why does my bike get better range on 91 gas?

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jc100 said:
Why does no one like chemistry? :(
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Oh come on, really jc? chemistry is just too much... We'll leave it to y'all book types.

I agree that you do not need get extra power from higher octane (shhhh, dont tell the oil corporations I am saying this). Although I do agree that ethonal could have a negative effect on mileage. I run 91 in my gixxer for this reason, even though it requires 87.
 
gcrouse said:
91 has no ethanol
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It depends on what station you go to. Shell and PetroCanada have no ethanol in their 91 gas (PetroCan 94 does have 10% though!) Canadian Tire, Husky and Esso all have "up to 10%" in all grades.

Just to make things even more complicated, once you get out beyond the outskirts of the GTA, it can be completely different, depending on the depot that services the stations.
 
I may be mistaken, but I am pretty sure that both esso and petrocan do not have ethanol in any grade (i cannot vouch for the 94 octane though). At least I can't find the statement that ethanol is in the gas on the pump. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I hate ethanol. Grrr.
 
jc100 said:
The octane rating doesn't have anything to do with ethanol amounts, a gas of 87 octane rating could have no ethanol, or a small percentage of ethanol, but whatever it has as a mixture will be equivalent to the ignition properties (NOT the energy) of an 87% mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane and 13% heptane (this is a refernce mixture used to determine octane ratings, it is not necessarily what you put/get in your tank).
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ethanol has a high octane rating I believe
 
A high octane gas is less volatile than low octane gas and allows for higher compression without detonation.It's that simple
 
jc100 said:
Lots of compounds have octane ratings but the octane rating of a fuel won't tell you if there's ethanol there or not.
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except you stated the octane rating of the fuel is not related, if you add more compound first the fuel octane go up?
 
murf said:
except you stated the octane rating of the fuel is not related, if you add more compound first the fuel octane go up?[/QUOTE

OK...if this would help...you could have two fuels of say 90 octane and one could contain ethanol. The octane rating tells you nothing about the ethanol content.
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But it can be related......if you mix more ethanol the octane rating would go up if the base fuel is the same.
 
Not really related...the octane rating just tells you what characteristics the fuel has, not what the composition is. Diferent mixtures of compounds can give fuels with the same octane rating.
 
BradW said:
It depends on what station you go to. Shell and PetroCanada have no ethanol in their 91 gas (PetroCan 94 does have 10% though!) Canadian Tire, Husky and Esso all have "up to 10%" in all grades.

Just to make things even more complicated, once you get out beyond the outskirts of the GTA, it can be completely different, depending on the depot that services the stations.
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Every Esso station I have used around the GTA all show up to 10% only on the regular (87) fuel, the other two do not say they have ethanol added.
 
I hate ethanol. Especially in my boat. Even if it's not listed on the pump, the gas can still contain it. There's a simple, quick test using a graduated cylinder to check for ethanol.

My bike requires 91 octane, and I use Shell V-Power mostly as it doesn't have ethanol. I've done tests to confirm this. I just wish I could find ethanol-free 87 octane gas other than at an expensive marina.
 
Depends on the bike's age, condition, mileage, mods etc. Older bikes may have carbon build up and a higher octane grade may help reduce detonation and burn cleaner. Even when the stock recommendation is lower.

Best to start out with the proper specs. Then try different grades and giving it a couple of re-fuels, along with keeping the same riding conditions to see if there is a true benefit. My bike calls for 87. I've found 89 provides a 10% benefit in mileage. 91/93/94 yields nothing more.
 
DJM said:
I hate ethanol. Especially in my boat. Even if it's not listed on the pump, the gas can still contain it. There's a simple, quick test using a graduated cylinder to check for ethanol.

My bike requires 91 octane, and I use Shell V-Power mostly as it doesn't have ethanol. I've done tests to confirm this. I just wish I could find ethanol-free 87 octane gas other than at an expensive marina.
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Not sure that will help, ethanol is miscible with the hydrocarbons used in fuel. Water would show up in a graduated cylinder but coincidentally, if there's ethanol in the fuel it can also dissolve more water in it too.
 
The test that I do to confirm ethanol is to fill a 100ml graduated cylinder with 10ml of water than add 90ml of gas. After I shake it for a while I check the water amount. If it has increased that confirms the presence of ethanol since the water will draw it out.

Ethanol is a sham. But that's for another discussion.
 
Are you guys sure there is no Ethanol in 91? The only gas that I know of that contains no Ethanol is Shell V-power.....Most low and mid grade gases have up to %10 but even most 91's have %5 Ethanol also....I dint think there was a 91 from any brand with no Ethanol

And yes Ethanol sucks! Its even worse in other countries...In Jamaica I have been trying all kinds of additives to try and make my bike run better on their gas, as it has a high Ethanol content and their Ethanol is made from sugar cane. It literally makes my bike run like crap...

This is one of the products I use
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Shell V-power says (on the pump) that it contains 0% ethanol.

I have seen some Husky stations where their 91 claims 0% ethanol too. Though i have seen mostly what johnny has seen....most gas stations fuel contain up to 10% ethanol.
 
Is Shell V Power only 91 fuel? Any regular 87 that contains no ethanol?

That product you showed looks iffy...says "enzyme" on it and to remove ethanol enzymatically it's going to form something else which may not have any fuel value at all. I'll have a look.
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