[Curly]

All,

The manual says use the fuel with the lowest possible octane rating, not less than 90 (in the U.S.).

In Illinois, we have 89 and 93.

I suppose I should then be using 93 octane but if lower octane is better, 89 is closer to 90 than 93 is to 90... soooo maybe 89 is the way to go? ... I just thought I'd inquire what octane fuel everyone is putting in their 959's.

Thanks!
-Curly

 

[SixShock]

Wait what? You absolutely should use higher Octane to prevent pre-detention aka knocking. Now your fuel mapping may be just tuned to 91 for maximum benefit, but it never hurts to go higher. The opposite however is not true, as going lower than what your vehicle is rated for can damage your engine.

 

[DarR]

.. I just thought I'd inquire what octane fuel everyone is putting in their 959's.

The highest octane possible. Kentucky Straight if you got it.
:wink2:

 

[Viper]

93?? F!ck that ... i run 98 and only 98!


91 is **** here in AUS
95 is next
98 is the good stuff and none of my vehicles have anything but this

 

[Curly]

Thanks, gents.

Just quoting the manual... it says use the lowest possible but not less than 91.

I'll be using the 93, then.

Cheers.

 

[jbehnke]

93?? F!ck that ... i run 98 and only 98!


91 is **** here in AUS
95 is next
98 is the good stuff and none of my vehicles have anything but this

man, must be nice, highest regularly available in my neck of the woods is 91.

 

[sinjin]

93?? F!ck that ... i run 98 and only 98!


91 is **** here in AUS
95 is next
98 is the good stuff and none of my vehicles have anything but this

That is 98 RON, correct? That equates to approximately 93 octane here in the US.

If you are using anything higher than that and your bike isn't tuned for it, you are wasting your $$$.

 

[motosamurai]

93?? F!ck that ... i run 98 and only 98!


91 is **** here in AUS
95 is next
98 is the good stuff and none of my vehicles have anything but this

Wow first time I am hearing about 98.

 

[DarR]

The highest grade you can buy in Ontario is 94 octane at select stations. Otherwise, 91 octane is usually the highest.
Both Canada and US uses PON (Pump Octane Number) which is usually 4-5 units lower than the RON (Research Octane Number) used in UK, Europe, South Africa & Australia.

 

[Viper]

That is 98 RON, correct? That equates to approximately 93 octane here in the US.

If you are using anything higher than that and your bike isn't tuned for it, you are wasting your $$$.

ahhhh we clearly use different figures then.


yes it's 98 RON. Our manual here says to use 95 RON I think when I checked as a minimum. Is that 91 octane for you guys?


I'm about to put mine on the dyno for a custom tune as well.

 

[Jyno]

All,

The manual says use the fuel with the lowest possible octane rating, not less than 90 (in the U.S.).

In Illinois, we have 89 and 93.

I suppose I should then be using 93 octane but if lower octane is better, 89 is closer to 90 than 93 is to 90... soooo maybe 89 is the way to go? ... I just thought I'd inquire what octane fuel everyone is putting in their 959's.

Thanks!
-Curly

Make sure to buy the Highest octane rating available at the gas station, (if you find race gas it smells really good coming out of your exhausts btw )and make sure to buy it outside of Cook County xD

 

[Curly]

Make sure to buy the Highest octane rating available at the gas station, (if you find race gas it smells really good coming out of your exhausts btw )and make sure to buy it outside of Cook County xD

I'll be putting in 93, then. According to the manual, strictly speaking, this is what I should do. Just was wondering if anyone is using 89.

You don't know of any race fuel nearby the city, do you Jyno?

 

[DarR]

Avgas 100 at your local airport is 100 octane lean and 130 octane rich. Race fuel traditionally was one half avgas and one half pump gas.
The "leaded" avgas provided the higher octane while the pump gas provided the oxygenation which avgas doesn't have. Higher octane doesn't provide more power, it prevents pinging by retarding detonation.

If the engine wasn't built to run on this high octane, especially leaded gas, you aren't doing it any favors. Moreover, if the above is still the recipe for racing fuel, I would not put that in a bike with a cat and lambda 02 sensor and risk damage and voiding the warranty.

