Fuel type & MPG

[wickedmonkey]

I've been religiously adding my fuel purchases to fuelly.com and have noticed a definite improvement when I use premium fuel compared to regular unleaded. I notice a slight performance increase (this could be my imagination, I suppose, or the weight of the fuel assisting the pump?) and a measurable increase in MPG.


Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone have fuel or fuel additive recommendations to increase MPG?

[hightower]

I did something similar in the car and found that the extra MPG was Worth less than the addition price of the premium fuel, so I went back to standard fuel

[stevierst]

Tried it on my FZ1. Made 1-2 mpg difference according to fuelly over 3 tankfulls, and a little more driveability (doesn't need any more power).
Tried it on my 600 bandit, it made a couple of mpg difference over 100 miles, and then I sold it

[fazersharp]

so are you talking about using 97 octain - whatever it is over the normal 95

[wickedmonkey]

So maybe the extra cost/litre isn't worth the extra MPG? Damn!


Sorry fazersharp, not sure exactly.

[stevierst]

So maybe the extra cost/litre isn't worth the extra MPG? Damn!

what's the comparison in MPG?

[wickedmonkey]

[quote author=wickedmonkey link=topic=11955.msg131861#msg131861 date=1394037057]
So maybe the extra cost/litre isn't worth the extra MPG? Damn!

what's the comparison in MPG?
[/quote]


Only about 3-4 extra MPG. I'll take a closer look at the fill ups as I noted the fuel type on most of them.

[Dead Eye]

I see a good 10% increase in MPG across the vehicles I own - only exception is my gen 1 as I've never run it on 95 RON so...

I still fully expect the fuel to cost more than I save in MPG, but at the end of the day, there are no negative effects from using higher octane fuel (I use Shell V-Power which I believe is 99 RON) as far as I am aware but there are benefits from using it even if they aren't fully realised on certain engines. I'm happy to spend the extra money to keep my vehicles in a slightly better condition, others may opt for the cheapest option instead.

One major thing though is that I don't have to commute anywhere so about 80% of my mileage is leisure these days.

[stevierst]

Just done a few sums on it, and it almost breaks out even. Marginally more expensive on super, and I do mean marginally by pennies!
If it floats your boat, then why the hell not do it! :think

[Fazerider]

I don't think you can draw a conclusion from records over such a small mileage. There is so much inaccuracy in each "fuel-up"... i.e. it's impossible to fill to exactly the same level each time, the temperature of the fuel is slightly different etc. that the apparent mpg figure is going to bounce around and only gives a useful figure when averaged over a thousand miles or more.
My mpg chart looks similar, very wiggly... it's only when you look at the whole chart and average the wiggles out by eye that you can see there is also a slow annual rise and fall that is probably due to the oil being a bit thinner in the summer months, but servicing and tyre changes will also muddy the waters.
It's hard to see why an improvement would occur. Modern fuel injected engines with knock sensors can adjust ignition timing and fuelling maps to make use of a higher octane fuel and give more power, our old carburettor equipped engines can't. It's possible that the better detergents in the premium fuel may clean the upper cylinder, giving slightly better combustion... in which case any benefit would persist for many tankfuls of ordinary unleaded.

[stevierst]

So it's got nothing to do with the twisty thing on the right handlebar then?
I think your being a bit too scientific there bud! Depending on how I ride determines how much fuel it sups. Motorways and/or pillion carrying give me good returns, (43/48mpg respectively), sunny weekends on the twisties give me 39-40mpg.
That's over about 8k miles, and it's consistent. Bugger all to do with oil temp and tyre wear, more like how hard you pull the wire!

[Fazerider]

Kinda assumed that the most obvious cause of fuel consumption variation wasn't worth mentioning. I'm sure the OP is intelligent enough to recognise that his figures will only be worth comparing if the journey and riding style are consistent.

[Dead Eye]

Modern fuel injected engines with knock sensors can adjust ignition timing and fuelling maps to make use of a higher octane fuel and give more power, our old carburettor equipped engines can't. It's possible that the better detergents in the premium fuel may clean the upper cylinder, giving slightly better combustion... in which case any benefit would persist for many tankfuls of ordinary unleaded.

My car definitely sees the best of the improvements which is no doubt because it uses fuel injection but your point about the higher quality and detergent properties of the premium fuel is bang on. I'm fairly certain that most fuel system cleaning products are primarily based on highly refined jet fuel.

As for my earlier data; this was done over a bout 6k miles on the 600 (about 2-3 k on standard, the rest on V-Power). The car starts are over about 4k miles, 1.5k on standard

[wickedmonkey]

I commute 17 miles each way every weekday (with the odd exception like gale force winds) and do some riding at weekends to the shops and occasional visits to friends. I use the same route work 99%. I pretty much always fill the tank up to the bottom of the filler spout almost always after the fuel gauge is down to nearly empty.
It could all be in my head. I *thought* that the higher MPG on fuelly was preceded by filling up with premium but a quick look shows that that is not consistent. It could also be down to getting more confident and riding smoother even though I've been pushing it a bit more with increased confidence and better weather. Maybe my gear selection is improving. Either way, if it helps keep the engine clean, then that's a bonus.

As an experiment, I might fill up the next few times with standard unleaded and see if I see a difference on fuelly.

[wickedmonkey]

For anyone interested, I've avoided premium unleaded for the last ten fill ups and only used bog standard unleaded. I don't think that there is any difference for my Fazer between the two as far as MPG and power goes. I think someone mentioned that the engine needs to have a magical warp core device in it to make proper use of the premium fuels. I have noticed that with a full tank, the bike is more responsive though.

[darrsi]

I can't comment on mileage as I ride in a lot of traffic every day, but over the years I've found that 97 octane fuel suits my bike best, it just feels better than the 95.
I'll occasionally have a go at the 99 but that stuff ain't cheap!

[Wookee]

I've been taking note of my mpg since I've had mine (about 11k miles now) and always check what changes I make to the bike affect that figure. I'm a big bloke so won't get into the high 50's ever, and I ride in a spirited fashion mainly commuting.


I've never used high octane fuel, so can't comment on that.


I run slightly lower tyre pressures in the winter to help them get and stay hot. This has a negative effect on the mpg.


Oil and filter changes make very little difference.


Different garages make no difference.


K&N air filter made no difference.


What has made a BIG difference was balancing my carbs a few weeks ago. Since then my mpg has improved by 8-10% over about 5 fill-ups and I didn't think they were that bad when I did them :eek

[His Dudeness]

I know the secret to getting better MPG.......































































































































































































































































































































































































......but I'm not telling ya! :lol

[apage16]

I tried Shell's Premium fuel a while ago (curiosity got the better of me) and found that the bike seemed to 'Buzz' a lot more. To the point where it was uncomfortable and spoiled my ride a bit.


Next fill up, back to standard, an it was smooth as ever!


Same with Esso's offerings.


Maybe something strange about my bike?

[Dead Eye]

Certainly no extreme power or MPG gains with premium fuel (I use 99 RON - Shell V-Power), but I there is a very small difference and I'll bite in to the marketing of better engine protection in the long run. I do so few miles that it I don't mind paying the extra. Definitely a bigger difference on the thou though

As a note, only Fuel Injected engines (with a non-crappy ECU) will make the most out of higher RON fuels - this is why the gains are so small on FZS (600 and Gen 1) compared to the FZ (FZ-6 and FZ-1) which I would expect more from