Regular Unleaded Ot The More Expensive Stuff?

Unless you got knock sensors (you haven't), not worth the extra money. Nissan GTR, Mitsibushi EVO, etc do have them, so they do get the performance advantages.

 

Boolocks..... nice

 

The key difference is the RON - research octane number - which is a measure of the fuel's resistance to detonation under compression - itself indicative of the 'mix' of oil fractions in the fuel. It is NOT a measure of the energy content.
Basically you want the spark to ignite the fuel and have a nice flame front creating expanding gas to progressively push the piston; no nasty violent, self ignition pockets thank you. The problem is worst in high compression engines. Two strokes like my old 250 Yam could drink down to 72 octane and still throw unburnt fuel out of the exhaust.
The long and short of it is that high performance engines with knock sensors and clever fuelling can optimise their performance on high octane fuel when you thrash them.
For mere mortals it is highly unlikely you will notice any difference and fuel consumption varies from tank to tank with driving behaviour, routes, gradients etc. Fot the oil companies it is very profitable.....
Call me a cynic!

 

There's always the placebo effect, you paid more, so therefore must be better, or you look stupid for paying more, therefore you convince yourself it's better!!!!

Does that make sense? I have large doses of (medical) drugs in me currently.!

 

On a standard Bonneville for normal every day use Regular petrol grade is perfectly good.
Race tuning and high performance requirements would require 'the more expensive stuff'
Waste of money otherwise.

 

My turn to be a cynic now DD. Snake oil is normally the phrase for stuff like that. I tried something similar for a while a few years ago and got no noticeable difference to mpg or performance on an unmodified engine. May work in some engines of course but not alas in mine.

 

My turn to be a cynic now DD. Snake oil is normally the phrase for stuff like that. I tried something similar for a while a few years ago and got no noticeable difference to mpg or performance on an unmodified engine. May work in some engines of course but not alas in mine.

 

I'm with DD on that one, although I use Redex.
Super unleaded has little or no ethanol in it apparently which means little or no water is absorbed into the fuel itself by the ethanol which is hygroscopic, which is useful to know if you are laying your bike up over winter or for any other reason - you don't get water in the bottom of the tank.
In normal use it is, to my mind, a total waste of money, but I am Yorkshireman!

 

Cynic here!

I think you'll find Redex (in either bottle!) is mostly paraffin. Good for cleaning diesel systems but pretty useless in petrol systems. UK fuel does not need 'help'!

 

Your talking bookocks,



but I kind of agree! I run a tank of the expensive stuff every now and again, I bit like a little reward. Bit like giving the missus roses instead of the usual daffodils, it's still a flower just costs more so she likes it better!

 

I've run ultimate in All my bikes, from new ! And one difference I can report is the engine oils are much cleaner after full time running on 98 RON as against 91 RON, so something good is happening with the 98 ! Cleaner oil longer life span and less friction, less friction better miles per !! I do most of my oil changes myself, so I would notice changes in oil colour and condition. I have had two high mileage Triumphs , 94 Trident (160,000 klms) and current 09 America (105,000 klms) Trident had compression test @ 120,000 and was 5/10 psi higher than the manufacturer's stated maximum !!! It also went very hard ! Did Mono's in 1st2nd 3rd gears off the throttle, no clutching it up !!!!

Cheers capt

 

The forner Cynic
How can you make a comparison if you only use 98 octane? The dirt is from the detergent in the oil cleaning sludgy deposits. It is supposed to get dirty so it flushes out. 91 does not burn dirtier than 98. It is simply more prone to detonation under hig compression.
Call me 'Bemused'!

 

I am a motor mechanic I can make a comparison because I see the oils coming out of many different vehicle's, and the oils coming out of M'cycles , cars and trucks that use 91 is much dirtier than those that are drained from vehicles that run primarily on 98. You are right about the Detergents !! but if there is nothing to flush out the oils will be cleaner !!! or am I being THE NAIVE CYNIC here ?, the cause I believe is that 98 burns better and leaves little or no sludge/carbons behind to get past the rings...

Cheers Capt

 

I always used the super unleaded in my GSXR, race tuned so always felt the benefits over normal unleaded, the bike always felt smoother etc over unleaded. The Bonneville, well shes not race tuned and Im not looking for and I doubt if super unleaded would make a blind bit of difference to the performance of a 61bhp engine. My Bonneville is a commuter too so the additional cost in fuel is not really warranted. Horses for courses with the fuel options.

 

On my 2010 Speedie I would get 150 miles on a full tank. I commute exactly the same roads every day and the mileage is alwasy 123 on a new tyre to 128 miles on a worn tyre.
With regular use of premium unleaded I would be paying a little bit more per litre but I would be putting less in the tank as it was more efficient.

I now put in 1 tank of premium to about 6 or 8 tanks of non-premium, just to give it a flush through and clean things up

I also just did an oil change myself on a 6,000 service of my 2016 Speedie and the oil was quite a disgusting brown, when I changed it on my 2010, it was a lot cleaner and that was with a couple more thousand miles between changes.

So I do think with premium there is better mileage to be had and a healthier engine. Also, the exhaust's pops and gurgles are more pronounced on premium

 

Spoke to my man from one of the big oil companies.

In brief: 91 RON only sold in places like Oz and brewed from a much rougher crude so the 95 and 98 RON stuff we have here is MUCH cleaner. We cosseted Europeans get similar fractions in each brew delivered to the forecourt and the anti-knock additives are dosed afterwards. Oz 91 is rough!
........so, we are both kind of both right but are experiencing different things.
Briefly, on engine oils he said unless racing semi-synthetic is 'good enough' for most applications. Few things fail for the wrong lubricant so much as the lack of lubricant - lost sump plug etc! Gearbox lubricants are increasingly geared (geddit?) to sealed for life performance....... but mixed oil systems need flushing to lose corrosive combustion by-products quite as much as because of loss of lubricating properties.

 

By hell DD you'll seize upon owt you scoundrel.
"Semi synthetic is 'good enough' for most applications"
Not "fully synth oils are a waste of money".