What brand of fuel do you use for your touring bike?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Any high compression engine - car, bike.. should be served better than 91. Inadequate combustive properties in 91 for most modern engines - even if consumption economy figures indicate it's doing OK and it seems to be running good. Unless the ecu is remapped specifically to suit lower octane (not uncommon I believe) I'd avoid putting in cheaper 91 in anything except my ride on mower and the wife's Daewoo.
That advice was from service manager of Honda (car) service centre back in 2001 when I bought a Prelude from them....if u have a lower compression engine...apparently 91 is suitable. He also said that 91 has higher level of impurities. Or - it is cheap shit.
What "number" defines "high compression" - dunno. I figure a 1,000cc motorbike engine would be though.

Correct. Our 91 is total fucking shit and should not be used in the higer output engines end of.

[Old Steve]

I use ULP 91 in my ST1100 here in OZ and get about 19+ km/L. That gives me over 500 km per tank before I have to fill up. I use Caltex here, but their ULP 91 is un-additised.

In NZ I religiously used Caltex ULP 91, I think they have the best additive on the market which keeps injector pintles clean and reduces combustion chamber build up. That makes easier starting and smoother running.

In fact, petrol from Marsden Point is a very good fuel, but a lot of NZ's petrol is imported because Marsden point can't supply the whole market. BOP gets mainly imported fuel as the port of Mt Maunganui is the deepest port in NZ so incoming ships from overseas can enter there fully loaded, partially unload and then go on to Napier and other ports with a reduced draft.

[CRM]

I use 91 octane in my ST1100 because that what's recommended and I've kept records of consumption since I've had it. Best I've got is 5.27l/100 km or 19km/l. That was on Mobil but had more to do with the type of riding I was doing than the gas. Pretty hard to judge best fuel as conditions are so different every day. My average on the ST is 5.68l/100km or 17.6km/l. I was pretty happy with that until I bought my VW Golf TSI that averages around the 6.0l/100km mark .

[Crasherfromwayback]

I use 91 octane in my ST1100 because that what's recommended and I've kept records of consumption since I've had it. .

That's because in most countries 91 is fine. It's just that ours is shit compared to most other country's.

[roogazza]

My old 2000 1200 bandit ran happiest and gave the highest top speed at the local sprint on 91. It had a comp ratio of 9.5 to 1.
But anyway once I had made a few mods,jet kit, cams and bumped the comp up to around 11.5 it needed and lived on a diet of 95 or 98.
But for sure it ran smoother when stock on the low 91 octane.

[Crasherfromwayback]

My old 2000 1200 bandit ran happiest and gave the highest top speed at the local sprint on 91. It had a comp ratio of 9.5 to 1.
.

Most bikes are up over that now though mate.

[roogazza]

Most bikes are up over that now though mate.

Yeah bud it's an old bike nowdays huh ? But it was quite noticable how the std bike ran on that shitty 91 I was surprised.

My present bike seems happy on anything 95 and I haven't bothered to put 98 into it, to be honest.

[leathel]

I have kept a good record of my fuel use on all of my bikes. I have found a distinct difference in fuel distance over the various brands with Shell (now Z) consistantly giving the best results. I have also found a big diffence in the Octane ratings with 91 octane giving better performance (fuel wise) than the higher octanes. Overall Z is best, BP and Caltex next, then Challenge and Mobil last of all.

For the GSX (all in km/l):
Z91 18.4
Z95 17.7
BP 91 17.8
BP 95 17.0
Challenge 91 17.3
Mobil 91 17.2
Mobil 95 17.5
Caltex 91 17.0
Caltex 95 17.6

To be fair to Caltex, that is the one that has been used the most when commuting. If I take the commuting data out then it improves to 18.1 km/l.

For the VStrom (all in km/l):
Z91 17.4
Z95 15.9
Caltex 91 16.9
Caltex 95 16.5
BP 91 16.5
BP 98 16.0
Challenge 91 15.9
Challenge 95 15.7
Mobil 91 15.1

On the DR650 I have found no difference between brands or octanes as yet.

Hard case, on my VT750 I use .5 liter more using 91 over 98 per 100 k's and it back fires less and gets rid of the dead spot with 98

But a Harley that rides with us backfires like crazy on 98 and OK on 91

on the VT1100 it pings on 91, not on 98 but I am still tweaking the carbs etc so don't have the numbers yet and when done will test a few fuels.

[G4L4XY]

In my experience, the way I control (or fail to control) the right wrist has a lot more to do with fuel economy than any change in brand (including 10% ethanol blends).

