Running water cooled GS with 91 RON fuel

[njcwilkinson]

Hi all,
I am taking my 2013 R1200 GS on an epic adventure with a few others from London to Sri Lanka, going via Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India.
What will I have to do (if anything) so the bike will run smoothly on 91 RON fuel in these countries?
Thanks a lot!
Nico

 

[Mr K]

Pray for a miracle....Engine management should adapt to some extent and obviously you will lose power.

 

[JJH]

This is terrible here in Irl we seem to only have 91 petrol and I have never had fuel related problems with any of the BMW bikes I have owned. 1 PFC on a 1200 rt hardly the fuel. From what I read you might struggle to get that high a grade anyway. JJH

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Don't do a thing. The bike will be fine.

 

[njcwilkinson]

Thanks for the feedback. I think an enquiry to BMW Motorrad might be in order!

 

[kevmean]

But don't these all come as standard with crap mapping just so that you can ride them anywhere in the world on any petrol available ;-)

 

[Colm Cummins]

This is terrible here in Irl we seem to only have 91 petrol and I have never had fuel related problems with any of the BMW bikes I have owned. 1 PFC on a 1200 rt hardly the fuel. From what I read you might struggle to get that high a grade anyway. JJH

Is it not 95 ron we use. Used to go looking for 97 for my old K1200s, but gave up as it Didn't notice the difference to be honest.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

But don't these all come as standard with crap mapping just so that you can ride them anywhere in the world on any petrol available ;-)

Yup. They're ok down to about 85 RON.
I spoke to BMW before our Africa trip.
They told me 'just ride it, it'll be fine'.
I did. It was.

 

[Engineer]

The LC doesn't have knock sensors as far as I know, so how does it adjust for low octane fuel?

 

[Engineer]

Just checked the manual and it says that the bike must be re-programmed to run on low (ron 91) fuel ..... Hmmmmmmmmm seems to be a contradiction somewhere.

 

[sven]

Is it not 95 ron we use. Used to go looking for 97 for my old K1200s, but gave up as it Didn't notice the difference to be honest.

The K1200S has knock sensors, so can adjust the fuelling map accordingly. Mine definitely ran smoother on 98 Octane fuel.

I had a couple of tanks of supposed 95 Octane in Spain last year which made the bike run like sh*t, so fuel quality definitely makes a difference in my experience.

 

[njcwilkinson]

Yup. They're ok down to about 85 RON.
I spoke to BMW before our Africa trip.
They told me 'just ride it, it'll be fine'.
I did. It was.

Thanks for this, was it a new water cooled GS you went on?