This article was written by Mike Guillory, posted on the VFR List and he has graciously allowed me to post it here. This post offers some guidance about gasoline additives.
If you ride a lot any good gasoline with additives should keep everything clean. If you routinely let your bike sit for 2 months or more, or if you keep gasoline stored for personal use, then you should put in a fuel stabilizer to keep "gums" from forming. This is an off-the-shelf item at any auto supply counter. In Houston we ride year-round so I never use any.The other common additive is the "carb/fuel-injector cleaner" that you can also buy at any auto supply counter. I am familiar with Chevron's additive, but not all of the others that are also available. It is the same stuff, in a more concentrated form, that most gasoline marketers put into their gasoline at low dose levels. The active ingredient is often an organic nitrogen compound which actually dissolves some or most of the built-up deposits in carbs and injectors. If your throttle response begins to feel a bit sluggish, using one of these additives may solve your problem a lot cheaper than a carb overhaul. But don't exceed the recommended dose, or you could actually cause additional problems. However, you can use the recommended dose on consecutive fillups if one shot doesn't do it for you.
Some people I know use a dose of carb cleaner every few months just as a preventive measure. Probably a good idea, but I haven't done it yet.
Mike in Houston
'94 VFR750 "XENA"
'85 V65 Magna "YELLOW SONIA"
