8th generation expericence with true gas vs. ethanol gas and Octane levels

I have read and posted responses of this topic, but they where from all gens of our bike. I was educated here that there is such a thing as "true gas" and not tainted with ethanol. Thank you. I am confused by someone stating that ethanol burns cooler, but makes the bike run leaner hench hotter? The specs say 91 octane or higher. I can get that with ethanol, but I can onlyfind 1 far away station posting "true gas" over 88 octane at 91. For this bike specifically, can any of you let me know your thoughts on what I can get at 91 with ethanol vs. "true gas" at 88. Is there a benefit or fault for each. Thanks for your comments

 

Hi Bubba5466,

I'm in Australia and we use a different octane rating system to you guys in the states. RON 91 is our standard base level unleaded fuel which is equivalent to your 88 octane IIRC.
Ethanol has a bad name when used in older model bikes, as the fuel system was not designed for it. It caused a lot of issues with sludge formation and fuel system blockages caused by the gradual deterioration of components. Modern bikes like the 8th Gen should have been designed with ethanol based fuels in mind and they should not have any of these issues.

Personally, I run mine on RON 95 octane which, in this country is mostly ethanol free, so pay a few cents a litre more for it but get superior mileage and don't have to worry too much about whether there are any residual compatibility issues. Your gas prices are way cheaper than ours anyway, so that may be an option for you depending on how far the renewables drive has gone there. We have legislation mandating that a certain percentage of all fuel sold must contain ethanol, so the oil companies generally don't have many products without it and these are the "premium" lines. Personally I think ethanol belongs in bottles, not fuel tanks. All that ethanol fuel does is drive up food prices in third world countries as energy companies buy up feed stock for ethanol production. Yes, climate change is an issue, but there are better ways of dealing with it than ethanol fuel.

 

VFRs call for 87. That's US octane rating. Where I'm at, that's regular. Anything higher is pouring money down the toilet.

Ethanol free fuel will give you slightly better gas mileage, and there's no ethanol to foul and absorb water. The latter being the biggest benefit of ethanol free fuel, and why marinas sell it.

Fill up with 87. If you've got 85 and 88 instead. Fill up with 88. There's no need for 91 or higher (US). Filling up with ethanol free once in a while is more of a placebo than anything if you've been buying mostly the normal 10% ethanol blend (which Honda has allowed for since the 80's).

The biggest thing you can do for your VFR is to not let the ethanol blend stuff sit and spoil, so... go ride.

 

Have heard a few folk with st13 having rusty tanks due to ethanol in fuel.

 

The biggest thing you can do for your VFR is to not let the ethanol blend stuff sit and spoil, so... go ride.[/QUOTE]

I found out my confusion with your post. Thanks! When I was looking at the manual (only on the first day of buying it and quickly since "I don't need to read instructions" ;-)) and it states RON 91 and I was arrogant enough and stupid enough to think this was the US spec. Being that we are a small market in the world for bikes the manual is set for the highest market worldwide. I should have noticed that it uses the term "Petrol" and "RON" instead of Octane. I like you last line and I do just that when I can. I am running a tank of pure gas at 88 with the intent of looking at mileage benefits vs. cost. Because of the posts I will use 87 ethanol and save a few dimes or keep running the pure gas which is a few dimes more than the 91 octane I have used since buying it. Current cost of the pure gas at 88 is $2.71 a gallon right now in Utah. Thanks again. Love the groups advice. Now I need to start using my glasses to see shit that I should. :tickled_pink: Just doing stupid in my head math of possible mileage increase of say 4 MPH x 5 gallons using pure gas I come out ahead by .20 cents a gallon using it instead of using my current go to and .10 cents on using 87 octane.

 

Pretty sure the MOM for my 98 says 10% or less Ethanol is fine.
Would think the new ones can handle it too. But, what do I know. otstir: