Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

stock standard unleaded

CaptnMooCow wrote:P.S. what is RON? What is the number? Is it the % of how pure the fuel is or something like that? Why is v-power bad?

RON is the "RATED OCTANE NUMBER" or sumthin like that...it basically means how potent the fuel is... kinda like cordial, or 2 strok mix....how much of the explosive stuff is in the fuel...if that makes sense... so yea, kinda how pure it is...

now most vehicles that are older than abt 2000 ish will run fine on anything 90 or over....as a guide

Standard Unleaded- 91
Mid premium- 95
Hi premium (v power and ultimate- 98

in low compression older motors, then anything above 91 or so is wasted any way, in high comp motors they NEED higher potentcy fuel to avoid wear....

u should be fine with standard on the gpx...

also the reason most ppl dont like opticrap (dunno if v-power the same) is cos of all the chemicals they put in it to "clean ur cars system" and shit... a lot of bikes dont have the same EFI systems as a car, so optimax doesnt work as well (gumms them up a touch)

HTH

Put it this way: I run 91 octane in my '95 ZZR600, and it's happy as a clam.

I run 95 in my '02 ZX9R 'cos it pings badly on 91, and there's no economy benefit running 98 in it.

Octane rating is a measure of how well a fuel resists detonation. Put very simply, if your bike pings, use a fuel with a higher octane rating. If the bike's not pinging, it's not wearing any quicker or differently whatever fuel you're using. You *may* notice some consumption differences between fuels, but it varies between individual vehicles for a variety of reasons.

The yanks use a different measurement of octane to us.

There's nothing inherently wrong with V-Power (or it's predecessor Optimax). Shell fuels are just as good or bad as the rest. I don't use V-Power because (a) I don't need it, and (b) the BP down the end of the street's just a little closer than the Shell across town.

There's actually a sticker on my 10R that says not to run any less than a 95 RON in it.

It only ever see's BP premium.

Benno wrote:There's actually a sticker on my 10R that says not to run any less than a 95 RON in it.

It only ever see's BP premium.

yea...my z1 only needs 91 i think, but i run 95 or 98 wot ever is around...

CaptnMooCow wrote:.... should I run my bike with that and not worry about engine wear etc? ...

thats exactly what you should do. The 250 will be fine on 91 unleaded.

The old Optimax had a reputation for stripping all the oil from your cylinder walls, due to the strength of the detergents added to the fuel. No oil = piston seizures etc. It happened and was reported often enough to turn me off using it.

Having said that, I have since used V-Power occasionally, it has worked fine. I usually run Mobil 8000 most of the time, and BP Gold sometimes as well, its a good fuel (for a high-comp sports bike).

try V8 juice. make it go real hard
its not like its running 10lbs of boost or anything fancy.
just put petrol in the fucker. ANY petrol. that should make it go forward.

Rusty wrote:Put it this way: I run 91 octane in my '95 ZZR600, and it's happy as a clam.

I run 95 in my '02 ZX9R 'cos it pings badly on 91, and there's no economy benefit running 98 in it.

What do you mean by "ping"? Like the engine makes a weird sound?

Thanks for all the info guys. Seems I will be switching back to regular unleaded from now on.

yes it is a wierd sound. not a happy sound though.
pinging or pinking (pre-ignition knock) -(dont trust me, google it) - is when there is ignition before the piston gets to the top for the spark to fire the mix. sounds like a marble inside a can. this will root your motor.
run a higher octane fuel and don't open the throttle all the way to the stops in top gear at 10km/h.

91 RON.

That's what it's designed to run on, and anything more than that will just cost more money and possibly make it run like ass.

Second GPX in the house now, and they both do the same thing with premium: hard to start, stall when cold, zero performance advantage. Stick to the regular stuff, unless you get the bike retuned for premium.

Hhhhmmmmm...... Very interesting

My mechanic just told me to run mobil or BP premium in my zzr250. I have heard the Optimax thing that it strips the lubrication from the engine too. He reckons the higher RON wont hurt the bike and that it will ignite easier than a lower RON fuel.

Hhhhmmmmm...... Very interesting

My mechanic just told me to run mobil or BP premium in my zzr250. I have heard the Optimax thing that it strips the lubrication from the engine too. He reckons the higher RON wont hurt the bike and that it will ignite easier than a lower RON fuel.

Quick_Stix wrote:...He reckons the higher RON ...will ignite easier than a lower RON fuel.

Now as I understand it, the opposite is true and that a higher RON means that it doesn't ignite as easily...which is why it works better with a higher compression engine to stop pinging. So on a bog standard low compression engine you are better off with a low octane fuel.

slightly off-topic, but still relevant ...

My old VN V6 dunneydore runs way better on 91 unleaded than 95 or 98, its harder to start on the higher-octane fuels.........which supports Micks advice above....

Back to bikes.....

Gosling1 wrote:slightly off-topic, but still relevant ...

My old VN V6 dunneydore runs way better on 91 unleaded than 95 or 98, its harder to start on the higher-octane fuels.........which supports Micks advice above....

Back to bikes.....

still off the topic being a vn v6 dunneydore im surprised it even still runs