Regular, Mid-grade, or Premium fuel?

650ed wrote: You are lucky! Around here all gas contains 10% ethanol - no options. Ed

I live near Houston, no ethanol free fuel here either. I'm running marine sta-bil in everything I own. Not sure if its a fix all but it cant hurt.

A friend of mine has a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo. After quite a bit of research and speaking with Lamborghini mechanics he started running Marine sta-bil also.

Word is that 15% ethanol will be standard around here soon. Then what....20%, 25%, until eventually nothing will run anymore and we will all be forced to buy new cars made for that crap?

Octane rating is nothing more than a simple way to compare the tendency to self detonate of various fuel blends, based on a rough comparison to a pure gasoline comprised of 8-carbon molecules (OCTane). The higher the rating, the more resistant to detonation the fuel will be, all other factors remaining the same. A high compression engine on a hot summer day being ridden hard and with a lean fuel mixture will have a strong tendency toward detonation and will NEED fuel with a high octane rating. A stock KZ engine on a warm day being ridden moderately with a correct air/fuel ratio will be fairly resistant to knock and happy with 87 or 89 octane. If under load, you experience some knock, a higher octane fuel is called for. Using a fuel with a higher than needed octane rating is a wast of money and can lead to diminished power.
A couple of guys at ZRXOA took a bike to a local dyno and ran it with several fuels with different octane ratings. Too low = mild detonation. Too high = less hp. The correct fuel = nirvana. aaaaaaahhhh.

Ethanol has the effect of making the mixture leaner. The owners manual for my Dodge pickup (which can run on E85) says to expect a 25% decrease in mileage and power on the E85. It also says not go back and forth between E10 and E85. I guess the poor little computer would be too confused.

But it's leaded...mmmm sweet, sweet smelling leaded gas.

I also have a whole freezer full of enhanced-cruelty veal but that's for another forum.

Next real hot day I'm going to give the 91 octane / no ethanol a try.
It was only another 15 cents a gal.

I Love the smell of Turbo Blue in the morning.

It smells like Victory...

i am not sure...i run whatever i want and i want different stuff on different days.......some days i run mid...some the high $$$...but the old bike runs the same on any gas imo

Thats the compression the kawasaki was built to have. It produces about 82 horse power so that tells right away its no hog.Wouldnt have one!!!!!!!!!!!!