Premium Vs. Regular

[devilduster]

This may be a stupid question, but what is better for the bike: Regular Unleaded or something like Vortex (Premium unleaded). I was told by the guy I bought the bike from that Vortex can gum up the valves or something, and to only run it on regular petrol. I have heard muttering in contrary to this however... So do any of you guys have a definitive answer? What do YOU use? I know regular isn't going to damage the engine, but I put Premium in my WB V8 ute because it looks after the engine- does this apply to our wasp on wheels?

[slender len]

i use bp ultimate and my blade loves it ive tryed other ones like v power but i find the ultimate works best.

give it a try and see how u go

[wheeler]

I also use BP ultimate and it came highly recommended from the dealership... never tried any other fuels but I would definitely stick to the premiums. I'm not sure you should believe everything you read, but according to this:

http://www.bp.com/genericsection.do?cat ... Id=7029242

more mileage, more power, cleaner combustion, longer engine life.

[resonator]

I've been warned by a few mechanics not to use premium fuels, and especially not Optimax. Here is an explanation as to why: http://www.cr-x.org/cbr250/forum/topic. ... C_ID=29263

[john]

I was also told to use the Ultimate (and I do), when I brought her the first thing I needed was fuel, being to far away from my local I opted for the regular unleaded from a "Home Brand" servo. The bike does seem to like the premime much more. BUT that only my opinion and nothing scientific/tested about it.

One point tho is that it does go further (better fuel economy) with the Premium....

[m1ke]

I was using premium for the first 3-4 months of owning my bike.

Switched to regular unleaded just to see if there was any noticeable difference. Have to say not really much has changed so i've stuck with the regular unleaded. I've got new plugs and an air filter now so i'll do a test with a couple of tanks of premium and see if I notice anything different.

[devilduster]

So it seems that there really IS no definitive answer eh? Interesting. Especially if the dealership says go with Premium and mechanics say don't! I have to say that I followed the link arguing against Premium (EG: less air, higher compression, colder running) and was sort of convinced that there is not much point putting premium in. The only apparent advantage is cleaner running- but with a cooler running temp there is a possibility of fouling the plugs- and they're too hard to get to to have to replace them all the time... And the Blade is meant to run fairly hot. I guess I'll stick to regular. It goes all right for me.

[angus151]

hi guys,

just about to purchase my first road bike. buying a cbr250rr off my mate and thought i would read up on it.

i currently own a mitsubishi fto which, for a car, rev very high 9K rpm. I have noticed a big difference in different fuels, bp ultimate seems to let the engine rev higher and quicker, regular takes the edge off. not going to make a huge difference like throwing you back in ur seat twice as hard, but does make a difference in my car.

i have a bit of experience in go karts which engines run at about 16K rpm. these guys usually drop about 1500 rpm if they use any fuel other than the bp ultimate. they actually caught out a servo that half filled its optimax tank with normal fuel bcoz they lost a further 3K rpm.

i think there will be a difference but whether its noticable....depends on how much attention you pay, or how finely tuned(how well) the bike is running.

[shaneo]

my blade used to only run right on BP ultimate. Put anything else in it esp shell of any sort and it would start having flat spots and would sound a bit ragged. i spose you just have to experiment and see what happens.

also, with someone saying that plugs are too hard to get, where are you trying to get them from? as soon as i had a part no i used to run down to the local auto shop and pick em up for about 4bucks each

[m1ke]

Really the bike is 10-20 years old and was designed to run on regular unleaded. Personally I use both premium and regular and cannot notice much difference. The bike does seem to run a little better with premium but I do not think there is any real power gain.

Really the engine puts out 32kw and good petrol might give you a 0.5-2.0 kw gain. If your after better performance go lose 10kg or rejet the carbs and put a better exhaust and air filter on.