I'm a couple of tanks in since my switch over to Tesco 99 and I don't know if it's psychological but the bike seems to pull a lot cleaner when wound on. I'm sure that such a noticeable difference can't entirely be in my head. Anyone else noticed a difference after switching?
Yeah I'm the same. Always wonder if there's a bit of the snake oil about it but I swear it feels a lot smoother.
I get about 40 miles per tank extra in my car! I haven't used it in my bike yet! I would rather use a lower Ron premium fuel from shell than a high octane supermarket fuel...
I decided to use Shell V Power in my Blade and filled two 10 litre Cans with the stuff on my last Track Day as an experiment. Bumbling along at road speeds you can't tell TBH but start 'Winding it on' (to use Lambeths favorite phrase) then it does feel far smoother and responsive. Shall use nowt else from now on.
I used to have a 2001 R1 last of the carb models and on a day out the fuel light came on, so pulled into the next petrol station I came across, I don't know why but I put super + into it and never looked back since. Throttle response and acceleration felt smoother, don't know if it was a placebo effect but every bike since then I have always used the higher octane fuel for the little extra it costs to fill the tank
Superbike mag done a whole test, on bikes it is more Of a snake oil with no gains but sometime power loss. ......but if you are on about premium fuels In TD cars they can make up to 10bhp more power.
i use 99ron in the rs as that what audi recommends and it is slightly more efficient on it which outweighs the extra cost. been meaning to try it in the bike so will give it a go next time.
Well you can colour me impressed. I've noticed a difference since switching to the super. I wouldn't say that there was more power but the power that's there seems to come on smoother, if you get my drift. No hesitation.
It all depends on what your bike is setup to use. Generally higher RON fuels are more combustible there for more efficient. Older engines struggle to take much advantage of this but I got an extra 50-70miles a tank in my Audi S3 and use super in the bike all the time. Interestingly if you have a remap it will have be tuned against the fuel in your tank so I filled with Vpower before going for my dyno session so that is now the optimal fuel for my setup. I have found I get around 20miles more than I used to when I used standard unleaded but find the engine feels smoother and goes a lot better on TD's with the Vpower. And it just equates to an extra 2-3quid a tank at best
My understanding is that if the engine has a knock sensor to detect pre-ignition and a high compression ratio, then there are probably benefits in running a higher octane fuel as the engine is able to run the optimum ignition advance and so run more efficiently. The CBR 1000RR has a knock sensor and quite high compression so a high octane fuel should give better performance. My previous bike was a VFR800 which has no knock sensor and using 98 in it was no advantage other than the 98 kept the injectors cleaner. On a touring run the VFR actually gave better mileage using 91 octane. This can be explained by a higher octane fuel has a slower burn so unless the engine has a high compression ratio it is effectively running slightly retarded and so less efficient.
yeah you need higher compression to take advantage of the higher ron but saying that the power gains when I ran the higher ron on the duke were not even noticeable, didnt notice any extra mpg.but then I would by a hypocrite if I did worry about my mpg rate after sticking on race air filters can and a power commander
I was told by my dealer when I collected my bike NOT to use hi octane fuel.?? If what's been said about the knock sensor is right it should be OK to use higher octane. If you have a PCV and get a custom map done, will the fuel that's in the tank effect the map? Ozz
The purpose of a knock sensor is to retard the timing if preignition occurs, ie if the octane rating is too low. My owners manual specifies a minimum of 95 RON is recommended. 99 is a fair bit higher than that but would be better than using 91, for example. Maybe that is what he is getting at. Personally I would say better higher than lower.
