Quote:
Originally Posted by pedaltothemetal
Maybe someone
who uses 87 can try 91 and see if there is any difference!  |
Good plan, but first you have to answer this question: How do you want to measure that difference?
Around here, we have 87, 89, and 93 octane. ALL of it has 10% alcohol in it.
I did a 1500 mile comparisson with my 08 right after I got it and shimmed the needles, put a K&N air filter in it, and added a TBR slip on. That was all pretty much right after I got it. I had heard all sorts of claims, so I wanted to see for myself.
Conditions were about sea level, March-May, MidAtlantic area.
I filled up from empty (mostly darn near fumes left in the tank) as often as possible, usually from gas jugs at home, to ensure that I was as near empty as possible. I did 500 miles with each octane, alternating between each grade of gas with each tank to spread around the differences in weather and riding use (commute or sport back roads) for that week or whatever.
When it was all said and done, the difference in mileage per gallon was statistically insignificant, I think like less than 1mpg overall, with an extreme spread of just a few miles per gallon within each octane rating and across the three octane ratings as a whole sample group. After that, I stopped tracking it and didn't care any more, just kept using 87.
Subjectively, though, I'm SURE that I went faster with 93 octane, but only because my wallet was lighter and my bike was
green!!!
During that time, the only gas that I used was from Wawa (mostly from one particular station), so it was about as generic a brand as you could get.
For the remainder of the 6K+ miles that I put on the bike I just used 87 from wherever I was at the time, never had any issues at all.
Unless you've done something to the bike that substatively changes the compression ratio or timing, fill it with 87, ride it like you stole it, and go on to worry about more important things in life.
