Mr K
Registered user
This has been done to death: The supermarkets do not have their own refineries. There are only a few in the UK so most fuel comes from the same sources.
My bike is addicted to Super Plus
Bill the Badger
Registered user
Must admit that i use Shell Vmax on my bikes and 28 year old Toyota Mr2. I dont do a big mileage on any of them so the additional cost isnt high and i value the extra cleaning agents in the more expensive fuel and when i did high mileage in cars i found i got slightly more mpg with the more expensive fuel.
Can't see any reason why an injector cleaner would harm your bike, perhaps the STP website will advise if suitable for bikes.
Just checked the Haynes bible and the bikes seem to run on a 12:1 compression ratio, so at that level a good engine management system with an engine knock sensor could make full use of high octane petrol to increase performance and economy and this would be more noticeable than in a car because of a bikes lighter weight!
I was told this a few years ago by a tanker driver, I admit that I took it at face value. Myriad threads on here claiming that supermarket fuel is of a lesser quality would suggest that the driver may well have been telling the truth. When lead was removed from fuel alternative additives were introduced, it's not a big jump from there to conclude that there are a range of expensive additive packs, either off the shelf or concocted to order that can modify the fuel properties. I doubt that anybody would argue that fuel used in top level motor competition is standard forecourt product so the ability to chemically engineer fuel is certainly there.
so that's still a no on evidence then? 
DaveC
Registered user
Wasn't there a big hoo-har a few years ago about crap petrol that ONLY affected supermarket forecourts? I'm sure supermarkets get fuel from the cheapest sources, wherever that is and that's how they keep prices down.
I've just done and (un)scientific test over the last couple of months. One month with 95RON and one month with 98RON. Each month about 700 miles, same route/conditions. I measured a 4% saving in fuel consumption with 98RON, but it cost 9% more. So overall I was out of pocket by 5p per litre, or about £1.15 each fill-up (F800GSA), or about £4.00 a month, except in the summer when I'm riding all over the place
I've just done and (un)scientific test over the last couple of months. One month with 95RON and one month with 98RON. Each month about 700 miles, same route/conditions. I measured a 4% saving in fuel consumption with 98RON, but it cost 9% more. So overall I was out of pocket by 5p per litre, or about £1.15 each fill-up (F800GSA), or about £4.00 a month, except in the summer when I'm riding all over the place
Bill the Badger
Registered user
Just spent an interesting hour with Wikipedia reading up about Octane Ratings! Higher Octane ratings do not indicate that the fuel has more energy, just that it burns in a more controlled manner.
High compression ratio engines do generate more power than identical engines which have a lower compression ratio for a given measure of fuel. High compression engines have traditionally required higher octane rated petrols to prevent pre-ignition. The largest advances in petrol in the 20th century was improving the Octane rating to allow higher compression ratios thereby allowing engines to produce more power. Remember Tetra Ethyl Lead (leaded petrol) which raised the octane rating of petrol! which was incidentally developed by the same chemist who invented Chlouro Fluoro Carbons (CFC's) so in one lifetime he invented a poison that retarded intelligence and killed people and another that created holes in the Ozone layer to give us all better sun tans.
However Wikipedia states that using a higher octane rated petrol than that specified by the manufacturer WILL NOT increase the engine power or fuel efficiency! However using fuel with a lower octane rating will reduce power because the ECU will retard the ignition timing once it detects pre-ignition via a knock sensor. Wikipedia says the the fuel additives and detergents are not always the same for fuels with different octane ratings.
Please forgive the ramblings of an old (and now even more confused) man, but the summary seems to be that putting higher octane fuel in the 800GS in question shouldn't make it run any better. It could be that it runs poorly if one of the petrol tanks in the petrol station that it is regularly filled up from is polluted, but the higher octane petrol tank isn't, or that's theres a fault with one of the engines sensors.
