Oh Dummy Me.

[Sully]

Went out for a ride then stopped for gas. Not thinking I filled up with 87 octane and not 93 like I normally do. Too much riding in the car and not enough on the trike. Anyway, the ride home was 93 miles and all was good. motor didn't miss a beat. Adding power in 4th and 5th gear, no problem. So wonder how it will run if I keep using 87 octane

[rhino 2]

Went out for a ride then stopped for gas. Not thinking I filled up with 87 octane and not 93 like I normally do. Too much riding in the car and not enough on the trike. Anyway, the ride home was 93 miles and all was good. motor didn't miss a beat. Adding power in 4th and 5th gear, no problem. So wonder how it will run if I keep using 87 octane

You'll always have in the back of your mind if runs better with 93 or 87? I use 93 on all my Machines been using it back when it was called Hi-Test...Once i had to use 87.. Now remember the tank still had at least a gal of 93 in it, Couldn't feel any difference in the performance..My motto is' If using 93 makes me feel better, It will also make my Engine feel better.. AKA.. Monsters of the Id.... .

[gerald martin]

You'll always have in the back of your mind if runs better with 93 or 87? I use 93 on all my Machines been using it back when it was called Hi-Test...Once i had to use 87.. Now remember the tank still had at least a gal of 93 in it, Couldn't feel any difference in the performance..My motto is' If using 93 makes me feel better, It will also make my Engine feel better.. AKA.. Monsters of the Id.... .

Does not matter. You are not driving a race bike. I have been using reg gas for years. Over 100,000 miles on a 2008 street glide and over 30,000 miles on my freewheeler. If it doesn't ping when accelerating you are good to go

[Lee H. Mann]

Lower octane means faster burn and hotter temperatures, even with the ethanol. The premature burning causes piston knock known as pre-ignition or pinging.

Higher octane burns slower and cooler.

[rhino 2]

Does not matter. You are not driving a race bike. I have been using reg gas for years. Over 100,000 miles on a 2008 street glide and over 30,000 miles on my freewheeler. If it doesn't ping when accelerating you are good to go

Didn't say i was racing or thinking of racing...What i said ; If it makes ''Me'' feel good , Then it makes ''My'' Engine feel good... AKA......

Monsters of the ''Id''....Not the singing group and not the movie, But the ''Mind''

[rhino 2]

Went out for a ride then stopped for gas. Not thinking I filled up with 87 octane and not 93 like I normally do. Too much riding in the car and not enough on the trike. Anyway, the ride home was 93 miles and all was good. motor didn't miss a beat. Adding power in 4th and 5th gear, no problem. So wonder how it will run if I keep using 87 octane

Well played 'Sully ...Well Played' You just snuck in an Octane Tread ''

[frostbite51]

Read on another place that engines now have knock detectors that retard the timing when needed. So running lower octane doesn't hurt the engine, but you have less power. If you don't need the extra power then I guess you'll never miss it.

Don't know if that's right or not, but I read it on the internet so it must be true...

[rhino 2]

Read on another place that engines now have knock detectors that retard the timing when needed. So running lower octane doesn't hurt the engine, but you have less power. If you don't need the extra power then I guess you'll never miss it.

Don't know if that's right or not, but I read it on the internet so it must be true...

Yep....True.......Sometimes the Internet gets it right...

[Mykneesbehurtin]

When my buddy bought his 09 Tri Glide he used 87 octane,because thats what he used in his Goldwing trike.So one day he was complaining about the motor pinging thats when i found out he used 87 octane.Now since he is ,well CHEAP,I had a hard time trying to convince him to try 93 octane.So one his first tank of 93 i asked him did it still ping,he said i must have gotten some bad gas rather than say i was right.But he still runs 93 to this day.And i have always run 93 in my Harley's unless 87 was all i could get.

[gwnut]

The owners manual calls for 87 octane. I tried 91 one time and felt no difference and got no improvement in

mileage.....

[rhino 2]

The owners manual calls for 87 octane. I tried 91 one time and felt no difference and got no improvement in

mileage.....

Owners manual ..Tri-Glide calls for 91....

[Phu Cat]

I've heard every story in the book about octane does this and octane does that. Octane does one thing and one thing only. It stops detonation. It won't make fuel burn hotter, cooler, faster, slower, or anything else you've ever heard because of the way gasoline is blended. Having a background in the refining business is helpful in quelling these old wives tales.

