My bike is addicted to Super Plus

kyojitsu

kyojitsu

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I've notice that my bike (2012 F800GS) is very much affected by fuel grade. If I use standard UK issue 95 RON unleaded it sounds like a bag of spanners, the fuel economy is poor (relatively speaking) and generally feels a bit asthmatic. When I stick super plus (98 RON) it smooths the engine, feels much perkier and the fuel economy seems to skyrocket. In fact all is well with the world on the good stuff.

So you might be thinking "just run it on super plus then" and I'm tempted to if not for the fact it's bugging me that the bike should be running fine on on regular unleaded which is obviously quite a bit cheaper and more available. I thought there was a knock sensor and the ignition was adjusted for fuel octane rating. Do these things fail or go haywire? Anyone got any ideas of what's going on?
 
No, I'm have no idea what's going on. But..... I think it's a government/OPEC conspiracy to lower fuel prices so we get hooked on 98 octane, they'll then whack the price back up and we'll all be high octane junkies😄
 
I always use "Cheapo supermarket fuels" and have never (so far) had a problem, but my 1100 (de-cat with straight thru Remus can) does prefer premium grade fuel, just runs better on it.
 
Never noticed any difference between fuels, supermarket or otherwise. Bike still runs fine.
 
My Lebbenfiddy runs better on premium stuff as well.........

You'll probably find that the fuel economy increase outweighs the pump price premium so enjoy it......keep using premium :)

(Mine 'tells' me that it needs a tune and service when I can't tell the difference between the two fuels BTW.......a tweak up and a service and bang, it runs better on the 98ron premium stuff again :D)
 
Premium fuel

I've always been a bit sceptical about these fuel claims but I have definitely noticed a difference.

Don't even go near a supermarket forecourt now, but not only does my 800GS run better on 98RON, I can feel and measure the difference (in MPG), but Shell is better than BP :clap

How does that work :nenau
 
I have never noticed any difference between brands or where it is purchased...........come to that, I have never noticed any difference between 95 and 98RON! :D
 
I first noticed this on the continent. I was advised to avoid E petrol like the plague.

Therefore used 98 or 100. The main thing I noticed was the improvement in tank range.
 
Hmm. Not much agreement on this. Clearly some people's bikes can be run on cooking oil without a murmur and some like mine are fussy divas who only drink champagne. I can't afford two in my life!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
One thought came to mind that may be the cause of you noticing the big difference in how your bike runs with the different fuels, and thats carbon build up on the piston/head/valves leading to a hotspot that is causing pre-ignition (pinking). The higher octane fuels 'resist' pre-ignition. Carbon build is pretty rare these days but can still occur in higher mileage engines.

The Higher octane petrols also contain valuable cleansing agents that help to keep fuel lines and injectors clean and can give slightly better mileage and performance because modern engines adjust the ignition timing to be as far advanced as possible up to the pre-ignition point and higher octan petrol facilitate higher levels of advance.

Generally the difference between octane ratings wouldnt be noticeable to the extent you mention in normal day-2-day riding.

Best regards, Bill
 
Thanks for the thoughts Bill. I suppose it's possible. I'm thinking of using a proprietary cleaner for the injectors like STP or something. It's been good for my car so may be worth a shot. Anyone else tried these on a bike?


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Hi Kyojitsu, I run both my 2010 GSA and 2013 HP4 Carbon on "Super" petrol only.

A couple of years ago I didn't bother what I put in them but never had any issues. I noticed one day that I had covered nearly 140 miles on the HP4 without the fuel warning light coming on, it had NEVER done more than 120 miles without that happening, I then realised that I had put in super grade fuel at a shell station that day.

I emptied the tank the following weekend and run the bike for about 3 tankfuls of super and consistently got 145-150 miles before the light came on, each time it came on it told me I had around 40 miles in reserve.
I then tried it with Sainsburys standard fuel. The light would come on around 115-120 miles into a journey and the dash told me that I had 29 miles before reserve was finished.

There must be a physical difference with the fuels with the super having more explosive power than standard therefore requiring less fuel to develop the same power.

My take on it is give your bike an injector clean and then run it on the higher grade where available. The price difference is recovered by the increased range you might see.

Just my experience, no doubt someone on here will disagree but hey ho.

Safe riding, JimmyMac
 
Super doesn't have "more explosive power", it has more knock inhibitor so the timing can be advanced more. This may give you more power/economy.
In my experience (2x1200GSAs and 2x1190 KTMs) I could detect neither.
 
I don't know about the latest F800's but the early ones did not have a knock sensor so wouldn't know when the engine was suffering detonation. Given that is still the case I don't know how the ECU could automatically compensate for fuel grade.

Petrol in Scotland almost all comes from BP's Grangemouth facility so it doesn't matter where you buy it you're getting the same basic fuel. What does change and what makes all the difference is the additive pack added to the basic fuel, this is what differentiates the basic cheapo supermarket fuel from the BP; Shell; Esso; Whatever on a branded forecourt. Whilst your fuel may or may not come from Grangemouth the additive package will still be key.

It's all about how efficiently the fuel is burning, a good additive pack will improve burn efficiency which will mean you need less fuel to produce the same power so more miles per gallon. What grade does the owners handbook recommend for fuel?
 
Packer said:
It's all about how efficiently the fuel is burning, a good additive pack will improve burn efficiency which will mean you need less fuel to produce the same power so more miles per gallon. What grade does the owners handbook recommend for fuel?
Click to expand...

i've done a google search for some evidence to support that, but can't see any, only claims by third party vendors selling stuff you add yourself.

i have also never seen any evidence that branded fuel has any different additive packs than supermarket fuel.
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/adv...te-is-supermarket-fuel-ok-to-use-in-your-car/

Here's an article from the Telegraph with a couple of well constructed agreements from different POV. My understanding is that the fuel in not the issue (they are all buying their base fuel from a small number of refineries in the UK), it's the additives that make the difference between branded and supermarket fuel.

Whether that makes a difference or not is still up for debate I guess


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
With the significant drop in fuel prices i'm putting Shell Super in and it is still cheaper than standard 95 was a few months ago.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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