Are you using PREMIUM Fuel?

[rodgerk]

I run my 2006 FI Road King out of Laramie, Wyoming, at 7200 feet elevation. V&H Ovals, Fuel Pak, and AN air box. Absolutley no question that this bikes runs better, witn no pinging, on 87 than 91.
I pulled the long hills south of town on two consecutive days, temperatures within five degrees and same brand of gas (Shell). At full throttle the bike topped at 8 mph greater on 87. An annoying drone in the engine disappeared with 87 also. This result may not happen at lower elevations but is the case with this bike and setup at between 7 and 8000 feet. Same result with my '02 Roadstar with its 8.3:1 compression. 91 just kills it.

This result is not terribly surprising.

[Gunny4Sawx]

Heres my results. My 06 FLHT stage 1 as long as temps were below 90 I had no issues either at altitude or on the highways at sea level. As soon as it warmed up I had pinging at sea level. Never did get warm up in the mountains. However, my wife's 07 FLHRC, had issues starting it when it was warm. I got some popping out the air cleaner and hard starts when warm. Since we both fill up together my mind is going back to the 91 octane. I may try it again in the winter when temps are cooler all day and in all locations. Prices are dropping almost daily here so pretty soon it won't be such an issue to put the 91 in.

[Lowridin Packer]

I have been running 89 in my 07 EGC. No pinging as far as I can tell. Of course, in Milwaukee, it almost never gets hot. I mean, I am riding when it is in the 60s in the mornings to work - still have to wear a coat.

[Buddy Seat]

OK, I'm convinced to try the 87.

Since I am 'Pingel'ing & etc, my '94 evo I need to drain my tanks.
I will save that 1/2 load of hi-test for my lawn tractors.

Then p/up a fresh batch of Shell 87 & see for myself.. If I get any pinging I can always spice up the load with some of the saved Hi-test..

But I do think some testing is necessary...If she performs better. That would be most cool..

[bacon225]

Well the testing is over let me explain.
When I started this it was because I did not know if the premium sitting in the tanks at the station was fresh or not. I thought because the local stations were not selling much if any now days it might be better to use fresh 87. It was never a cost I really wanted to use the best available gas in the bike. I have ran 4 full tanks of 87 no problems at all except maybe one time. It felt a little sluggish but I really don't know if it was real or imagined no pinging or other problems. Then I went back to using premium just to see if I could feel or hear any difference and I could not tell as all. So I will be sticking with the Premium like I said it was not a cost I wanted to use what would be best. If the premium is holding up fine in it's slow sales it still is as good as the 87 and if it does not go bad sitting in the tanks for a while then it is what the bike was designed for and will give me a little buffer with high heat high loads against pinging.

[OneBlackFly]

93 octane, or at least 91 octane

[Gunny4Sawx]

Originally Posted by bacon225

Well the testing is over let me explain.
When I started this it was because I did not know if the premium sitting in the tanks at the station was fresh or not. I thought because the local stations were not selling much if any now days it might be better to use fresh 87. It was never a cost I really wanted to use the best available gas in the bike. I have ran 4 full tanks of 87 no problems at all except maybe one time. It felt a little sluggish but I really don't know if it was real or imagined no pinging or other problems. Then I went back to using premium just to see if I could feel or hear any difference and I could not tell as all. So I will be sticking with the Premium like I said it was not a cost I wanted to use what would be best. If the premium is holding up fine in it's slow sales it still is as good as the 87 and if it does not go bad sitting in the tanks for a while then it is what the bike was designed for and will give me a little buffer with high heat high loads against pinging.

Two questions
1 Does your fuel have ethynol?
2 Is it mostly level riding in your area?

[thrasher]

Originally Posted by tatutoo

Well.......think about this......if you go to a station that has only "one" hose that provides all the grades........how much of the previous buyers grade are you getting before you get what you actually wanted to buy? I feel that if the guy before you buys 87 octane and you are next....you probably get .5-1 gallon of 87 before you get your 91+ octane...........what do you think???????????
tat

Easy solution,... just pump the regular gas that was in the hose on the ground, then fill your scoot up with premium. Oh yeah, flip your cigarette in the puddle before you leave.

