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Ethanol vs. Non-Ethanol Fuel


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Does anybody run non-ethanol premium regularly?  I just took a road trip up to Washington from California and stopped at a rural Oregon gas station while just about running on fumes, and their 91 octane fuel was "non-ethanol."  I asked the little old lady running the pump what the difference was and she said the guys with snowmobiles and boats preferred non-ethanol so that was all she carried in the premium fuels but that it would be fine for my bike (I trust little old ladies only when I have no other choice, like then!).  So I used it and I swear the bike ran smoother than ever!  But here in CA we don't really have non-ethanol except at boat docks and race tracks, so I'm back to what they call E10, which has 10 percent ethanol.  Anybody regularly ride with non-ethanol fuel? 
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There's really not much of a difference. All the ethanol does is eat up your gas mileage by about 10%, this is due to the difference in energy density of gasoline vs. Ethanol. Modern fuel injected vehicles run oxygen sensors and can adjust to the change from ethanol to non ethanol fuel. The problem can be with carbureted where they can't automatically adjust to the difference although it usually isn't enough to matter really.
Ethanol also will absorb water and can clog up fuel systems if left to sit long enough. I always fill the tank to the brim before putting my bikes away for the winter and I've never had a problem.
In tuned vehicles though where you can adjust timing you can actually take advantage of the ethanol and run slightly more timing to make more power
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Sounds like sxx360 has a pretty good explanation of the difference. For which to use; the manual says to use Premium Unleaded, but E10 is acceptable and not to exceed 10% ethanol content. It also says NOT to use gas that contains methanol.
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Firstly, in Europe, the fuel that does not state "E10" may have up to 5% ethanol as EU law allows such fuel to be labelled as standard fuel.
 
E10 is not widely available in the UK but is becoming increasingly prevalent in France so I have just had 2 weeks of running a direct comparison with back to back tanks of E10 and regular unleaded.
 
Both fuels claim a 95 RON rating which I believe equated to US 91 (we also have a 97+ rating which we call super unleaded).
 
I didn't notice any real performance difference but I did notice I was filling up earlier if using the E10 fuel. My range dropped from around 170 miles to the F trip coming on to around 150. On one stretch where I was heading home to get a Eurotunnel crossing of the English Channel I had the trip come on at 120, but that was cruising on the French Autoroute at 90mph plus.
 
I have had a similar experience on my Super Tenere when I toured France 2 years ago.
 
So my experience matches what sxx360 states, a similar performance but you use a greater volume of fuel to achieve it i.e. you need a larger throttle opening to achieve the same speed or rate of acceleration. Ultimately this will reduce the maximum rate of acceleration and maximum speed. That is unlikely to worry you on the road as you just open the throttle a little more.
 
In practice, the reduced mileage per tank is not a great inconvenience. I'm usually ready for a rest after 120-150 miles anyway so I would just time my stops to coincide with fuel stops. Fuel stations are not difficult to find in France and they operate 24/7 as most have card readers.
 
If anyone is going to France and has to avoid E10 (older Ducati, Aprilia Triumph for example) then it will be hard to achieve using 95 RON fuel but if you stick to using supermarket fuel, you will usually have a choice of E10 and regular 95. Stations supplied by the French company Total will not stock anything but E10.
 
The alternative is to use the super unleaded fuel rated from 97 to 100 RON. Currently this fuel will not have ethanol in the mix. Sometimes it is given brand names like Tesco Momentum, Shell Vpower, Total Excellium etc. I have not done a back to back test to see which works out best value of a) paying more per litre with the premium 97 RON fuel against b) the reduced miles per litre of the E10 fuel. According to Shell's marketing blurb, the Vpower fuel should result in better running and more miles per gallon but I remain skeptical about it making economic sense for anyone other than the shareholders of Shell.
This signature is left blank as the poster writes enough pretentious bollocks as it is.
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I have little experience running non-ethanol fuel in any of my bikes as I am in California where most pumps have E10. I'm an AMA member and there have been articles recently about the dangers of ethanol for motorcycles. No issues for me yet, but it seems there is a push to raise the percentage of ethanol up to 15% called E15. AMA is trying to stop this from happening. You can read more here: http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/Rights/AMAFuelforThought.aspx
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If you have to run ethanol based fuel, this is what my Yamaha dealer recommended to use. I am faithful on it with both my bikes :
 
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I only use premium unleaded and in Canada, Shell and Petro Canada doesn't mix ethanol in their premium blend.
 
Cheers
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