Reg vs Premium

Ever since I purchased my 2006 Midnight this summer, I had burned Premium fuel as recommended by the previous owner and my fellow RSV riders here. The bike is a Yank bike, it's ODO is in miles but the pumps here are in Litres so on the road fuel mileage conversions suck.. lol..

However, 'on average', when I pull up to the pumps, I put 1 litre of fuel per 10 miles on the ODO.. in other words, if the ODO shows 170 miles, I'm putting in close to 17 litres of fuel into the bike. When you do the math and all, I'm getting roughly 44 mpg (Imp or US?).. And this fluctuates a bit depending if I'm doing a lot of slow speed 5th gear riding or high revs curve blasting..

Yesterday I thought to myself.. "Self, why spend more money on Premium when Reg is cheaper.. there can't be THAT much of a difference in mpg or performance, can there?" So I filled it up with Reg gas and went on a loooong run last night..

Yesterday, Reg was $1.33 / Litre and Premium $1.39 / Litre.. (and I never want to hear another yank whining about high fuel prices, come up here to do that.. over $5 a gallon here, and worse in Europe)

Omg.. what a difference.. I'd never get anywhere on regular gas!!

On average there was a 40 MILE difference to the range of that tank.

When I went to fuel up, the bike took 17 litres but I only managed to get about 131 miles distance.. Now THAT is scary.. this was the average on two fills and two runs.

On Premium fuel, I would average 40 mpg / 48 mpg (US/CDN)

On Regular Fuel I would average 30 mpg / 37 mpg (US/CDN)

Needless to say I can go further and spend less money to get there by running premium

If my milage appears lower than norm, I'm running K&N and HD slash cut exhaust.

Your milage may well differ ; )

I run premium all the time unless the station does not have it and I get over 40mpg consistantly. Even at 8 cents a litre more it is only around $1 difference in a tanks and I find the bike runs better.

P.S.Are you the corrections guy we met in Shediac that bought the bike in the States?

There was two of us with trailers stopped at Tim Hortons?

Interesting. Down here in the states I actually get better mileage on Regular Most here will tell you that also. I have also heard that Premium will cause some problems, but I can't remember what they were. The manual specifically recommends 87 octane.

As an aside I wish I got 45 mpg. I run mostly all Interstate to and from work 130 mile round trip 4 days a week. Average 69 mph. I consistently get 37 mpg no matter what fuel I use.

I also see no difference in Octanes but I do see a difference between gas station fuels. I keep good records and so far have found Marathon Fuel to give me the best mileage for car and bike. I run 100 miles 5 days a week so I fill up every couple days. In Illinois its all 10% ethanol which I'm not crazy about. A buddy of mine drove his GW to his place in Missouri and he got better mileage on Missouri fuels. He thought the fuel there did not have 10% Ethanol. I dont know if hes right or not.

My 84 standard lists 91 octane as the fuel source on the sticker inside the left panel. I found that it runs the best and I get better mileage with the premium. At least I hope so.

Dan

I can't explain what caused the differences you saw in how many miles per gallons you got on one tank of gas, but I will confidently say that you are completely wasting your money from buying fuel of a higher octane than your engine requires. Of the MANY things that can cause changes in miles per gallon, octane is NOT one of them. Good luck figuring it out.

Goose

I run premium all the time unless the station does not have it and I get over 40mpg consistantly. Even at 8 cents a litre more it is only around $1 difference in a tanks and I find the bike runs better.

P.S.Are you the corrections guy we met in Shediac that bought the bike in the States?

There was two of us with trailers stopped at Tim Hortons?

Nope, sorry not me.. I bought mine from a Canuck who had bought it from a Yank etc.. paid about $11G CDN for it.. ; )

I might be making a run to Moncton if the storms let off.. When I get back from my photo road trip in Oct, I'll be making a late fall run up your way.. we might be able to hook up then.. ?

Interesting. Down here in the states I actually get better mileage on Regular Most here will tell you that also. I have also heard that Premium will cause some problems, but I can't remember what they were. The manual specifically recommends 87 octane.

 

As an aside I wish I got 45 mpg. I run mostly all Interstate to and from work 130 mile round trip 4 days a week. Average 69 mph. I consistently get 37 mpg no matter what fuel I use.

Wow, that's some haul to work.. ouch. I found that smoooooth accelerations make a huge differences on fuel consumption.

Regular oil change, spark plugs, filters AND the correct air pressure in your tires will also make a huge diff in your milage.

i do know that a headwind component will also reduce milage as well..