[bacon225]

Originally Posted by Gunny4Sawx

Two questions
1 Does your fuel have ethynol?
2 Is it mostly level riding in your area?

Most of my testing was around Laurel Mississippi this week.
I road hard and did not baby it at all it never acted up on me that I could tell.
I am no expert but I do have a good feel for motors.
I have been riding over 40 years raced about any kind of bike and racing you can think of. Motocross, Enduro, Desert, Hill Climb, And piloted a Top Gas drag Bike for the last 15 years.

[HarleyComforts]

Originally Posted by thrasher

Easy solution,... just pump the regular gas that was in the hose on the ground, then fill your scoot up with premium. Oh yeah, flip your cigarette in the puddle before you leave.

great post..haven't missed you at all. Really funny.

[ssr05rkcustom]

A riding friend of mine that worked at a HD Dealership told me, "These
newer bikes will run on anything" as he fueled up his 08 street glide (stage 2) with 87 octane. I've been running my (stage 1) 05 RK with a power comander on 87 most
of the season now and it runs fine. Never heard a ping. I put 400 miles on her yesterday
through Northern NH and Western Maine. I got better than 50 mpg and she never missed
a beat.

[ramnj]

You paid a lot of $$ for your HD...put what's recommended in the manual. Might not have problems now, but you never know what problems might occur in the long run.

[OhioGlider]

I will admit that I am not as up on the HD ECM as I could be, but in a every case I know of the ECM will adjust the timing to compensate for a lower octane. Octane is nothing more than a fuel's resistance to knocking, and has no relavence to the fuel's potential to make power. It may seem that way as an ECM equipped vehicle will allow more timing as long as there is no knock sensed in the engine, & knock prevention is the function of the higher octane.

Many people convince themselves that they will get a desired response by running a higher or lower octane. There really are people who swear they get more power by usuing one of those tornado doo-hickeys on their car.too..... It is the same principle.

On a carbed bike, you can run as low as octane as you want until you get pinging & the octane rating will not effect the performance one way or the other unless you specifically adjust the timing to eliminate the knock.

On a F.I. bike, running lower octane fuel may not result in knock but the ECM will act to stop & prevent it. These same ECM adjustments will cost you power. Whether it is enough to notice on any particular bike is tough to say, though.

Octane means nothing in relation to mileage, either, unless it is again due to the ECM making adjustments to prevent knocking. It means nothing on a carbed bike unless the mechanical adjustments are pre-set to run best at that octane.

Tune a carb bike to run as well as it can, & then run you can run the lowest or highest octane that you want as long as it does not knock/ping.

An ECM bike may well run worse on low octane gas but unless you have real-time monitoring of the ECM adjustments or some scientific dyno data, you will not know the effect on your particular bike. Running higher octane will never hurt anything, and is good insurance that the ECM on your $$$ bike is allowing it peak performance within its programming.

As the only negative effect of higher octane gas in either type of bike is a minor cost penalty ( 20 cents a gallon?), running the higher octane just makes sense as insurance against knock & having the ECM make adjustments that effect performance. As most of the EFI fill-ups probably consist of 4 gallons, that amounts to 80 cents a tank. If 80 cent a tank is that big of a problem, well.....

[ssr05rkcustom]

I've always run 93 octane in my bike. I get 48 to 52 mpg. I started out the year buying
93 as usual.
I was paying premium price for stale gas and down to 43 mpg.
I asked the station attendant if anyone buys premium anymore.
He laughed and said, "NO". Its fresh 87 octane for me from know on.
I am back to 48 to 52 mpgs. Bike runs great! If it causes problems down the road,
I guess I'll get the wrenches out and pay then.

[ProFinish]

I don't get it... you got a 5.2 gal tank... the difference between regular and super is what... $.20... $.30?

WTF... you buy a harley and bitch about a buck for a fill-up????

My goodness... suck it up cupcake or walk.