Fuel

[gowen]

Just curious what the majority of riders use in their bikes (mainly 500)

[Paul]

2 Gal Trick 118 + 3 Gal of pump 91

[KXcam22]

Chevron pump 94 in the KX and nothing else.  Haven't tried anything with higher octane though.  In the old racing days I used to buy a 45gal of 120/100 avgas and mix with unleaded regular. I seem to remember my bike ran quite excellent on the mix.  Cam.

[Folke]

VP MS103

[doordie]

VP MS103  

//doordie

[demographic]

I voted for other cos over here we can get 98 from the pump

I don't use fancy race fuel cos I fill the bike up from the pump and use it on the road, that way I can use the stuff I can get anywhere and don't worry about it much.

[Rick]

I used to buy VP 55 gallons at a time.  However, we were spending more than $2,000 a year on race gas.  I surmised that I could rebuild a lot of motors for the difference in price.  As a result, I switched to Chevron Premium, and have not had one problem in almost five years, even with the KX125.

Rick

[KXcam22]

On the topic of fuel I forgot to add that I always add fuel stabilizer to my chevron 94 bike gas.  Beside the KX, I use my bike gas in everything around my house, kids bikes, weed whacker, chain saw, boat motor etc.  One mix for all.  Since I live in a land of extreme seasons, my toys get parked in the cold for 4 months of the year, often without warning (ie early snow).  With so many small engines around (i'm sure everyone is in this boat) I got tired of cleaning sticky fuel residue out of the carbs each spring.  Now I can store them away at anytime, don't even drain the carbs.  I have been doing this for the last 8 years and haven't rebuilt a carb since.  Lazy but effective. Cam.

[BrianSM]

Help me out here.....I run all different types of race gas and have noticed small differences.....I am gonna try premo pump gas 97 octane with my Fuchs oil (40-1)......Is it not true that high octane fuel is most benefited in a high compression engines like 10-1 and above....The high octane burns slower apparently ?? The KX having a relatively low compression should actually build more power on 97 octane....mixed with 32-1 ratio using synthetic oil ??(like the book says) Right I have always run race gas cause a fellow 500 owner/buddy does.... I am dynoing my bike tommorrow with 40-1 and using 110 and 97 mixed 50/50.....yes this is my SM track bike....any thoughts I would as always appreciate it !!!
I will post my results......

[John]

Cool to see some power graphs!

The octane is a meassurement of how easy the fuel self ignites by compression. The higher octane - the higer compression it can take. I think the actual number is a percentile of two components in petrol, so anything over 100 is not applicable for petrol. Diesel (can't be meassured in octance) would have a value of 120 something with regards to self combustion. (All from school - 20 years ago).

Led is (used to be) a cheap way to bind the 'octane booster' component in the petrol. There is no led in the green fuel. They must be doing it some other way now.

//John

[BrianSM]

The fuel I buy thats at 110 or 114 is leaded.....the lesser octanes is not....someone told me not long ago that leaded is actually pretty good for lubing the piston.....so when that person told me the higher octane burns slower then he was referring to low compression engines using too high a octane which would coincide with your statement.......Hmmmmmmmm

[alan]

I run 50/50 pump hightest & 110 racegas!

Alan

[BrianSM]

I run 50/50 pump hightest & 110 racegas!

Alan

I'm gonna try that next....my gut tells me that might be the best combo.....

[Arigato]

I'm run straight 110 leaded in my 500 and a 50:50 race/pump  mix in my four stroke.

[alan]

Well I use the 50/50 mix based on Paul's recommendations!

Alan