What he said

If I get 250km out of a tank then I've been a good boy, not often that happens

[Waihou Thumper]

I have kept a good record of my fuel use on all of my bikes. I have found a distinct difference in fuel distance over the various brands with Shell (now Z) consistantly giving the best results. I have also found a big diffence in the Octane ratings with 91 octane giving better performance (fuel wise) than the higher octanes. Overall Z is best, BP and Caltex next, then Challenge and Mobil last of all.

For the GSX (all in km/l):
Z91 18.4
Z95 17.7
BP 91 17.8
BP 95 17.0
Challenge 91 17.3
Mobil 91 17.2
Mobil 95 17.5
Caltex 91 17.0
Caltex 95 17.6

To be fair to Caltex, that is the one that has been used the most when commuting. If I take the commuting data out then it improves to 18.1 km/l.

For the VStrom (all in km/l):
Z91 17.4
Z95 15.9
Caltex 91 16.9
Caltex 95 16.5
BP 91 16.5
BP 98 16.0
Challenge 91 15.9
Challenge 95 15.7
Mobil 91 15.1

On the DR650 I have found no difference between brands or octanes as yet.

You obviously have long, long winters.. to compile statistics like this...
What is like going to sleep at night, instead of counting sheep, you are dreaming of fuel stations and km/l......for the next ride

[Jantar]

You obviously have long, long winters.. to compile statistics like this...
What is like going to sleep at night, instead of counting sheep, you are dreaming of fuel stations and km/l......for the next ride

LOL. We do have long winters, but is when I get some of the best riding.

I started keeping a record when someone here on KB commented that they got better distance on one brand of fuel than another. At the time I was sceptical, so decided to repeat the exercise over the following few fills. To my suprise I found that indeed some fuels were better than others. That was on the GS1200SS, and it liked the highest octane fuel I could get.
When I got my first VStrom I repeated the exercise, and found most fuels were similar except for Mobil giving less. The K6 VStrom did not like 91 either, and would run best on 95.
The second VStrom suprised me. I filled up in Blenheim, and they were out of 95, so i had to fill up with 91. I expected a rough ride, but instead it ran very smoothly. I was also suprised to get as far as Rolleston for my next fill, and that was 2 up. So, again I kept exact records, and have ever since. I suspect a lot of the difference is due to the ECU mapping.
Its no problem to just keep the receipts and write the mileage on the top each fill up. Once a month or so I update the spreadsheet, it takes about 4 minutes.

[bluninja]

Hmmm filled up with 91 yesterday morning at Z. 22km/l riding the vstrom 2 up to Napier. Filled up at Caltex in Napier and only got 19 km/l solo to the BP at Wanganui. Must have been the fuel and not the twisty up and down road I travelled on the way back

[Jantar]

Hmmm filled up with 91 yesterday morning at Z. 22km/l riding the vstrom 2 up to Napier. Filled up at Caltex in Napier and only got 19 km/l solo to the BP at Wanganui. Must have been the fuel and not the twisty up and down road I travelled on the way back

Nope, can't tell anything from a single tank of each. Now go and repeat the exercise using only one brand and octane of fuel, then do it again using a different brand of octane and fuel.

My tests are over 46,000 km for the VStrom and 24,000 km for the GSX. Where possible I try to use 3 consecutive tanks of the same brand and octane. I have only done 6,000 km on the DR so that is far too early to make any claims.

[bluninja]

Nope, can't tell anything from a single tank of each. Now go and repeat the exercise using only one brand and octane of fuel, then do it again using a different brand of octane and fuel.

My tests are over 46,000 km for the VStrom and 24,000 km for the GSX. Where possible I try to use 3 consecutive tanks of the same brand and octane. I have only done 6,000 km on the DR so that is far too early to make any claims.

Perhaps I should have added the PT smiley. I routinely check my fuel consumption, but no longer put it in a spread sheet as it's no longer valuable to me to do it. When I was doing 1000km plus per week, every week it was worthwhile, but now just checking the kms against the litres in is good enough for me.

I normally use Z purely because the gas station is 400 m from home and it's 24/7 (as are most of their stations) and they don't have a problem with me filling up helmeted.

[caseye]

Put Mobil 97 into the wife's wee 400 XV Virago this afternoon.Been out riding with her, her brother and I all morning, having a ball and generally enjoying the whole ride,weather, stuff.
All morning that bike has kept up with her 600 and the broinlaws RF, but since putting Mercers Mobil high octane in the tank, she's virtually stopped running well and won't go over 90 K even on the flat.
Won't be doing that again.