High compression ratio engines do generate more power than identical engines which have a lower compression ratio for a given measure of fuel. High compression engines have traditionally required higher octane rated petrols to prevent pre-ignition. The largest advances in petrol in the 20th century was improving the Octane rating to allow higher compression ratios thereby allowing engines to produce more power. Remember Tetra Ethyl Lead (leaded petrol) which raised the octane rating of petrol! which was incidentally developed by the same chemist who invented Chlouro Fluoro Carbons (CFC's) so in one lifetime he invented a poison that retarded intelligence and killed people and another that created holes in the Ozone layer to give us all better sun tans.
However Wikipedia states that using a higher octane rated petrol than that specified by the manufacturer WILL NOT increase the engine power or fuel efficiency! However using fuel with a lower octane rating will reduce power because the ECU will retard the ignition timing once it detects pre-ignition via a knock sensor. Wikipedia says the the fuel additives and detergents are not always the same for fuels with different octane ratings.
Please forgive the ramblings of an old (and now even more confused) man, but the summary seems to be that putting higher octane fuel in the 800GS in question shouldn't make it run any better. It could be that it runs poorly if one of the petrol tanks in the petrol station that it is regularly filled up from is polluted, but the higher octane petrol tank isn't, or that's theres a fault with one of the engines sensors.
Prior to this thread and always keen for something different I tried a tank of the old 98 recently. My feeling was the bike actually ran worse. Just didn't feel so enthusiastic as with the 95. How's that possible against all the words here? I not care for mileage mind. Maybe I should try again and it takes more than one fill to feel a benefit.
I got a sol be module and acropov slip on, otherwise it's just another 30k 2010.
Fuel always from Repsol Spain.
Go figure.
Was hoping for a little Morocco spin in early March but stuck here sucking a Carib in t Caribbean till at least mid March. Next time.
cf
I got a sol be module and acropov slip on, otherwise it's just another 30k 2010.
Fuel always from Repsol Spain.
Go figure.
Was hoping for a little Morocco spin in early March but stuck here sucking a Carib in t Caribbean till at least mid March. Next time.
cf
Had an oldish BMW M3 . It definitely pinked when I put sainsburys unleaded into it . Any other make of unleaded it ran fine .
I used to put a tank of Shell V-Power through my old 1150GS as the detergent additives helped keep the inside hot bits clean and working properly, until...
Going to the Isle of Wight for a weekend, filled up with V-Power and went M25/A3 at a fair rate with the dearly beloved and luggage. All was well until the bike turned into a jack-hammer at about 85 in the outside lane part way past a car. Having got to the hard shoulder with out hitting anything, being rescued by the RAC, and getting taken to my preferred dealer they found: a burnt out exhaust valve, snapped cam-chain tensioner, big gouges in the cam-chain guide. If it wasn't for having a good and sympathetic mechanic that lot would have cost me in excess of £1700 !!
I was running the 1150 with a full Remus system with not 'cat'; this makes the bike run much better and gave better mpg as the bike ran slightly leaner. V-Power gives better mpg because it runs slightly leaner...
Nearly 65 miles at speed fully loaded results in the above.
So if you are running an non-standard exhaust I'd be a bit wary about using anything other than recommended.
I'm sticking to the 95ron with the 800GS, which also has a Remus system and no 'cat'.
SuperTed
Going to the Isle of Wight for a weekend, filled up with V-Power and went M25/A3 at a fair rate with the dearly beloved and luggage. All was well until the bike turned into a jack-hammer at about 85 in the outside lane part way past a car. Having got to the hard shoulder with out hitting anything, being rescued by the RAC, and getting taken to my preferred dealer they found: a burnt out exhaust valve, snapped cam-chain tensioner, big gouges in the cam-chain guide. If it wasn't for having a good and sympathetic mechanic that lot would have cost me in excess of £1700 !!
I was running the 1150 with a full Remus system with not 'cat'; this makes the bike run much better and gave better mpg as the bike ran slightly leaner. V-Power gives better mpg because it runs slightly leaner...
Nearly 65 miles at speed fully loaded results in the above.
So if you are running an non-standard exhaust I'd be a bit wary about using anything other than recommended.
I'm sticking to the 95ron with the 800GS, which also has a Remus system and no 'cat'.
SuperTed
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