When I bought my first HD, an '88 FXRT it had a piddly 8.5:1 compression ration and the owners manual called for premium fuel so I knew right away this was out of the ordinary A) from my car racing experience and B) from my refinery experience. So I called HD and after getting passed around a lot I was finally able to talk to an engineer and he admitted that at 8.5:1 that EVO engine did not need premium they only recommended that so owners would use it because it has the most detergents in it to keep the injectors clean thus preventing problems that make the motor company look bad. It's a PR thing more than any thing else. Now, that was true of those evo bikes and may well not be true of today's bikes. Draw whatever conclusions you think appropriate from the above.

I never learned to run the octane engines in the lab, but I watched it enough to learn a thing or two. I did run the blending and added the detergents to the finished gasoline tanks. Even tho I'm retired, if I had the chance I'd go back and work that job again I loved it that much.

PC

[ISP-FL]

I have always used either Shell 93 octane, or BP high octane in my Harleys. In my metrics I used whatever 87 octane was the cheapest. I have tried some discount stations high octane in the trike and it just didn't run as good as with Shell or BP IMHO. Never actually tired to use Shell 87 octane on my trike yet, I guess due to owner's manual suggestions.

[Steve on 3]

Just my own opinion but the owners manual calls for 91 and at 6 gallons per fill up maximum, you might spend $3 more per tank. Less than a Big Mac but more than a coke to have your engine run on the fuel it was designed for. At the cost of a Trike, is it not worth $3 a tank to have some peace of mind about using the recommended fuel. If I can't afford the $3, I can't afford any of the maintenance. Just MHO

Steve

[Phu Cat]

I have a high frequency hearing loss but I can still hear my engine pinging under some conditions in the summer so during those times I will run the middle grade stuff as that cuts down the pinging I can hear. Don't know how much more that there is I CAN'T hear. But if it make you guys feel good running 93 , by all means, use 93.

ISP, you're more likely to be able to get away with 87 in metrics if you're not running more ignition timing or compression than stock. Being water cooled helps that a lot, too. And metrics aren't as likely to like that low RPM THUMP THUMP we tend to like which induces pre ignition.

There are so many storys floating around about what octane does like making high octane gasoline burn slower or cooler, faster etc, and we hear them for so long we tend to believe them. Please. Trust me on this one. If you have an oil refinery in your city give the engineering department a call and ask if high octane gasoline burns hotter or cooler than regular grade gasoline? And if he tells you any thing other than "octane has no effect on how hot gasoline burns" I will personally buy you lunch at Hog Heaven restaurant on Main Street in Dayton, Florida next bike week. Please print this out. Phu Cat. 3/24/2017

[Phu Cat]

I have a high frequency hearing loss but I can still hear my engine pinging under some conditions in the summer so during those times I will run the middle grade stuff as that cuts down the pinging I can hear. Don't know how much more that there is I CAN'T hear. But if it make you guys feel good running 93 , by all means, use 93.

ISP, you're more likely to be able to get away with 87 in metrics if you're not running more ignition timing or compression than stock. Being water cooled helps that a lot, too. And metrics aren't as likely to like that low RPM THUMP THUMP we tend to like which induces pre ignition.

There are so many storys floating around about what octane does like making high octane gasoline burn slower or cooler, faster etc, and we hear them for so long we tend to believe them. Please. Trust me on this one. If you have an oil refinery in your city give the engineering department a call and ask if high octane gasoline burns hotter or cooler than regular grade gasoline? And if he tells you any thing other than "octane has no effect on how hot gasoline burns" I will personally buy you lunch at Hog Heaven restaurant on Main Street in Dayton, Florida next bike week. Please print this out. Phu Cat. 3/24/2017

11:40PM

[Burnerboy]

I use regular grade in my Honda Goldwing for years and never a problem....My last long trip I thought I'll try high/test fuel and see if there really was any difference in proformance ....NONE AT ALL..the only difference was my wallet got a bit lighter "that's all"...so on my return trip home I refilled with regular fuel again, and smiled all the way home...

Ronnie

[pioneer11]

This article can dispel some of the BS being posted here. http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars...-fuel-futures/

[Phu Cat]

​The only thing I found to disagree with in this guy's story was the cost of premium being $0.20 a gallon more than regular. This paper must have been written a while ago but the guy was dead on on everything else from my refinery experience. Right down to regular actually producing slightly more power than premium in some cases.

PC

[pioneer11]

​The only thing I found to disagree with in this guy's story was the cost of premium being $0.20 a gallon more than regular. This paper must have been written a while ago but the guy was dead on on everything else from my refinery experience. Right down to regular actually producing slightly more power than premium in some cases.

PC

Well, it is dated 2012. I bought gas this morning and the spread was about 60 cents.