we are leaving from vancouver monday, on a 10 week trip to nyc on an 06 ultra with a stage one. i have always run high octane premium, but was curious if it is really necessary. anyone ever done a comparison on mileage/preformance/cost efficiency? loaded, riding 2-up, i can almost get 2 1/2 hours cruising at 60 for about $20 canadian on premium............................got numbers? cheers,kevin and sally.
This topic has been discussed to great lenght but in any case it is a fun one. Is prefium nessessary? The burning question. Well all technical data that could possibly be attained indicates that it is NOT nessessary under most situations that one might encounter. This is assuming you are running a stock or near stock engine.
Regular 87 octane actually has more energy content than 93 and offers better fuel economy. Once again I point to a mountain of data.
So ya ask why premium? Well premium resists detonation better than 87 and detonation is bad. I wont go into great detail but needless to say if you dont have detonation then the gas you are running is sufficient.
Simply put I have ran 87 in colder times of the year (heat increases the chance of detonation) and 89 when it is really hot outside. No detonation!!!
If I recally the newer Harleys in some cases have sensors that detect detonation and adjust the engine timing to eliminate it. If this is true then using 87 is extremely safe. Of course if your engine has to make adjustments to eliminate detonation you will have a small power loss for the duration of the adjustment but I doubt it is something you would even notice when crusing down the freeway.
Why would Harley recomend 93? Well they have to take into account that people will be driving thier bikes in extremely hot climates and that is where 93 would be a good choice.
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