Well, I may have misunderstood your post: your guestion was about city vs. rural gas in general as I read it. And your point, again as I read your note, was that you had a chance to buy "non-additive" gas, which you could not get in Atlanta, I presume. I guess you are saying that the additives are now back in the gas sold in Atlanta. Right? If so, and you do keep good mileage records, did you experience any difference in urban riding mileage between the two types of gas being sold in Atlanta? That should tell you if the additives made any difference in mileage.
I probably don't understand your point. You might be right. I didn't know about the change after Katrina, and have no idea how the change for the metro area might affect mileage, if at all. Hard to believe, however, that additives for pollution control would substantially increase gas mileage, although some have argued that the addition of ethanol actually increases performance since it burns hotter. Never seen any scientific figures that bear that out, or how signifigant the improvement is. The whole thing sounds counter-intuitive to me, but then sometimes my brain works strangely.
In any case, maybe a better question is why your bike only gets 35 mpg. That is pretty low by any standard. Out of the box my bike, identical to yours, averaged 50mpg in most kinds of ordinary riding. Still does. I live in rural area and so don't do as much start and stop as you, but 15 mpg is a lot of difference.
I still find it hard to believe that gasoline would make that much difference. Rather I would, and again, suppose you have, check whether or not you are running very rich mixture, carbs not synched, stuck float, and such to see why so low. Also, don't know what performance changing mods, if any, you have but they can drastically reduce mileage.
Your concern about low mileage, if the bike is stock, is certainly valid and I hope you find out what is causing it. Sorry if I gave you any heartburn.
Good luck,
Monte
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