Regular or premium fuel?
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From The US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Information:
"It may seem like buying higher octane 'premium' gas is like giving your car a treat, or boosting its performance. But take note: the recommended gasoline for most cars is regular octane. In fact, in most cases, using a higher octane gasoline than your owner's manual recommends offers absolutely no benefit. It won't make your car perform better, go faster, get better mileage, or run cleaner. Your best bet: listen to your owner's manual. The only time you might need to switch to a higher octane level is if your car engine knocks when you use the recommended fuel. This happens to a small percentage of cars."
There is other good, basic information regarding higher octane fuel on that website.
"It may seem like buying higher octane 'premium' gas is like giving your car a treat, or boosting its performance. But take note: the recommended gasoline for most cars is regular octane. In fact, in most cases, using a higher octane gasoline than your owner's manual recommends offers absolutely no benefit. It won't make your car perform better, go faster, get better mileage, or run cleaner. Your best bet: listen to your owner's manual. The only time you might need to switch to a higher octane level is if your car engine knocks when you use the recommended fuel. This happens to a small percentage of cars."
There is other good, basic information regarding higher octane fuel on that website.
You'd just have to feel your way around.
I used to have a Honda Shadow VT750, that from the factory ran so lean that it actually ran much better with mid grade than with regular, or premium.
I also had a fuel injected maxi scooter, that ran noticeably better on regular, and premium degraded performance.
Top speed is a good indicator of performance measuring,
Other than that it's measuring by the butt-meter; see what fuel pulls harder than the other...
One Chinese 50cc scooter I've owned, was jetted so lean, that only premium fuel worked well on it, and regular had a 5mph slower performance, and people complained about piston seizure.
I never had that issue with the BP premium fuel I filled it up with; and my top speed was far above (almost 10mph higher) than theirs.
I would say to start with mid grade, and switch to regular after a tank or two.
Should regular perform noticeably worse, then just add premium fuel to it.
I used to have a Honda Shadow VT750, that from the factory ran so lean that it actually ran much better with mid grade than with regular, or premium.
I also had a fuel injected maxi scooter, that ran noticeably better on regular, and premium degraded performance.
Top speed is a good indicator of performance measuring,
Other than that it's measuring by the butt-meter; see what fuel pulls harder than the other...
One Chinese 50cc scooter I've owned, was jetted so lean, that only premium fuel worked well on it, and regular had a 5mph slower performance, and people complained about piston seizure.
I never had that issue with the BP premium fuel I filled it up with; and my top speed was far above (almost 10mph higher) than theirs.
I would say to start with mid grade, and switch to regular after a tank or two.
Should regular perform noticeably worse, then just add premium fuel to it.
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I also use non-ethanol, pure gasoline like XYzzy above; in my area, 90 octane "recreational fuel" is all that's available. The R3 owners manual says that 10 percent ethanol is "acceptable", not exactly a glowing endorsement of American ethanol/gasoline. The AMA, thousands of motorcyclists, and mechanics say no, it is not acceptable. Ethanol ruins engines. There is plenty of empirical evidence to support this, so I need not post it here. From my own experience with non-ethanol gas for the past three years, I have found it gives all my vehicles over 20% better gas mileage and more reliable starts after sitting for several days to several weeks. My push mower sits in the shed for 5 months, and one pull on the cord cranks it right up. I also put Startron fuel treatment in the gas for the 3 motorcycles and lawn equipment i own. Check out non-ethanol gas near you by visiting www.pure-gas.org
If I where you, I'd check the user manual.
It appears that the yamaha dealer doesn't know what he's talking about, and probably doesn't even drive a car.
95% of gas stations worldwide have ethanol in them, upto 10%.
Some gas stations like chevron are closer to the 10% limit, some like shell are more like below 2%. The only ones that have no ethanol, are the ones selling recreational gas at the pump.
He probably meant no E85 in the bike.
I'm also not sure if the bike really needs premium fuel, or if the dealer just said it to be on the safe side, because he doesn't know the answer; making you pay more for gas.
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290 Posts
As already stated, the dealer recommending no ethanol is absurd. Does the guy even know what he is talking about? He needs to open his eyes, everywhere you go its ethanol. You'd have to go out of your way to look for gas with no ethanol and I highly doubt Yamaha would approve of this notion. No way they produce a beginner bike and expect you to drive miles searching for that one place that is ethanol free. Don't ever listen to your dealer or any dealer. Ever. There is a endless sea of bad dealers, and a handful of decent/good dealers. Play the odds and play it safe and assume your dealer has a bunch of **** ups.
Shell pumps in Canada have ethanol free gasoline (nitro +) and from whatever I've read around, ethanol free seems better than regular. It costs less than 5 bucks more for a full tank compared to regular. So I'm going with shell as much as I can.
If I was considering it for a car, I'd think twice but not for a bike that takes 15 litres to fill.
If I was considering it for a car, I'd think twice but not for a bike that takes 15 litres to fill.
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My old honda CBR 250R used to get slightly better gas mileage on 93 octane, but the difference wasn't all that big to justify the extra costs. I did like to try and run a tank of 93 through it once in a while though. I'd probably follow the same philosophy here too.
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No point putting additives in that you cant burn,
, all you get is carbon, lack of responsiveness and poor performance.
The sooty black exhaust is enough proof.
Manufacturers are good the way they employ chemical engineers to work it out for us.
They even put it in a booklet under the seat with all the basic common sense info.
, all you get is carbon, lack of responsiveness and poor performance.
The sooty black exhaust is enough proof.
Manufacturers are good the way they employ chemical engineers to work it out for us.
They even put it in a booklet under the seat with all the basic common sense info.
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This bears repeating to quell the Octane Conspiracy Theories and whispers of Government Plots
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150 Posts
That's a good point! $5 is neither here nor there. Why not put the best in?
I really don't know. I have one bike, the CB300F, that needs premium because I get detonation with regular unleaded which is weird and nobody else seems to have had that problem with the bike. Maybe the ECU or oxygen sensor is off. I use regular unleaded (87 octane) in the R3 and it runs fine on that. I'm not sure premium is better fuel for the R3. Wish I did know so I could make an informed decision. I've heard all kinds of things about premium...it's cleaner, better because of the additives, gets better mileage. I've also read that if you pump premium, the first gallon or so is likely to be left over regular from the last person who used the pump. These are important questions, but I don't think we have answers to them. I have to agree with no-ethanol fuel being better, but alas, that isn't an option for me. I wonder if Shell has under 2% ethanol why they don't advertise that? They still have that same "may contain up to 10% ethanol" on shell pumps in the US. Since the price is competitive and most people seem to know ethanol is not good, it seems like they would advertise having less of it. I'm skeptical of that claim as well.
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108 Posts
I had a truck that pinged once and a set of spark plugs one heat range colder solved the issue.
More help: http://www.misterfixit.com/deton.htm
More help: http://www.misterfixit.com/deton.htm
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