 

[Curly]

Avgas 100 at your local airport is 100 octane lean and 130 octane rich. Race fuel traditionally was one half avgas and one half pump gas.
The "leaded" avgas provided the higher octane while the pump gas provided the oxygenation which avgas doesn't have. Higher octane doesn't provide more power, it prevents pinging by retarding detonation.

If the engine wasn't built to run on this high octane, especially leaded gas, you aren't doing it any favors. Moreover, if the above is still the recipe for racing fuel, I would not put that in a bike with a cat and lambda 02 sensor and risk damage and voiding the warranty.

93 octane Shell works for me!!! :surprise:

 

[DarR]

Racing fuel is only beneficial in a very high compression racing engine that obviously does not have emission equipment. Regular fuel would pre-detonate (pinging) in such an environment. Higher octane fuel burns slower which prevents this from occurring. Secondly, to really benefit, you have to advance the timing to account for this which in todays engines and ECU's, is above my pay grade.

 

[DJ Shrug]

Race fuels starts seeing benefits at ~13:1 CR and beyond at sea level.

Typically, the highest octane you can get for your elevation will be the lower limit for engines with ~12.5:1 CR (aka the Panigale).



Just throwing it out there that E85 has about 100 octane, hence why many go that route with significant benefits/consequence however.

 

[Aldo]

For SF bayarea members 76 station on woodside road Redwood City has a sunco 100 octane pump. 8 bucks a gallon or so . I run it in my 75 RD , when the tac hits 8 you better be hanging on real good .The exhaust smells better than perfume.
My Panigale seems to be thirsty all the time so not to practical for my street riding .(Just ride the RD in the local hills).
Ducati Dovi wins again in Japan awesome finish.

 

[DarR]

I run it in my 75 RD (350 two stoke) , when the tac hits 8 you better be hanging on real good .

That's very true as those 1970's two stokes (especially those with tuned pipes added) which had a very narrow rpm powerband range. It was all On or Off but irrespective of the octane level. With very high power to displacement ratio and nearly indestructible, the RD series (350 & 400) were awesome bikes in that era. Just to put this power to weight ratio in perspective, today's MotoGp's equivalent at that time, (The YZR500) produced more than 150hp and weighted 200lbs. That's 91 kg ! and that was more than 35 years ago. By the late 1990's the YZR500 was producing close to 200hp.

Back to octane and the myth:
This may be counter-intuitive but just higher octane alone (all things being equal) produces less power (although probably unnoticeable) as it is generally speaking, slower burning and less volatile under pressure. It is this latter that's of importance. As others have previously written, the benefit of high octane is to reduce pre-ignition in very high compression engines. Moreover, the timing must be advanced accordingly otherwise you're not burning all the fuel which is akin to leaving your chips on the blackjack table. If your engine doesn't knock, you're cheating yourself both in performance expectations and cost. If you just want to be safe however, then that's probably as good a reason for choosing a higher premium fuel usually accompanied with a higher octane rating than the minimum recommended by the manufacturer.

 

[Dingo]

to be even more clear about the Octane Rating seen on gas pumps... the number (usually 87 to 93) means how much fuel can be compressed before igniting - the higher the number the less likely it'll ignite under pressure. Don't forget the key is igniting the fuel vapor to drive the piston back Down into the sleeve, hence pre-detination causing "knock" and forcing the piston back down prematurely, before it reaches TDC.

 

[XCLR8TN]

I'll be putting in 93, then. According to the manual, strictly speaking, this is what I should do. Just was wondering if anyone is using 89.

You don't know of any race fuel nearby the city, do you Jyno?

You seem to be dead-set on using 89 for some reason. I'll humor you. When I go riding in Southern Ohio, sometimes there isn't 93. Sometimes there is only 87!! I have filled up with 89 before, because there was no other option and I was almost out of gas. The bike didn't run any different (even up to 120mph), although I'd be willing to bet it pulled some timing to compensate for the lower octane.

Would I do it again? Yes, it was the only option I had. Would I ever put 87 in by itself (not half tank 93/half tank 87)? Absolutely not.

That being said, I run Sheetz or Marathon 93 octane 99.9% of the time and it hasn't caused any issues in 68,000 miles. I only say that because everyone says Sheetz gas is terrible, but my bike gets Sheetz 80% of the time.