I only use 93 in mine. Says to use 91 or higher on my tank. I also use gas without ethanol.

 

My manual says 86 or above. I figured if Honda designed the engine for a higher octane like my Mercedes did, they would tell you so in the manual.

 

like i sid before i had my bike tuned for 93. well im a little foggy sometimes and had thought maybe i still had 87 in the tank with the stabilizer since i had the bike tuned right at the beggining of the season. so i put some 89 in and guess i was right. my motor was pingign like crazy . back to 93 and she feels like a solid beast!lol oh and i think we should close this thread already. i mean DAMN!lol

 

I agree with with the comments about brand and ethanol as well. Seems to me that BP and Shell both have good gas, while citgo, has crap! There are some smaller players in Wisconsin too, Like Clark, and Marathon (I know Marathon is big, just not in WI), my cars and bike seem to be suffocating whenever I run those two brands, regardless of grade. I love non-ehthanol gas as well, but in WI it can only be gotten in certain counties outside the major metro areas. Luckily I live on the edge of the ethanol only zone so its not far to get the good stuff!

 

Whether car or bike I always try to get mine from a Top Tier certified company. There are some big names that do not not meet this certification (Mobil) and some smaller ones that do (Quik Trip). I also try to shop at ones which have 93 octane as their premium instead of 91.

TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers

 

What gets me is the whole ethanol thing... I'll agree that I stick to shell and BP (also Chevron) for the perception I have of their quality. The problem is that the government is subsidizing ethanol and levying sanctions on owners who are trying to stick with straight petrol. (this I actually have heard secondhand from what was the last straight gasoline vendor in my hometown who has now decided to go out of business instead of throwing down $500k on new tanks the gov't is requiring with all the new regulations)

Damn it I really hate the ethanol thing. Like it legitimately makes me angry and I can't possibly understand how I can see how it does absolutely zero good for us as a country, yet our elected officials have shoved it down our throats. Grr.... now I'm ticked.

 

Same here.

 

this is why you search the topic before you post. We have like 8 of these every year. and every time, we all argue about it. welcome! haha.

 

Dyno's will produce different numbers based on all sorts of different factors but most notably air pressure and air temperature, so unless you're doing both dyno runs on the same day and using the same fuel map you could easily see different HP numbers when there's actually no difference.

 

it was the same day. have you ever heard of a car running a ten second quarter mile with 500 horsepower on race gas, then running the quarter in 11 seconds on pump gas ? you know why ? because higher grade gas produces more hp. google it man