Many times Yes is the answer, I’ve run bikes for many years never had a problem with it. Occasionally I would give it a tankful of super duper high octane unleaded. For most people it’s purely a snobbery thing to use shell etc. Who do you think makes the petrol certainly it’s not Tesco’s , Asda et al. They may have plenty of money but certainly won’t have a refinery or the staff to produce it. So one of the major refiners must be producing it for them and allowing it to be be rebadged.
Half a dozen UK refineries cross supplying differing retail outlets. Tankers with different names on them queue up at the same gantries. The biggest difference is the final dosing of additives by the driver when it goes into forecourt tanks. A smart ECU and sensors might notice the difference but I doubt you will - especially as you probably don’t slavishly use the same pumps.
Does that really happen, I thought the driver just discharged into the tanks. All the tankers I’ve checked didn’t carry any additives for use by the driver, anything added to the mix is done at the refinery AFAIK.
I merely quote an old friend who was a senior Exxon exec who I first met while he ran production at Essex Fawley as a young engineer. The point of dosing is immaterial. The base product is identical.
This topic is one of the usual ones such as counter steering , using car oils. Pay your money accept your decision and the responsibility that goes with it. The only think that might be different with supermarket fuels is the level of ethanol in it. The basic chemical formula for petrol is the same no matter who makes it. It’s the additives or lack of them that make the difference between the different brands. If you want brand x with adatives a , b and c then pay for it. If you want brand y then pay for that As to petrol tankers delivering to a petrol station they will put petrol/diesel down which ever tak has the room even if it’s a tank that is supposed to be for a competitor. I used to work on a motorway petrol station and we stocked 2 brands at that time shell and esso. We just put it in what ever tank had the room as the cost of sending the tanker back eith full or partially full was prohibitive. The only thing we didn’t do was put the wrong fuel into the wrong tank. If it was a petrol tank then it was only a petrol tank and never a diesel tank.
Who ever you use it's too expensive I remember a fuel protest not that long ago (was it 10/15 years) at the price rising to £0.59 a litre it'll £1.59 soon
I buy whatever is cheapest/nearest when time to fill up. I've been told by someone in the industry that the tankers fill up with the same base fuel at the same refineries, then whichever brand it is gets that brand's additives dosed in. No idea if that makes any difference. And fwiw I reckon I get maybe an extra ten miles out of a tank in my Bonnie from the premium stuff they sell - but that may just be wishful thinking.
Having been in the industry I will add my 2p worth as has been said the base fuel is the same for all customers the dosing of some additives depending on customer are added during loading onto tanker. About 10/15 years ago the supermarket tanker added the additives whilst discharging this practice has now been stopped.On petrol there are very fuel additives to add.On diesel however there are a few additional choices of additive.This question will obviously pop up regularly but the answer is nearly always the same.Particularly as bikes have been historically built to run on poor grade fuels as they are sold all over the world where quality of fuel available is questionable at times.High performance car then yes buy higher quality fuel as in my experience they do run better. Better to keep the money in your pocket.
Of all the bikes I have, my big single cafe racer benefits from high octane fuel as it’s very noticeable. It runs far smoother on the stuff but add a few more cylinders like my other bikes and the difference is just not as noticeable.
I am just glad that we are not back in time when you had a choice of which petrol to buy when the change was made from leaded fuels to unleaded!!! From memory were 2 star 3 star 4 star 5 star all leaded then came the new unleaded 95 or 98 octane or indeed super unleaded. I can also remember a time when I first started riding you could buy 3 gallons of petrol in a garage that served you for £1.12p
4 Star was only for rich people I ran my bikes on leaded till it was withdrawn personally. That was partly down to not really getting an answer about if unleaded was suitable for bikes. Information on which cars could run on it or needed converting was readily available. I found out eventually that it was most IIRC mid 70’s onwards bikes could run on unleaded. Still put leaded in mine but was more force of habit and yes I did put 4 Star in them.
They change from winter blend too summer blend and the cost goes up and down we are paying just under three bucks a gallon in Nv.
