VFR's and cheap gas

Have you ever ran "cheap" (87 or lower) gas in your VFR? How did it run?
My '03 ACE runs better on the cheap stuff. I've never tried it in the VFR. It's not about the money, but why waste it when not necessary?

 

The vfr is designed to run on 87 octane. I have never had any problems running 87 octane in mine.

 

I concur .... and I didn't know they sold gas less than 87 octane!? For the few pennies difference, why would I bother? or take the chance of messing up my vfr?

 

That's why I run higher grade gas in my VFR's, however when I bought my ACE, the dealer said to run the cheapest thing I could find in it. I thought he was full of tarter sauce, until one day, out in the middle of nowhere I found myself on reserve and only a little mom and pop gas station in 50 miles. The only gas they had was 87. So, I got a few bucks worth, and hit the road. That little 750 twin loved it. I've ran it ever since, but only in that bike.

 

:smile: In the for what it's worth department ... 'cause I know this is like voodoo ... I've run 87, 89 and 92 in my vfr and found no difference ... so I've turned to only using 87 and have had no problems or complaints. Now on my Toyota --- not to wander to far --- it states it will run on 87 but will give better performance with 91. I've only got 800+ miles on the toyota, so I can't say one way or the other ... but I'm trying 92. I think it might have something to do with the anti-knock variable timing in the Toyota ... retard, advance, etc. I'm sure there are others here who know moooochoo more than I do on this subject.

 

I've only ever run 87 in my bikes. Never had a problem. Some vehicles specifically call for higher octane, but VFRs don't.

 

We only have 95-97-98-99 octane here in Norway. I use 95 on the VFR, my car (turbocharged) gets 98 though....

 

In higher elevations in the western US you will see 85 octane regularly.
I never put it in any of my vehicles for the three years I lived in Salt Lake City, but apparently it's not unhealthy due to the rarefied atmosphere.

 

In most countries (including all of Europe and Australia) the "headline" octane that would be shown on the pump is the RON, but in the United States, Canada and some other countries the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, sometimes called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), Road Octane Number (RdON), Pump Octane Number (PON), or (R+M)/2. Because of the 8 to 10 point difference noted above, this means that the octane in the United States will be about 4 to 5 points lower than the same fuel elsewhere: 87 octane fuel, the "regular" gasoline in the US and Canada, would be 91-92 in Europe. However most European pumps deliver 95 (RON) as "regular", equivalent to 90-91 US (R+M)/2, and even deliver 98 (RON) or 100 (RON).:biggrin:

 

At the risk of making this sound like an oil thread....

The octane rating of gas has to do with it's ability to not detonate - or knock. Higher compression engines need higher octane to avoid the detonation - the K1200's have 13:1 compression and need high test. VFR's are fine with the octane the owner's manual recommends.

 

I agree, the lower octane burn's easier and my VFR is happy with it.:smile:

My brother's K1200 RT need's the highest octane he can find.:wink:

 

87 all the time with no problems..

 

noticed no differences between higher octane on the vfr seems to run the same. so i just use the cheap stuff now

 

You guys kill me; I have never ran regular 87 gas in my VFR or any of my bikes. I use hi test ,in my neck of the woods it would be 93 octane. I do this for two reasons,one is kind of an insurance policy to guard against knocking or preignition.Most of you have probably seen a pistion or two with a hole in it,sometimes referred to as a burned pistion. Burned pistions can happen because of low grade fuel, improper ignition timing, or an overly lean fuel mixture. Sometimes a combination of all three will cause a burned pistion. Also hi test fuel keeps cylinder temperatures running cooler than regular fuel .
So when you are getting around 40mpg with your bike ,the cost per mile for hi test is very small. So anyway I would rather pay a little extra for fuel than
destroy my engine. I know Honda says min. fuel requirement is 87, but then again thats minimum, and you guys know the definition of minimum.

 

Guess I poked a bees nest with this one.:nod:

 

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Fuel Thread

I can only speak for the 6th Generation book, so here goes... bee's nest? try hornets!:

87 ? 87 is the minimum?
my 2007 owner's manual for the VFR800/A Interceptor/ABS says on page 100,"86 octane (or higher)". So, you are doing exactly what Honda engineers intended and designed for when you fuel your machine with 86 octane (or higher) gasoline.

one by one flame retardent:
"low grade fuel" - change the gas station, not the octane rating to fix this
"improper ignition timing" - electronic ignition on the VTEC makes this concern mute if you think Honda got it right.
"overly lean fuel mixture" - if the EFI Honda put on the bike is wrong, the octane rating won't help with a lean or rich amount of fuel getting sprayed.

If I remapped my EFI with a Power Commander and aftermarket exhaust, I might share one of the stated concerns - mixture... but I did not mod my bike nor am I destroying my engine by using the recommended octane fuel.

If running the expensive stuff works for you, fine... spend your money, but don't tell folks doing what the manufacturer recommends is bad. That's crazy talk.

also from the manual...
Ethanol 10% by vol. max (gas mixed with ethyl or grain alcohol)
MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether) 15% by vol. max
Methanol 5% by vol. max (gas mixed with methyl or wood alcohol) - this is the stuff that can destroy the rubber, plastic parts if it does not have the right corrosion inhibitors.

Does the extra refining and additives to higher octane fuels above 86 octane create additional green house gasses that are contributing to global warming ? :wink:

(does this post qualify for a gasoline flame thrower icon? :flame

 

87 all the time in my magna and my VFR. I know in the Magna V4 higher than 87 can cause unwanted carbon build up

 

Hey Noz; Read my manifesto again, I did not say 87 octane gas would destroy a VFR engine. I said I use 93 octane for "engine insurance " that's all.Also when you stated that I may be wasting my money on hi test, I did a little calculation . If we are getting 40 MPG with our bikes, and I think thats a reasonable assumption, and the cost of reg gas is $2.97 and hi test is $3.30,the cost of running your bike on reg is 7.4 cents per mile and running on hi test is 8.2 cents per mile, there is less than 1 cent difference per mile, so I will be very content paying that .8 cents extra. for the insurance that is. thanks eddie