now using Shell or BP 97, it's E5.

We have non ethanol available everywhere here in the southeast United States. I don’t use it though. But it’s there. For about 1$ more per gallon than regular ethanol fuel.

Loosemarbles wrote:

steve-h80, what do you mean by 'the good stuff'?

I mean the "Super" higher octane variety.
I used to try and hunt out the Esso version as I was lead to believe was E0, but as someone pointed out they don't do E0 to the whole country. The Esso website confirmed this and I'm not in the E0 zone, although God knows what Esso mean by "technical reasons".
Perhaps I should invest in some snake oil instead

Here's the quote from Esso's website:

"What’s in our Synergy Supreme+ 99 premium petrol?

Our Synergy Supreme+ 99 petrol has more cleaning power than our regular petrol – and includes molecules whose job it is to reduce the friction in your engine helping the moving parts work more efficiently.*

Although our pumps have E5 labels on them, our Synergy Supreme+ 99 is actually ethanol free (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland). Legislation requires us to place these E5 labels on pumps that dispense unleaded petrol with ‘up to 5% ethanol’, including those that contain no ethanol, which is why we display them on our Synergy Supreme+ 99 pumps.

There’s currently no requirement for renewable fuel, like ethanol, to be present in super unleaded petrol although this could change in the future, in which case we would comply with any new legislation".

Living in the South I guess I can get E0 from Esso, as long as it marked as E5...I'm glad that's been made clear!

You're over thinking it, until last September you'd pull up at any Unleaded pump, fill up, pay, and ride away without a second thought.

Believe it not, you can do exactly the same at an E10 pump.

.

I'm sure you're right, but riding a 21 year-old SW does make one think. I think I just like thinking

Regular unleaded 87 octane per the manufacturer. Using higher octane fuel yields no advantage, real or imagined.

I use Shell 87 Octane on my Honda trike. Haven't had any problems.

I use normal 87 octane except when I put it to bed for the winter. Then I run it down to maybe 1/2 tank and fill it with 91 and some Seafoam. I also put it on the charger about once a month just to keep it fully charged and ready for warm weather again.

87 octane all the way for me. My Forza gets 85 in Northern Nevada as the altitude is over 4000 feet so "regular" fuel is 85. Never had any problems with it...

Here in Santa Barbara California, where the gas is the most expensive in the US, I use and have always used the cheapest I can find.
It's not that Im cheep, but the word thrifty definitely comes to mind. Ha Ha. Seriously though, I have only used the low grade in all my vehicles.