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Kawboy wrote: Interesting- Wikipedia reports the fuel consumption at 5.56 L/100 km; 50.8 mpg‑imp (42.3 mpg‑US).
In that same article was this:
"Although its straight-six engine was smooth, the motorcycle was heavy, expensive and thirsty, and the Z1300 sold poorly, particularly in Europe. One amateur reviewer on a modern website criticised the handling, stating it "wallowed, weaved and bucked", and the engine covered only 30 miles per UK gallon."]

scotch wrote:
Esso "Regular"

I've been putting 99 octane in mine for years as its claimed to have less ethanol. I always have trouble getting it to run right. Perhaps I should switch to regular?

zed_thirteen wrote:

scotch wrote:
Esso "Regular"

I've been putting 99 octane in mine for years as its claimed to have less ethanol. I always have trouble getting it to run right. Perhaps I should switch to regular?

99 Octane?? Where are you buying that? At an airport?? 94 Octane is the highest we have here at the vehicular pumps. Are you sure you don't mean 89 Octane?
89 would be fine but not necessary. Anything higher than 89 would be a concern for me. What happens is the higher octane slows down the flame propagation which allows more of the developing flame front exposure to greater cylinder wall surface, which increases the engine operating temperature. You also take the chance of "burning valves" if the flame still exists with the valves open. You need enough octane to prevent detonation but too much causes other havoc as mentioned.

I've seen young motorcycle racers show up at the track with a stock 600 cc bike and a can of 118 octane race fuel thinking that they have the ultimate fuel to help them "win" when in fact without changing the compression ratio up to around 12-1 , they have in effect reduced the power output because the power development happened to late in the compression/fire stroke. And they usually fry their engines from the excessive heat happening at the wrong time.

Aviation fuel is 100 octane - just for the record.

I've always used regular. Have never had any issues whatsoever with whatever constitutes "Regular". With rare exception when there's a price war on I've tried Premium but couldn't tell the difference. But that's purely subjective.

Our regular unleaded petrol in the UK is either 94 or 95 octane. Super unleaded is normally 98 octane but where I buy mine it's 99

The following is copied from www.jct600.co.uk/blog/fuel-types-explained/

Petrol
Here in the UK, the most common petrol types are:

– Premium Unleaded (95 RON)
– Super Unleaded (97 / 98 RON)
– Premium Fuels (e.g. Shell V-Power)

‘RON’: Octane rating explained

OK, we’re about to get technical; ’95/97/98 RON’ refers to the octane rating. This is a measure of how easily the fuel will ignite within the engine of a car. The higher the octane rating is, the harder it is for the fuel to ignite because the fuel requires greater compression in order to do so.

However, because high octane fuel burns much hotter, it can burn more efficiently, and therefore performs better for higher-performance car engines that require it.

Premium Unleaded (95 RON)
Despite the ‘Premium’ label, Premium Unleaded is actually the most commonly-used petrol across the UK and Europe, and is suitable for almost all petrol engines.

Super Unleaded (97 / 98 RON)
Super Unleaded has the higher-octane rating (97/98 RON) that is widely available here in the UK. It is mostly used for high-performance cars that require it, and that will benefit from using it.

Premium Fuels (e.g. Shell V-Power)
Premium fuels, such as Shell V-Power, have a higher octane rating (99 RON in this case). Manufacturers of these premium fuels claim that as well as the higher octane rating, the fuel offers benefits such as “improved lubrication, cleaning action and a higher performance.”

zed_thirteen Thanks for quoting that article. I work for JCT600.