I can't explain what caused the differences you saw in how many miles per gallons you got on one tank of gas, but I will confidently say that you are completely wasting your money from buying fuel of a higher octane than your engine requires. Of the MANY things that can cause changes in miles per gallon, octane is NOT one of them. Good luck figuring it out.

Goose

Many will beg to differ on whether or not higher octane fuel is more benificial or not. Several of the Venture riders out here have done their own averages and all have found that premium gas gets them better milage (thus more cost effective) than regular gas..

I found the same thing with the VStar, mind you I had a lot of engine mods on it but was able to maintain my milage all the same.

Someone mentioned also about the source of your fuel.. Some distributors out here have a higher sulphur count than others and that also affects milage.. I know from the riding I've done this summer that fuel from one brand will give me the exceptional range and the fuel from another will give me shyte range..

But, everyone is different.. I only go by observation and with what works for me.. and always open to new ideas to try out.

I used to be a staunch supporter of Premium fuel, but.... after prices started to climb I started to buy Regular, and to be honest I can't see any difference in performance or milage between the two grades.

During the 9 years that I've owned my RSV, I have compared premium to regular a number of times. I have NEVER gotten better gas mileage running premium. Complete waste of money for me.

During the 9 years that I've owned my RSV, I have compared premium to regular a number of times. I have NEVER gotten better gas mileage running premium. Complete waste of money for me.

Same here, although I will agree with different areas of the country will get different results. I just use the 87 and run it, I'm not light on the throttle so it really is a waste for me

During the 9 years that I've owned my RSV, I have compared premium to regular a number of times. I have NEVER gotten better gas mileage running premium. Complete waste of money for me.

Is the fuel you guys burning have any amount of ethanol / methanol in it?

I hear what you are all saying but we're showing something quite different up here between the two types of fuel.. weird..

For the same amount of fuel in the tank, I can go further on premium fuel than regular fuel, and even when it's priced higher, it still comes out cheaper to drive that distance. We're talking about around a $1.00 difference in a tank fill up yet I can go that much further on that one dollar.. Go figure.. maybe I hve a special bike?

Yanks! theses guys crack me up. There only time i put High test in was last week. the station ran out of regular and had high test for the same price.

Yanks! theses guys crack me up. There only time i put High test in was last week. the station ran out of regular and had high test for the same price.

There's a joke why we call you guys "yanks".. best told over a beer / coffee with smiles on our faces =)

I only have one more riding day before I go on my road trip so I won't be able to full test this all out but I stand by my previous assessment.. Premium gas does me gooder than reg gas does.. ; )

Wishing everyone a dry weekend.. if possible..

I just completed a 1900 mile trip over the Labor Day Holiday. During that time my gas mileage differed mostly on whether I used regular gasoline opposed to the 10% blended fuels. The blended fuels gave consistently fewer mpg's, mostly in the 2-3 mpg range. I did try a mid-grade gas once which also had the 10% blended ethanol. No noticeable difference there either.

On this trip considering my bike now weighs an additional 400 lbs, has more frontal surface cutting thru wind, and pulling a loaded trailer 2 up I was getting 25-26 mpg on regular gas. A couple of times with a nice tail wind, more or less level roads, and a steady throttle hand I got 28 mpg. Most of the riding was done in the 68-70 mph speed range. ( true gps speed & calibrated speedometer for actual mileages )

Take away the trailer I average 35-36 mpg solo or 2 up

As a side note here, before I converted the to a trike I was getting on average 38-42 mpgs with the bikes factory speedo/odometer.

Larry

The car club I run has cars that have Premium "recommended" but not required. We have found over the years, that the cars get the same or better MPG on regular.

Unless an engine "REQUIRES" premium (or a set octane) you CAN run regular 87 or 89 octane.

The higher octane just helps prevent pre-ignition in engines with higher compression, or specific designs that are prone to spark knock, or have big ignition advances that require premium.

I suspect that in the case of the first post, ONE tank of gas is not anywhere near a good test of how good the MPG is between the two types of fuel. Even if you drive the same route, there can be differences that can cause a big swing in MPG. Wind direction, temperature, one extra light or stop can make a difference etc.

Also, was the regular fuel part ethanol and the premium not? Ethanol added to fuel will hurt MPG slightly. Enough to notice according to many.

I get 40 mpg in my '86 VR whether I use premium or regular and 10% corn fuel doesn't seem to make any real difference either.

So run regular and see what happens.

