ETHANOL

BobV7 wrote: Oh well that settles it then, the whole ethanol debated has been proved to be a myth. Your experience with one poorly designed fuel tank from Triumph and all the problems suffered by any number of other motorcycle owners and manufacturers obviously count for nothing. Unbelievable.

I'm only reporting my own and others' experiences. No need to be sarcastic.

Older riders may remember Cleveland Discol which was widely on sale for many years in the 1950s and contained 10% - 20% ethanol (supplied by Distillers Company).

I am unaware of any problems caused by this and would welcome any evidence.

I'm not saying there aren't problems experienced by people; what I am suggesting is that modern petrol is packed with substances like benzene (a known carcinogenic) which to my mind are more likely to be causing problems.

For what it's worth I use ordinary pump petrol in my bikes (except the V50 which specifies 97 octane). I've left many bikes unused for months without draining tank or carb(s) and they've started first kick. I've not experienced any of the issues described by others in any of my old or modern bikes.

Obviously I lead a charmed life and have done since I started riding over 50 years ago.

I said "think". I still await real evidence that it's ethanol not something else.

But believe what you like.

Bummer 

They wouldn't let me, either.

There is problem with that, and that is many owners of newer machines have reported issues of poor running on premium grade fuel simply because the engines are not designed to use it. It's OK for the owners of older machine that will run on any old fuel but times have moved on a bit since they first trundled out of the factory.

Last time I tried premium in a V50/3 the down pipes started to glow resulting in having to faff around with the timing, however, easier solution was to tip the fuel into my 1150RT and revert back to 95. Strange thing is the V50s were originally made to run on 97 octane.

The Cleveland Discol brings back some memories but that was added to leaded fuel in those days so maybe that's the difference

CHRIS


Edited by c13pep - 07 Oct 2018 at 16:24

National Benzole added ethanol too. It usually needed the carburation altered. It was added as an anti-knock agent.

Ethanol may attack plastics but petrol itself is a pretty good solvent too.