Triumphrat

freekn

I was told by someone that Premium Petrol was not good for late model bikes????

Is this TRUE?

wolfmanjr

The dealer told me to put premium in my 2010. But i must admit I haven't read it in the manual myself.

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2010 Speedmaster NE White/PH Black

freekn

Thanks wolfmanjr, just rang the dealer as well, and they say they only use Premium as well. So I aint listening to Sports bike rider no more.. haha..

andyw

Why not just read the manual

KingOfFleece

Are you guys all talking about the same octane? Using higher than required results in too slow a burn. I believe here in the US we measure ours a bit different an some other countries. There is a ton of tech info. avail. on octane and as we all know there are dealers and service tech who haven't a clue-not most of them, but a few.

pjvenda

I am still on the first tank of my 09 speedmaster, so I can't comment. But from my experience, I always put premium fuel. It's better and comes out cheaper. This is in the UK.

I can honestly say that in the Virago it made a measurable difference in terms of consumption and power. I can be convinced that the power effect was all in my mind, but there was a statistically significant improvement in consumption. In fact, price per mile was lower with premium (more expensive) fuel... but of course it's an "old" bike with simple carbs, etc.

My other experience is with my 2005 corsa diesel. Again there is a notable difference in power and consumption. I did a quiet test with the two fuel types and my wife (like a blind test) and she noticed the improvement in power brought by the more expensive fuel. Likewise, price per mile is lower. It's a different beast, diesel and stuff, but it's much newer than the 17 year old virago.

Thirdly I can't understand why using premium fuel, being marginally different than regular, would do any harm to our engines. Usually they're better refined, have a few little tweaks, go through a slightly stricter quality control and the bright coloured nozzles with the advertising cardboards are much easier to find :]

antman

In Australia, we have regular (91 RON), premium (95 RON) and super-premium (98-100 RON), which go by all sorts of different brand names. Note that Research Octane Number (RON) used in almost every country is different to the octane scale used in the USA and Canada , which is variously known as the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), Road Octane Number (RdON) or Pump Octane Number (PON). The AKI/RdON/PON is the average between the RON and the Motor Octane Number (MON) and is typically 4-5 points lower than the RON (hence our 91 octane fuel is equivalent to 87 octane in the USA).

One of the selling points of 98 RON fuel in Australia is that it supposedly gives better fuel consumption than lower octane grades. This is not because of the octane rating but because it is a slightly more dense fuel. However, no similar claims are made regarding 95 RON compared to 91 RON.

me1.0

Handbook says 87 AKI.

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'09 Speedy-19t front sprocket, BC Bomber Pipes,
Progressive Front Springs, Centerstand, 2" risers.
Pending-418HD Progressive rear shocks, ARK.

antman

Interesting. The handbook for my '05 Speedy says minimum 95RON, which would be 91AKI. Are the FI engines able to run on lower octane petrol than the carb engines or is there some other factor at play?

leemadinger

The owner's manual for my 2008 America says to use "unleaded gasoline with a CLC or AKI rating (R+M)/2 of 89 or higher." In the US, most regular gasoline is 87 octane; midrange is 89; and premium is 91. I generally use premium, since that is what the dealer suggested.