During the 9 years that I've owned my RSV, I have compared premium to regular a number of times. I have NEVER gotten better gas mileage running premium. Complete waste of money for me.

I absolutely agree! Total waste of money - no effect on mileage. Just finished a 4300 mile ride . Tried various combinations and found that the worst thing you can run is an ethanol mix. Now that is a total looser ! Other than that, your speed and riding conditions will be the only significant difference. I kept meticulous records and averaged 40.65 mpg with a high of 49.04 and a low of 34.01 (with ethanol mix) This is two up and well loaded up.

South to Reno, 2 days of rideing around that area, and return to Seattle. About 2000 mile total trip miles.

Trip included, long freeway runs, moutain climbing, Up and Down, a fair amout of in city Driveing.

I Kept All the Gas Reciepts, and exact total of milage. I averaged, all the fill ups. and miles, it came out to 42.5 mpg on my 89, rideing single, with about 65 lb. of load in the Bags. This was buying Regular, at many different brand gas stations.

In, Wash, Oregon, and Calif, and Nv.

Last week, I ran 150 miles on local back roads, ( no freeway ) averaged about 50 mph speeds. One tank, came out 44.5 MPG. Seems like the lower speeds did make some difference.

I have never tried Higher Octane fuel in my bike, ??? Maby will give it a try.

My 99 Busa, has a MPG calculator on it. At Freeway, speeds it reads out about 44 to 45 mpg, most of the time.

However on back roads, running slow, 45 to 55 mph, the fuel computer hits 50 MPG. Which is as high as it reads. ( This is when I am just ambling along at the speed limit. ) I know I can make it burn more gas if I decide to .

Someone hit the nail on the head when saying that different states get different fuel. I live in Iowa and EVERY time I ride in Wisconsin or Missouri I get 30 to 50 miles more on a tank!

Does not matter what type of fuel I burn or what station just what state I fill up in! Go figure I live in a crappy fuel state! LOL

I donno what's going on. I burn Ca. Ethanol, and it doesn't seem to make any difference in mpg. MOF the worst fuel milage I've received is out of state and running 70-80mph on the interstates. Burning non-ethanol fuel. I get 40-43mpg around town, and up to 50mpg in the local mountain twisties with ethanol. When riding out of state, and slabbin' it most of the time, I'll drop down to 37-38mpg. So I think it's more of a speed issue, than what I'm burning. Sure ethanol costs a bit in mpg, but I think it's more the surrounding type of area you ride in that effects overall milage. High speed slabbing's gonna cost you.

Someone hit the nail on the head when saying that different states get different fuel. I live in Iowa and EVERY time I ride in Wisconsin or Missouri I get 30 to 50 miles more on a tank!

Does not matter what type of fuel I burn or what station just what state I fill up in! Go figure I live in a crappy fuel state! LOL

That was me ; ) I'm heading back into the US on Wednesday going through Maine, NY then through to Michigan with the cage unfortunately and was wondering what fuels to avoid. I remember going through some of those areas for Rolling Thunder last year and our hosts were avoiding certain brand gas stations as their fuels weren't recommended for bikes. Blended fuels?

I was complaining about the exhaust popping on deceleration / shifting, and our local Venture mechanic (Mr. Venture in Calgary Alberta) asked if I was running regular or premium. When I told him I ran premium, he said that was half the problem. I switched to 87 Octane and he was right on the money. No change in mpg, just cheaper and the bike works better.

I have since pulled an Aspen Classic camper trailer (~500 pounds) over 13000 km and no sign of pinging etc. on 87 pump gas. Recently on an easy stretch, 1 up, I got 42.6 miles per US gallon (51.1 per Imperial gallon, that sounds so much better!)....normal is more like 38 per U.S. Gallon...I do like to hear my BUBs :-)

I ran the 91 or higher premium gas for the first 6 or 8 months in my '06 Midgnight Venture because I thought I HAD to. Local mechanic at the dealer told me I could run 87 or 89 and it would probably run as good or better. So, I tried the 87 octane and found that it did indeed run better on it. Also, I was getting 39-40 with the premium, and I consistently get 42-44 with the regular and we are riding 2 up most of the time. I also put a couple of ounces of SeaFoam in every second or third fill up. Been working great for me so far!

The only time I can tell a difference is if I put in gas that has ethanol in it. I get less milage if the fuel has ethanol. I ran a tank of E-85 through it once and wouldn't idle and barely pulled the mountains in Wyoming where I was riding through.