which kind of gas?

[teslas]

I'm running through my first tank of gas and I'm already down 4 bars at about 105 miles. Is this normal? I put Chevron Supreme with 91 Octane. I was down one bar at only 31 miles.

Is this normal? Am I putting in the right Octane of Gas? What are you guys on this side of the pond all using?

Originally Posted by teslas

I'm running through my first tank of gas and I'm already down 4 bars at about 105 miles. Is this normal? I put Chevron Supreme with 91 Octane. I was down one bar at only 31 miles.

Is this normal? Am I putting in the right Octane of Gas? What are you guys on this side of the pond all using?

I'm usually between 45 and 60 miles on the first bar. I typically run between 185 and 205 on a tank about the time the tach switches over to odometer. The bike will do better when it gets loosened up. I run 93 octane.

[Fred]

The FZ6 doesn't have a knock sensor, so it won't take proper advantage of high octane gas by advancing the timing. I just run regular in mine and it doesn't complain. Gas mileage is about 38mpg (still on the breakin)

Fred

[bmccrary]

I run 93 as well...

Not sure on the milage though.

-bryan

[teslas]

THis is very strange indeed. I wonder if my fuel sensor is all wacked out?
I"ve never seen 93 octane in the states.

Maybe I only need 89 Octane? What do the rest of you guys use?
thanks

[sportrider]

I used 91 until I tried 87 it made no difference other then the price. if you look in the owners manual 87 is all that recommended, your mileage will very depending on your riding style I've gotten everywhere from 36 MPG to 55 MPG it just depends on how aggressive your riding.

[teslas]

During breakin I do not ride aggressive at all, but I just take it real easy.

On another note can someone explain the difference between "Pump Octane" and Research Octane is? I've NEVER understood it.

THis is from page 3-11 in the 07 user manual.

Your Yamaha engine has been designed
to use regular unleaded gasoline
with a pump octane number
[(R+M)/2] of 86 or higher, or a research
octane number of 91 or higher.

[nimzotech]

Originally Posted by teslas

THis is very strange indeed. I wonder if my fuel sensor is all wacked out?
I"ve never seen 93 octane in the states.

Maybe I only need 89 Octane? What do the rest of you guys use?
thanks

+1 Exactly, where do you guys tank up? 91 is pretty much the highest standard at the gas stations. Are you using airplane fuel? LOL

[Fred]

Originally Posted by teslas

Your Yamaha engine has been designed
to use regular unleaded gasoline
with a pump octane number
[(R+M)/2] of 86 or higher, or a research
octane number of 91 or higher.

R is for the Research Octane rating.
M is for the Motor Octane rating.
These are two methods of measuring octane. What's on the pump is usually (R+M)/2 which is the average of the two.

Octane is just resistance to detonation. Higher octane fuels have more xylene or toluene in them, both of which have extremely high octane ratings (117 and 114 if I remember right).

(As a sidenote, I tested out a gallon of xylene mixed into four gallons of 89 octane gas. The result performed like premium in my turbo bike, which does normally detonate on 89 octane fuel. I never tried a gallon into 91 or 93 octane, but the results would have been fun.)

Due to this detonation resistance, you can advance the timing, or increase the engine's compression ratio, or add a blower (another way to increase compression ratio) and not have the engine detonate.

The thing is, lower octane fuel actually produces more heat than high octane, which means more energy. So if you haven't got a knock sensor, racing engine or blower, the lower octane fuel can make more power than the premium stuff. The only way the high octane fuel makes more power is if you retune to take advantage of it.

Fred

[Fred]

Wikipedia has a good article about octane ratings.
Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Note that the Research Octane rating of a fuel is usually 8-10 points higher than the motor number. So if you are buying 89 octane fuel than the Research rating is probably around 94, and the Motor octane is going to be around 84.

84 + 94 / 2 = 89

Given Teslas' info "[(R+M)/2] of 86 or higher, or a research
octane number of 91 or higher." we can see that 89 octane fuel is just fine for the bike no matter how the octane at the pump is calculated.