I tried Shell V-Power in the tank for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The next day, under hard acceleration there was a sudden change of engine note and the bike felt a bit smoother. The next time I filled up with V-Power the same change in engine note happened again. The bike now feels a whole lot smoother than it did a couple of weeks ago and my fuel consumption has improved a little.

In the past I've tried petrol additives, even Seafoam, but have never noticed such a change.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

No, I don't work for Shell! However I do remember about fifteen years ago Shell used to have 'motorcyclists welcome' outside their service stations - don't recall any others doing that. So I've always favoured them over the likes of ESSO and BP.

 

Where possible i only put V-Power in my car. For some reason I get pinking on hard acceleration with petrol from my local caltex

Dosen't seem to make any difference on the bike tho. I do however put a drop of wynn's Spitfire Petrol Treatment in the bikes tank every couple of weeks. Especially during winter commutes (i don't work for wynn's).

 

I always run V-Power in my '91 Stealth because it contains no Ethanol and the engine was not built to use the Ethanol. In my F4i I have tried the V-Power and it made no difference when compared to the regular unleaded fuels from the top tier stations.

 

Mine runs dead smooth on 91(Shell) or 95 (Caltex) regular. The local Caltex dropped regular 91 and put the 10% ethanol stuff on instead. The 91 is 10c per litre cheaper so guess which servo I go to.

I really can't tell any difference at all in the running of the motor, power, or fuel economy...They're all good, all the time.






I don't go near the ethanol crap.

As Steve said, maybe our fuel is good quality here.

 

actually, having ethanol in the fuel will make the bike run better given that it's tuned for it. normally you'll lean out the motor slightly when using an ethanol blend, but if you richen it back up to where it is supposed to be you'll make more power.

e85 (85% ethanold, 15% gas) has an octane level of 104-106, but it will also use about 30% more fuel in the process. however, it's a much better fuel for making more power.

 

That may be true for racing applications where the engine is tuned and the compression ratio is cranked up very high to warrant the the high octane but, in these bikes with much lower compression ratios, even 15%E raises hell.

That E reminds me of how my dad would finish a bottle of whiskey with friends. They would lay it on its side and put a match to it. The flame would roll and swirl in the bottle. That's a slow burn.

The flash point of alcohol is high and it burns colder than gas. It is hard to light unless you are running a very hot engine or have very high compression.

If you put E85 in these bikes you will not get them to run..period.

Your statement is correct but misleading. I would hate to see anyone think that they can run greater than 15% E in these bikes.

 

ummmm let me try that ....... can you drink it ?? lol

well all a fairly moot point anyhow ....imo

 

the compression ratio may be low in comparison to bikes of the new, but the compression ratio is still high enough to support it. however, there wouldnt be much benefit unless you wanted to advance the timing on the bike by a good margin. you'd also run out of fuel much faster.

 

True, but I don't think you could advance these bikes that much.

E85 is priced to match the MPG on regular fuel. You have a choice as far as I can figure, $$$/ mile or the same $$$/mile with 30% less power. For the same money per distance I would rather have the power on hand.

Bio248, one other thing that we both forgot to mention is that E will eat up the seals and rubber components of the carbs not to mention what that stuff does to the insides of the exhaust system.