ninjette.org

Go Back   ninjette.org > General > General Motorcycling Discussion

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old May 10th, 2022, 09:19 AM   #1
Rstark
ninjette.org member
 
Name: Rick
Location: Honolulu, HI
Join Date: Mar 2022

Motorcycle(s): 2016 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ABS KRT

Posts: 18
How much ethanol is bad?

Hi all, I was thumbing through my owner’s manual(OM) (1st time I read it &#128514. Earlier, I’m not sure where but I read something that said you should use 91 octane. That’s when I dug up the OM. It confirmed 87 octane was the way to go. I run only 89 octane non-ethanol. I could switch to 91 octane, but I seriously don’t think I will get any gains or pluses in doing so. I don’t want anything but gas, minus the ethanol.

So my question is how much ethanol fuel do you go through before you see any signs? (On average) A couple that come to mind are rubber fuel hoses and injector clogging. I’ve only found two non ethanol gas stations and one more station several miles away. Sometimes you are simply not in the area of non-ethanol gas stations and need gas. So how bad or good is ethanol?
Rstark is offline   Reply With Quote




Old May 10th, 2022, 09:37 AM   #2
thedrewski86
ninjette.org guru
 
thedrewski86's Avatar
 
Name: Drew
Location: SoCal
Join Date: Jul 2013

Motorcycle(s): 2007 SV650S 2005 EX250F

Posts: 486
I've seen manuals specify 91 RON fuels which are close to the US 87 octane rating. RON is just a European rating. Ethanol really sucks if you have carburetors; it has very noticeable effects after a bike sits for just 3 weeks. You probably won't notice it as much with your fuel-injected 300. I run Sta-bil in both my bikes now as I don't get many miles on them. My carb'd 250 really needs it as the ethanol fuels degrade so much faster.
__________________________________________________
Don't think, look!
thedrewski86 is offline   Reply With Quote


2 out of 2 members found this post helpful.
Old May 10th, 2022, 02:57 PM   #3
DannoXYZ
ninjette.org certified postwhore
 
Name: AKA JacRyann
Location: Mesa, AZ
Join Date: Dec 2011

Motorcycle(s): CB125T CBR250R-MC19 CBR250RR-MC22 NSR350R-MC21 VF500F CBR600RR SFV650 VFR750F R1M ST1300PA Valkyrie-F6C

Posts: A lot.
MOTY - 2018, MOTM - Nov '17
Yeah, any amount of ethanol is bad for carb bikes. Due to vented tank and carbs, moisture sneaks in from outside and causes separation of ethanol from gasoline.

On EFI bikes, not that big a deal since systems is fully sealed.
DannoXYZ is offline   Reply With Quote


Old May 11th, 2022, 06:53 AM   #4
jkv45
Rev Limiter
 
jkv45's Avatar
 
Name: Jay
Location: WI
Join Date: Jul 2013

Motorcycle(s): '06 SV650n, '00 Derbi GPR, '64 CA77 Dream 305, '70 CL450 Scrambler, numerous dirt bikes

Posts: A lot.
MOTM - Jun '18, Oct '16
Use whatever is the lowest octane gas you can get without ethanol.

No need for anything more than 87 for the Ninja, unless you have to go higher to get away from ethanol. Excessive octane reduces power.

Gas without ethanol will make a carbed engine run richer than gas with ethanol - which usually means better.

I don't run gas with ethanol in anything with a steel tank, or any small 2-stroke.

Gas with ethanol goes bad quicker than gas without.

If tuned precisely for it, gas with ethanol can produce slightly more power, but it's not significant in most applications and doesn't offset the disadvantages, IMO.
jkv45 is offline   Reply With Quote


Old May 11th, 2022, 08:49 AM   #5
Alex
ninjette.org dude
 
Alex's Avatar
 
Name: 1 guess :-)
Location: SF Bay Area
Join Date: Jun 2008

Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE, '15 CRF110F, '13 TT-R50E

Posts: Too much.
Blog Entries: 7
Ethanol free gas is not available to huge portions of the population. Any large metro area isn't going to have it nearby. It's only available where many people *aren't*. This site catalogs stations that sell ethanol free gas by state: https://www.pure-gas.org/
__________________________________________________
Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org

ninjette.org Terms of Service

Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first.

The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)
Alex is offline   Reply With Quote


2 out of 2 members found this post helpful.
Old May 12th, 2022, 06:52 AM   #6
jkv45
Rev Limiter
 
jkv45's Avatar
 
Name: Jay
Location: WI
Join Date: Jul 2013

Motorcycle(s): '06 SV650n, '00 Derbi GPR, '64 CA77 Dream 305, '70 CL450 Scrambler, numerous dirt bikes

Posts: A lot.
MOTM - Jun '18, Oct '16
Sta-Bil makes a couple additives to treat ethanol gas if that's all you can get.

I believe it's Sta-Bil 360 and Sta-Bil Marine.
jkv45 is offline   Reply With Quote


Reply




Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
[superbikeplanet.com] - Now Ya Went & Made Him Mad. Bad, Bad Idea. Zarco on Pole as M Ninjette Newsbot Motorcycling News 0 April 23rd, 2022 07:53 AM
OEM vs Aftermarket/Ethanol bad for our bikes? A.J. General Motorcycling Discussion 59 September 7th, 2017 08:55 PM
Bad driver & bad rider. Guess who gets hurt... akima Videos 27 July 12th, 2013 12:26 AM
Too much ethanol is bad for your bike DaBlue1 General Motorcycling Discussion 2 August 16th, 2012 07:53 AM
Lane splitting.... bad bad bad oblivion007 Videos 29 May 8th, 2012 11:42 AM


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


Motorcycle Safety Foundation

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:33 PM.


Website uptime monitoring Host-tracker.com
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Except where otherwise noted, all site contents are © Copyright 2022 ninjette.org, All rights reserved.