Gas

Yesterday, after finishing some work on the bike, I decided to run it up the road to the gas station for some new gas and ride around a bit. No big deal. I've only had one good ride since moving to Washington from Illinois, so I'd sort of forgotten how the bike, when powered by 'old' gas (particularly in small quantities) is harder to get going than my wife after I fart under the sheets.

So, of course the bike stalled out at the stop-light by the gas station, and I ended up rolling into the station at a high idle due to 1/2 choke, much to the amusement of the rider fueling his newer show-room shined Harley/chopper with an unbaffled megaphone exhaust.

As I poured in some seafoam and filled up the tank, amid the roar of my new biggest fan accelerating away from the station, presumably to the next closest bar with a line of bikes out front where he can laugh with his friends about the dweeb he just saw riding (if you can even call it that) rusted rice into the gas station, i thought, 'it would be nice to avoid this sort of thing in the future.'

Of course after a little fiddling with my idle adjustment and about 1/4 mile to get the new gas into the carbs the bike runs like an absolute champ.

The fuel in question was at most 2 months old, (10% ethanol) and had been sitting in a plastic can that is relatively well sealed, only poured into the gas tank about 1 week prior to the ride in question. In this case, no Seafoam. The carbs had been drained and cleaned immediately prior to the ride. About 1/4 gallon in the bike (enough to do some tuning and get to the nearest gas station). I had warmed the bike up sufficiently before taking off, so that's not the cause.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping gas good for longer than a couple weeks/months?

The only thing I can think of is taking the time to get E-0 for those times when I'm tuning and/or filling 'just enough gas to get to the station.' There are a few marinas around here that keep E-0 on hand, though I'd have to lug it, as I don 't think they'll let me ride out on the dock to get gas. That's kind-of a pain. Any other suggestions?

Aviation fuel (High octane fuel not leaded). I know a bunch of friends that vintage race cars and that's what they keep in their rides over winter/storage/not racing. Maybe not the best for motorcycles, I have no idea.

DobbinsCMA wrote: Aviation fuel (High octane fuel not leaded). I know a bunch of friends that vintage race cars and that's what they keep in their rides over winter/storage/not racing. Maybe not the best for motorcycles, I have no idea.

Aviation gasoline is 100 octane low lead. I used to run it in my cafe Brit 750 with 12:1 Pistons.

I put stabil in my tank before storing it for the winter. It seems to work

EricTheLeg wrote: Yesterday, after finishing some work on the bike, I decided to run it up the road to the gas station for some new gas and ride around a bit. No big deal. I've only had one good ride since moving to Washington from Illinois, so I'd sort of forgotten how the bike, when powered by 'old' gas (particularly in small quantities) is harder to get going than my wife after I fart under the sheets.

So, of course the bike stalled out at the stop-light by the gas station, and I ended up rolling into the station at a high idle due to 1/2 choke, much to the amusement of the rider fueling his newer show-room shined Harley/chopper with an unbaffled megaphone exhaust.

As I poured in some seafoam and filled up the tank, amid the roar of my new biggest fan accelerating away from the station, presumably to the next closest bar with a line of bikes out front where he can laugh with his friends about the dweeb he just saw riding (if you can even call it that) rusted rice into the gas station, i thought, 'it would be nice to avoid this sort of thing in the future.'

Of course after a little fiddling with my idle adjustment and about 1/4 mile to get the new gas into the carbs the bike runs like an absolute champ.

The fuel in question was at most 2 months old, (10% ethanol) and had been sitting in a plastic can that is relatively well sealed, only poured into the gas tank about 1 week prior to the ride in question. In this case, no Seafoam. The carbs had been drained and cleaned immediately prior to the ride. About 1/4 gallon in the bike (enough to do some tuning and get to the nearest gas station). I had warmed the bike up sufficiently before taking off, so that's not the cause.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping gas good for longer than a couple weeks/months?

Stabil is the usual stuff but I found out that the Lucas upper cylinder lubricant (fuel additive) is outstanding. I haven't had to work on my carbs in about six years and sometimes the gas in mine runs 3 - 4 weeks because I am retired now.

www.amazon.com/Lucas-10013-Fuel-Treatmen...ricant+fuel+additive

The difficulty being fuel will go 'off' when stored too long, but it is good to fill the tank over the winter to prevent the tank rusting inside due to condensation... you get shafted either way.

Perhaps you need to improve on the foreplay to get your wife more interested under the sheets ...lol The most volatile fractions of petrol, the bit that makes starting easy, is the first to evaporate.

Not such a problem in the uk at the moment.