Premium or Regular gas?

[EricJanko]

What does everyone run in there bikes? Premium or Regular?

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Your owners manual states regular so that's what you should use unless you expereience any pinging or knocking. Plus, you should experience better fuel mileage using regular. But others have put premium.

Being you are a new forum member, welcome.

You can also read the numerous threads that already has been created by using the search engine on this forum and type in some key words. Should give you hours of enjoyment.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I've never experiance any pinging but "treated" the bike to some premium fuel this last tankful....

Something I did notice, it may idle slightly smoother but the idle dropped just slightly, 50-75 RPM's. I left it where it was and will see once all the premium is out and back to regular fuel, if it rises back to normal...

I know premium burns slightly slower to stop pinging, so I have to gather, the slower burning is responsible. I do keep the idle at 1,000 RPM's, its just a tad below that now...

 

[FIZZER6]

I've never experiance any pinging but "treated" the bike to some premium fuel this last tankful....

Something I did notice, it may idle slightly smoother but the idle dropped just slightly, 50-75 RPM's. I left it where it was and will see once all the premium is out and back to regular fuel, if it rises back to normal...

I know premium burns slightly slower to stop pinging, so I have to gather, the slower burning is responsible. I do keep the idle at 1,000 RPM's, its just a tad below that now...

I just did the reverse of that...I have used premium for the past 4 years and just switched to regular on the last tank.
The engine runs smoother at idle and I can't tell a difference at normal speeds. I am probably going to stick with regular especially if I see an improvement in fuel economy.

 

[Red Wazp]

Regular 87 octane, some goofy states like Utah have a 85 octane and I know my FJR does not like 85.

 

[stevesnj]

Shell Plus works best for mine, after much experimentation. :thumbup:

 

[ebster1085]

I just did the reverse of that...I have used premium for the past 4 years and just switched to regular on the last tank.
The engine runs smoother at idle and I can't tell a difference at normal speeds. I am probably going to stick with regular especially if I see an improvement in fuel economy.

After reading this thread I too am considering switching to regular. I have been using premium since I got the bike, and the previous owner did as well. Bike has aroud 10kk miles. If I make the switch now, do I need to be worried about any adverse effects?

 

[iSteve]

If you read the other fuel thread you'll easily come to the conclusion that everybody gets different results. I'm guessing that it all depends on your bike, riding style, where you live, where you buy your fuel and temperature.

So the only way to know what works best is to try different octanes for yourself and see what works best.

 

[FIZZER6]

After reading this thread I too am considering switching to regular. I have been using premium since I got the bike, and the previous owner did as well. Bike has aroud 10kk miles. If I make the switch now, do I need to be worried about any adverse effects?

None. The engine is engineered to run on 87 octane fuel (see owner's manual). The ECU will simply adjust to the new octane grade automatically.

 

[iSteve]

None. The engine is engineered to run on 87 octane fuel (see owner's manual). The ECU will simply adjust to the new octane grade automatically.

If I use 87 my bike gets a vibration that is real noticeable in the handlebars. I use 87 for almost 6k miles. My brother filled my tank with 93 and by the end of the tank full the bike was smooth with almost no vibration. So for the last 8k miles I been using 91 or higher.

I tried 87 again thinking it was my imagination but the vibration came back even my clutch lever started rattling. And if it's really hot and humid I get a ping under acceleration.

I know 87 is yamaha's base octane but they also say to use higher octane if you get a knock or ping.

 

[FIZZER6]

If I use 87 my bike gets a vibration that is real noticeable in the handlebars. I use 87 for almost 6k miles. My brother filled my tank with 93 and by the end of the tank full the bike was smooth with almost no vibration. So for the last 8k miles I been using 91 or higher.

I tried 87 again thinking it was my imagination but the vibration came back even my clutch lever started rattling. And if it's really hot and humid I get a ping under acceleration.

I know 87 is yamaha's base octane but they also say to use higher octane if you get a knock or ping.

