Well, we have run our 1250 Blood bikes on standard E10 (BP), 3 have just been traded having done around 30k. No ill effects and no pinking as long as you don't lug the engines. I do use E5 in my R100 though, Esso E5 doesn't have any ethanol, so that is the stuff to use. I have run my own RT 1250 on a mixture of E10 and E5, it has now done 17k, with no issues (as yet)
You say ‘don’t lug the engine’ but in multiple cases this ‘pinking noise’ can be heard at 4000RPM at 70MPH steady riding. That’s hardly lugging…
That used to be the case but i think they have been adding ethanol for a couple of years now unfortunately..
It is still the case according to Essco, I have an Esso fuel card and they assured me, there is still no Ethanol in Essco Supreme, but it isn't the case in all countries, but it is in England. E10 has Ethanol
Think there may be different noises, the pinking I used to have was if I lugged the engine, but if I dropped a gear and accelerated the noise went away. My bike has now done 17k and I never hear the noise. I certainly never heard it at 70 mph or 4000 rpm, and have never heard it on any of our Blood bike fleet. I do ride with ear plugs though
Interesting. They used to state on their website that Supreme E5 contained no ethanol but they have changed that to the above quote in my post `up to 5%`.
I can only tell you what they told me, but this was in 2023, so googling, I am not so sure now. It looks like they may have changed and be putting in upto 5%.
Unlikely. It's the other way round. Lugging an engine at low revs under load will exacerbate pinking.
I meant to say higher gear! Basically chugging along in too high a gear because the bike has more torque lower down the rev range than others, then being overly agressive with the throttle, rather than if you want more brisk acceleration choosing the correct (lower) gear, IPSGA and all that rather than being lazy with gear selection and relying on the bike to deal with the situation?
Is this fact, can't find the statement on their websites. Can you post a link to the statements, if this is the case, I'll start to use their fuels for my airhead
It was from an independent lab test done last year which compared petrol from all popular brands, on You Tube (haven't got the link now). I recall that Texaco tested below 2.5% and Shell VPower was similar from memory.
There is a chap on Youtube who posts under "boilerhouse garage" he has run tests for a while on octane and ethanol. Just watched a couple of his vids, which confirm (if the testing is correct) that Shell V Power and Texaco do have a lower ethanol content, think 2-3%. He also confirms that Esso are now putting ethanol in their 99 octane fuel. The interesting thing was, when Esso were not using ethanol, the octane rating was how, below 99, but now they are using ethanol the octane is around 102, which is higher. Assuming this guys tests are correct of course
Coming a bit late to this but we've been using Esso fuels in both car (e10) and bike (e5) for some time due to better prices locally and have noticed an increase in fuel consumption over the last 12+months. I'd been putting it down to their mileages creeping up but comparative runs over the same routes with other supplier's E5 & E10 (including in France) consistently show significantly better fuel consumption so we're now avoiding Esso if we can.
