Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hiya,

I have had my ZZR1100(D) for a couple of months now, and have always used Shell Unleaded in it (only reason for Shell is cos it is close and convenient). Do any of you guys use Premium Unleaded and if you did, did you notice a difference?

Cheers, Daino.

I think you'll find most are using premium. In fact most owners manuals these days will recommend a minimium 95 RON. With the higher compression utilised in bike engines they'll ping like a mongrel if you don't. I would've thought the ZZR was the same.

Whether it makes a noticeable performance difference I'm not sure (it should i guess) but I think for the overall longevity of your engine it's probably wise to.

Check an owners manual if you can find one perhaps

Cheers

Probs best to stick to premium. Most bikes prefer it due to the higher compression. Id start using it if I were you... 95 octane is fine as to get 98 your probs just throwing the extra change to the oil company!

As for which brand fuel, I prefer anything but the brand your using as Ive had my V8 pinging with it so have stuck with Ultimate, 8000 or Vortex 98 since. For the bike I fill up with normal Vortex or Premium and its fine

Is your bike pinging on standard unleaded? If so, go up in octane a step at a time until it stops. If not, you won't gain anything by going to a higher grade, and may actually get reduced spark plug life and carbon buildup for your trouble.

Nah she aint pinging. I never got an owners manual with it (been hunting for one though...) and wasnt sure what to put in so I went with the normal standard juice.

I will give Premium a try and see how it goes. I probably dont know what I have been missing!

(not this weekend though - the old girl sprouted an oil leak last weekend, so I gotta go find it and see how hard it is to repair. It is on the left side, mainly only when I go around left corners or on the SS, and it is dripping directly onto the exhaust creating a beautiful smokey effect. Only a couple of drops now and then. Fingers crossed it isnt too serious).

Normal unleaded should be OK mate, there aint that much difference, if your bike takes normal use normal IMO, as thats what it's designed for.

check your airbox for the oil, it may be your crankcase is putting oil in there,,,,
and yer i have not had good experiences with shell in my bikes so i put BP ultimate or caltex/mobil

BP ultimate unless ABSOLUTELY unavoidable, Mobil would be next preference, if I have to go Shell I won't do the Vortex, just bog standard unleaded.

Only ever fill up on caltex(premium 95)....Told by many riders to avoid shell tends to gum things up apparently.......

geez its been a while since we had a good *fuel* thread !!

Daino - as has been pointed out, if your bike is not pinging on the fuel you use now, keep using it. You may notice a small improvement if you go to premium (98) octane, but its probably not worth the extra money. I'm pretty sure the old ZZr11 was only rated for 95 octane in any case.

... there is a noticeable difference with the Z so i definately go premium (no brand specific), but it's not always possible even in this day and age.. but i totally agree with Gos

Gosling1 wrote: if your bike is not pinging on the fuel you use now, keep using it. You may notice a small improvement if you go to premium (98) octane, but its probably not worth the extra money.

Daino, I was running Std Unleaded until last week. I've def noticed a little bit more poke and she's a little bit smoother. The MOM (Motorcycle Owners Manual) says to use 91 or higher. It doesn't specify a maximum.

One big thing with the oil: make sure the sight glass is ALWAYS full. These things, as strong as they are, suffer from oil starvation on the right side (Nos. 3 & 4). I wasn't aware of this and threw a leg outta bed on the way to work one morning. Cost me a couple of grand to replace!



If you have any MOM questions, don't hesitate to ask. I've also got a PDF of the service manual.

I run standard and premium, depends on what mood I'm in (as long as it's above 95)

cookeetree wrote:Daino, I was running Std Unleaded until last week. I've def noticed a little bit more poke and she's a little bit smoother. The MOM (Motorcycle Owners Manual) says to use 91 or higher. It doesn't specify a maximum.

One big thing with the oil: make sure the sight glass is ALWAYS full. These things, as strong as they are, suffer from oil starvation on the right side (Nos. 3 & 4). I wasn't aware of this and threw a leg outta bed on the way to work one morning. Cost me a couple of grand to replace!



If you have any MOM questions, don't hesitate to ask. I've also got a PDF of the service manual.

Thanks mate - I actually printed your comment from another thread about keeping the oil topped up and I have hung it near the shelf where I keep my chain lube, oil, etc so I never forget! Absolutley invaluable information you had on that thread!

Power isnt really an issue with the ZZR (it has plenty for me already) and it isnt pinging with the current fuel, so even though most comments here are split for/against premium, I will stick with the normal stuff, but will switch from Shell to Mobil (as everyone seems to have trouble with Shell). Thanks again guys and girls! Love your work

hey daino, if you're not having problems with shell then i wouldnt bother switching... if other people have problems thats a different matter

i use shell almost exclusively (there are 3 of them on my route from work to home) and have never had any problems... and i dont notice anything better if i fill up at mobil say... i know its a different bike but hey

my manual says use nothing less than 91... so 91 for me it is...