True. This is the reason I switched to 93 octane 4 years ago...I swore I got less vibration. So far on this tank of 87 I have no more vibration than I did with 93 but time will tell. I have heard that you loose power and fuel economy with higher octanes if the engine doesn't need them to avoid pinging. That is reason enough to switch.

 

[iSteve]

I don't notice any difference in power or milage. Not saying it doesn't make a difference but I can't tell. I also want to say I get my fuel from 7/11 so not sure what oil company they buy from but I guess octane is octane.

 

[FIZZER6]

I don't notice any difference in power or milage. Not saying it doesn't make a difference but I can't tell. I also want to say I get my fuel from 7/11 so not sure what oil company they buy from but I guess octane is octane.

Octane rating is octane rating...the only difference in the fuel from 7-11 to Shell to Exxon is the detergent additive package.

I've been logging my fuel economy on the last 4 tanks...been getting 44-47mpg running 93 octane. I'm now going to log the next 4 tanks on 87 octane on the same commute to work riding with the same amount of throttle use and see if there is any appreciable increase.

 

[ChevyFazer]

I posted this in another gas thread before but I'll post it again

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/regular-or-premium-test-results-page-2?redirect=no

It's a test car and driver did with different fuel and running the cars the dyno as well. What I found interesting was the fact that almost all the vehicles tested that the owners manual says to use 87 picked up some extra horsepower by running on 93.

Granted these were not motorcycles so take it how you will, but my bike runs like **** on 87 so I always use 93

 

[GTPAddict]

Y'all gotta understand something, our bikes (at least my 2006) have no knock sensor and no O2 sensor. It can't adjust for changes in octane - it has no way of knowing if the engine is pinning or not. Car have had knock sensors and O2 sensors since the 80's (some before that), so they can adjust for different fuels.

I have experienced no power difference at all with 87 octane (on my second tank now). I bought the bike last may with 6600 miles, the odometer is showing a bit over 18,000 now. I have noticed the bike feels smoother, but other then that no difference so far. I've been logging my fuel mileage since march of this year, so we'll see if there's a difference in economy or not in the next couple of weeks.

 

[FIZZER6]

Y'all gotta understand something, our bikes (at least my 2006) have no knock sensor and no O2 sensor. It can't adjust for changes in octane - it has no way of knowing if the engine is pinning or not. Car have had knock sensors and O2 sensors since the 80's (some before that), so they can adjust for different fuels.

Doesn't pinging have something to do with engine load as well as compression ratio? The FZ6 has a much higher power to weight ratio than most cars and therefor the engine is never under the kind of load that a passenger car is subjected too. I wonder if this helps prevent pinging as I have never felt any pinging at any RPMS no matter if I use 87 or 93 octane fuel. Maybe I've just been lucky or keeping my bike in such good tune has prevented premature detonations.

 

[Mta1981]

I thought the manual for the 04-06 fz6 says 93 octane or higher.....

 

[FIZZER6]

I thought the manual for the 04-06 fz6 says 93 octane or higher.....

My 2006 manual says 86 or higher. If it said 93 or higher than half of the USA could not run the correct fuel since a lot of states only get 91 octane as the highest grade.

 

[Rebuilt]

Regular for me ... cost less also ...but now im glad as i didnt know that premium doesn`t sit right with ye olde fazer`th

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

If I use 87 my bike gets a vibration that is real noticeable in the handlebars. I use 87 for almost 6k miles. My brother filled my tank with 93 and by the end of the tank full the bike was smooth with almost no vibration. So for the last 8k miles I been using 91 or higher.

I tried 87 again thinking it was my imagination but the vibration came back even my clutch lever started rattling. And if it's really hot and humid I get a ping under acceleration.

I know 87 is yamaha's base octane but they also say to use higher octane if you get a knock or ping.

Ethonol knocks the Octane rating down, where I'm at is 10% or less. If in your area and the ethonol % is higher, I'd probably go with the higher rated octane..

My bike always ran fine on regular and I'll be sticking with it from now on... With that said, I do use Seafoam every other tank or so, it seems to make the bike run smoother...