Adding Yamalube to gas?

[Coconut]

This is an interesting Topic on which grade of fuel to use,
( a different Topic than using additives such as Yamalube ),
a sumary of which is to check your Owners Manual and use what it recommends :

Engine pinging.

Cheers 

[william]

I use regular pump gas with 10% ethanol in several bikes and several pieces of small engine equipment, Never in my life have I had a problem, I will let trimmers sit with fuel in them for 4 months, startup everytime, My Harley, which I use to love, but now hate due to triumph, will sit for months and months without being started, but when i do start it, it fires right up, have ridden maybe 5 times in 5 years....

Yes, the dealers like to blame engine problems on ethenol saying the ethanol burns hotter, maybe it does, but i have never ever had a gas related engine failure ever...

I will say though about additives, I did had a small diesel engine on a john deere get what i'm pretty sure was a stuck ring, smoked like crazy, was embarrassing, added a can of Restore, it fixed the problem, no more smoke, i was amazed, and I was told to do this by a Case Equipment Dealer. Also had a  rear main seal on a Land Rover start to leak, garage wanted couple thousand to replace the 4 dollar seal, added some Lucas oil stop leak stuff as recommended to try by a mechanic thats rents a building from mr, IT WORKED.... but he did say sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't

[Canes1]

Why not just run ethanol free gas? Know it runs a little higher but in the long run, worth it, imo. Usually a higher octane level also.

[rpeters549]

The only non ethanol gas available in this area is premium 91 octane, and only a few stations carry it. Most of them outlying and not even in town.

[Canes1]

Back in the day, use to have access to Av Gas, 100 octane . Would mix half a tank with regular pump gas about every six months just to clean deposits, and crap out. Could definently tell a difference, when Av gas was in the tank, in how the motor ran!
Ran this in a Honda VF Sabre and later a Honda VF1000R.
From what I've read here on the forum, Triumph recommends 87 octane, though I'll probably go Ethenol free, which is 91 octane here in GA also. I'd  be more concerned with the ethanol gumming up the engine, over time, more than anything else.
Maybe run Seaform once in awhile, as someone suggested, just as a precaution.

[Canes1]

Quoting nervouswreck, in the link provided by Cocoanut above:

"I have always given much thought to octane rating controversy (I run the highest octane available) here so I decided to give Triumph America a call.  Spoke with "Bill" who said, after speaking with the Tech Dept., Triumph recommends not less than 87 octane however running a higher octane will result in less carbon build up and increased performance with no detrimental effect on the engine whatsoever.  So there you have it straight from the horses mouth.  It may not be worth the extra cost but then again it just might.  The best reason for my call was because I just got back from 20 day 16 state trip from PA to the west and back to Florida.  Out west a lot pumps in the middle of nowhere only have a choice of 85 or 91 of which I always chose the highest.  Anyhow I'll continue to run the highest octane available."

[Rick505]

As soon as I read he reportedly stated "and increased performance" I discounted everything else.  There are many articles written on Octane ratings and engines.  The higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel can withstand before detonating (igniting).  Remember, for those of us in the USA our "Octane" is the Average of Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) or (R+M)/2. 

Per Wikipedia, take it for what it is, using this info United States is 4 to 6 octane numbers lower than elsewhere in the world for the same fuel.  So basically 87 Octane here equates to about 91 in many other places.  If I can find my owners manual, I "swear" I recall this being explained and indicates 87 Octane is OK in the USA.

Like everything else, if you want to run any Octane that makes you happy......go for it.  I'd rather spend the difference on a nice distilled beverage at the end of the day. 

[tdragger]

It amazes me how many people fall for the myth of higher octane is always better b.s.  Run what your bike is designed and tuned for.  On the Trophy it is 87 PON (aka AKI, aka (R+M)/2 ) octane.  Running higher grades, particularly 91 PON, may result in unburnt fuel escaping the exhaust as the flame-front is slower the higher the octane.

At the higher altitudes out in the western US, it is perfectly acceptable to run the more common 85 PON.

Remember, RON octanes are generally 3-4 points higher for the same fuel.

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating):

Higher octane ratings correlate to higher activation energies: the amount of applied energy required to initiate combustion. Since higher octane fuels have higher activation energy requirements, it is less likely that a given compression will cause uncontrolled ignition, otherwise known as autoignition or detonation.

Because octane is a measured and/or calculated rating of the fuel's ability to resist autoignition, the higher the octane of the fuel, the harder that fuel is to ignite and the more heat is required to ignite it. The result is that a hotter ignition spark is required for ignition. Creating a hotter spark requires more energy from the ignition system, which in turn increases the parasitic electrical load on the engine. The spark also must begin earlier in order to generate sufficient heat at the proper time for precise ignition. As octane, ignition spark energy, and the need for precise timing increase, the engine becomes more difficult to "tune" and keep "in tune". The resulting sub-optimal spark energy and timing can cause major engine problems, from a simple "miss" to uncontrolled detonation and catastrophic engine failure.

The other rarely-discussed reality with high-octane fuels associated with "high performance" is that as octane increases, the specific gravity and energy content of the fuel per unit of weight are reduced. The net result is that to make a given amount of power, more high-octane fuel must be burned in the engine. Lighter and "thinner" fuel also has a lower specific heat, so the practice of running an engine "rich" to use excess fuel to aid in cooling requires richer and richer mixtures as octane increases.