Bike guys in here please

[Shorts]

I'm over at TWT. I just signed up last week and am lurking around.

I need to get some Stabil as well. Might as well head off the trouble of having to clean sticky carbs.

[M. Sage]

You're good for six months, easy without stabilizer, especially if you fill with premium (which you should in a bike).

[Shorts]

Originally Posted by M. Sage

You're good for six months, easy without stabilizer, especially if you fill with premium (which you should in a bike).

pshh no premium. I'm not made of money

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by M. Sage

You're good for six months, easy without stabilizer, especially if you fill with premium (which you should in a bike).

Huh?!?!? I don't THINK so, skooter!! You run premium in a low-compression engine like most m/c engines are, you WILL carbon up some valves! It's designed to burn at higher pressures/temperatures, and if you run it in a low-compression engine, the resulting unburnt residue will do a number on the valves.

And Fuelfather - you're the "fuels pro" here - is modern fuel stable enough to store for 6 months w/o an additive? Based on my refinery contacts, modern gas starts going "stale" within 30-60 days....

[Greg_TX]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

And Fuelfather - you're the "fuels pro" here - is modern fuel stable enough to store for 6 months w/o an additive? Based on my refinery contacts, modern gas starts going "stale" within 30-60 days....

Particularly with the 10% ethanol we have to burn here in the Houston area and other places around Texas. My understanding, not authoritative, is that ethanol makes water less soluble in gasoline and can cause problems. For this or some other reason, it has to be transported separately and mixed at the point of delivery.

[M. Sage]

Ethanol is hygroscopic, gasoline isn't.

I always run premium, it really shouldn't be a problem once the engine is warmed up.

Then again, my wife rides a Ninja (high compression) and I ride an air-cooled (detonation control), so it's high-test for us.

[SO758]

I just sta bil my bike today and ran it for 50 miles to make sure the mixture and it all got into the fuel system. (was having fun more than anything). I have been putting premium in it. Is that not good for fuel injected bikes?

[TexasRedneck]

It depends on the manufacturer - you need to look in the owners' manual. If it's rated for premium, fine - if not, runnin' premium in it will likely cause other issues down the road.

[SO758]

I shall dig into my owners manual!

[M. Sage]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

It depends on the manufacturer - you need to look in the owners' manual. If it's rated for premium, fine - if not, runnin' premium in it will likely cause other issues down the road.

I've never encountered issues with using a higher grade gasoline in any engine. Higher octane fuel only does one thing, and that's resist ignition more than a lower grade fuel. Well, that and it usually has a higher amount of cleaning additives in it.

The only possible problem I can even think of would be on a cold start where the higher resistance to ignition can cause a problem, but even that's going to be pretty rare.

With very few rare exceptions, higher grade than needed fuel will cause fewer problems than lower grade than needed. The rule in a car is if you're running premium and your car doesn't call for it, you're simply wasting your money on octane that your car can't utilize through higher compression or more ignition advance. If you're running lower than what's called for, you'll either lose out on some power thanks to the computer pulling ignition timing when it detects detonation or, on older cars without electronic ignition and knock sensors, you can damage the engine.