What octane? 2011 C14

[Conrad]

Friday the 13th.

Have at it boys.   

Speaking of this, my PC was acting VERY strange this morn. Somehow the 'home page' of my browser was reset to 'blank page'.     

[VirginiaJim]

Quit trying to change the subject...that won't be tolerated in this thread.

[Conrad]

Quit trying to change the subject...that won't be tolerated in this thread.

Hey Jim, what's that shiny thing over there?

[VirginiaJim]

Absolutely right.  I have the attention level of my 8 year old grandson. 

[Conrad]

It's almost like you could spell octane   O I L .

[B.D.F.]

I think in Europe you are using the Research octane rating, which is about 5 points ahead of the system usually used in the US (we use Research octane + Motor octane divided by two). So your 90 to 97 would be listed as 85 to 92 Octane here. Just thought I'd point that out in case someone thought Martin lived in Nirvana.... 

Brian

where I live, you can have fuel from 90 to 97 octane, and it is my highly scientific personal subjectiv feeling that this bike likes higher octanes, specially in summer.
That said, the difference in price between the cheaper and the most expensive stuff is about 15% and the improvement in fuel economy for the higher octane about 10%, so all boils down to 5% difference in fuel expenses.
Moral of the story: I always put the highest octane available wherever I refuel. With my mileage (some 15k / year), I might end up paying 100 bucks more every year, but the engine is happier (he talks to me, I swear  ) and I stop less for fuel.

[jayke]

89 Octane for 38K miles now.  Only 1 point below 90 octance spec'd in the manual.

[Mister Tee]

I run 87 (yes 87) octane in the Winter, and 89 in the Summer.  I have never once had a noticeable knock under any acceleration, load or RPM combination.

Note however that in California most of the gas stations have a 10 - 15 percent ethanol blend, which has an effective octane a few points higher than the rated octane.  That may have something to do with it.

My 1200RT by the way, had a 91 octane recommendation but was specified to safely be able to run 87.  It also had a knock sensor and timing retardation system.  If I ran 91, no knocking.  If I ran 89, no knocking.  If I ran 87 and wound the engine up at max RPM at wide open throttle, then "RATATATATATATATAT!!!!!!" for a few seconds until the timing retarded.  Sounded like a wire wrapped around the wheel was whacking on the engine.  I ran 89, as 87 caused enough of a hit in mileage to more than offset the cost.  No difference between 89 and 91.

Bottom line is you will hear detonation before the point where it will cause damage.