Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

Does anyone have a thought or two on which level of octane is best for their hawk? I know the manual says 86 or higher, and the compression ratio is relatively low so running 87 wouldn’t hurt. I have read in a previous post that someone got better fuel economy with 91. Since my Hawk is butt spanking new, I want to make sure she gets best from the start.

If this topic has been covered before and I couldn’t find it, well then I suck at searching.


Y’all Texans out yonder, I was in Houston a few weeks ago and was gassing up my rental car at a Phillips 66, and swore I saw 93 octane at the pump. Is that true or was I seeing things?

Regular is all that the SH needs. I though that I needed 91+ but not per the manuel. I get the same gas mileage on either grade.

I agree. I switched to 91 for a couple of tanks and didn't notice a differance at all. Same power and same gas milage.

I run premium because I'm a snob and I am under the illusion it makes me faster or more efficient. It's definitely NOT worth the price difference, but then again it's my money.

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

I have always run premium fuel in my bikes and my old carbureted vehicles, it won't hurt anything and you can run the spark timing a few degrees faster without detonation or "pinging"

Rick B
02 SH
96 DR200se
1966 C10 Stepside
2005 Avalanche 1500 Z71

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

LOCO, two thumbs up for telling the truth.
It's nice to see somebody be honest on this gas octane thing!
IMO, the best benefit from 91 octane is whatever warm fuzzy the owner gets from knowing it is in the tank.

The SH was designed and built for Pump Octane 87 gas
(which = Research Octane 91).

In my experience, 91 does nothing except cost you more $$.

UNLESS you have modified internals (higher compression) or an ignition advancer.

Hey Loco, is that premium 93 octane down there in Texas?

Yup, 91 or 93 depending on the particular station. I guess there would be some justification in premium if I had adjusted my timing, but man, with gas prices soaring over 3 dollars even here in Texas, I just can't rationalize it anymore with the "it's only 3.5 gallons" mentality because filling up a bike should never EVER cost 10 dollars.

Unless (like me) you have a great big CF tank. :D

Used to run 93 but that was before the first big gas price hike. Now it's 87 at the cheapest gas station I can find before I run out. I saw a place today that was $2.89 for friggin regular....price gouging bastards 2 miles down the road I bought regular for $2.63. F er's

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

Thanks all- now I can fill up with regular guilt free.

hey guys, i can't help but put my 2 cents in on this one. if you think fuel prices are nuts there, you should come for a ride over here in australia. it's just under $5.50 a gallon now, and set to go up a buck by easter. and don't even consider going to england, $8 plus...i just hope we're not looking back on this in a year and thinking it was cheap...

DAMN!! I knew we had it better than most but DAMN!!!!

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

And all this time I thought Australia would be a great place to live!

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

Since it's turned into a price/gal thread a little here, how high do you think it would have to get before people would reduce their driving and quit driving with their foot to the floor? I'm 6 miles away from my job and would gladly ride a bicycle every day, but people drive like such idiots around here I don't feel safe even on the 'hawk. I drive a full-size truck or full-size jeep almost every day.

I would use my bicycle more BUT I commute about 100 miles a day between my school and the kids school.

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

Riding a bicycle is out of the question for me as well, I go 40 miles each way to work.

I think if fuel went over $4 a gallon you would start seeing a lot less people on the roads. I know, personally I would start taking the Hawk to work rain or shine; instead of just shine. As an extra incentive to ride daily here in California you can ride in the carpool (hov) lanes, not pay bridge tolls ($3 a day), and of course lane-splitting is legal here.

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

Both of my full-size vehicles are old (1975 & 1979), but one is fuel injected and the other has an EFI kit in the garage waiting to be installed. I'd still probably keep them until there was some more significant economy jumps in new vehicles. I couldn't believe I get about the same mileage with my 1975 truck that a new Toyota Tundra gets.

I run 33% nitro fuel from my RC car from time to time. I also have a 55 gallon drum of rocket fuel. Depends on what kind of mood I am in.

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

You should run 87 octane as per the manual. I've found however that throttle response over 100mph is a little quicker with 91 octane, that is that it snaps-to and response is more immediate. Gas milage seems about the same, with 91 octane being about 5 miles better at 145 miles before hitting low-fuel blinker instead of 140 miles.

If gas is gonna go up like predicted, I'd stay with 87 or mix it up sometimes. With 3 gallons, it's only about $1 difference per fill-up.

I called the factory on this one since the sticker under the seat says 91 and the manual says 86. They said the sticker under the seat says 91 because the EPA uses the same grade when they test bikes for emissions so they have a fair test.

The factory said the Superhawk is designed to run on 86 so using 87 which is all we have around here will do no harm and the bike will run better than on 91 or higher.

Is that for your rocket ship?

Interesting. Perhaps the person at the factory is correct. But what they say doesn't necessarily go hand-in-hand with this: The sticker and the owner's manual say RESEARCH OCTANE of 91. That is the same a PUMP OCTANE of 87.

So, to say the sticker says 91 because the EPA tests w/ 91 is a bit inconsistent. The sticker says 91 because that is the same as the Owner's Manual says, which is the same as what the engine was designed to run on.

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

I initially ran my VTR on 91 octane after spotting that little label too. However, after seeing discussions about this very topic, I changed to 87 octane and have been running it on regular ever since. I am now up to 50,000 miles and have not had any problems whatsoever. Also, in most instances, running hi octane fuel when it is not called for actually results in a drop in hp. If you plan on running the bike really hard (eg. track day,...) then maybe go for the added safety provided by the higher octane but for everyday riding, why waste your money (and valuable hp)

cheers
Mikstr

I'll be sticking to 87.
All my vehicles run well on it with the exception of the Honda RS250 which only likes 106 shaken not stired.
Besides with gas here at $3.25 and rising and no proposed free health care plan I should leave the higher priced 91 for the BMW and Lexass owners.

Any of you folks working on converting from gas to vegetable oil for fuel?

Re: Pump gas Octane...which one is best for the SH??
 

the problem with using veg oil for fuel is the glycerine content. One you have removed it, you are good to go.

Mikstr

Excelent then we can use the glycerine for skin care and demolition products to off set the cost of developement. Cool!

Oh Yeah............
We could go to the local chili cook off to refuel.
The EPA would love us for helping to clean up air pollution.

Becareful with the Flux Capacitor.
One time at Electronics Camp this kid was making one and...well lets just say he still can't walk in a straight line to this day and to top it off his hair won't grow back.