[upchucks]

Went out to the Black Hills this last week and couldn't find any 93 octane west of mid Illinois.
Now don't get me wrong, a Roadie will run on 91, but mileage improves with 93.
National name brands vanished to those I've never heard of.
Easily more than half, if not 2/3's of my purchases yielded bad gas, stammering and repeated sluggishness.
Mileage tanked to sometimes less than 20 mpg.
Tried injector cleaning to naught. It cut my trip short the bike ran so poorly.

On return trip I finally see a pump with 93 about 40 miles west of Milwaukee heading to take the ferry across.
Everything clears up back to normal.

With the gasoline situation, I do not see myself heading west again, unless it's on something that can run 87

 

[Jspree]

Go to a speed shop and get a bottle of octane boost , in the 80's down here I had to carry it because these little towns didn't have premium and my Super Glide wouldn't run on regular.

 

[Durnik]

Jspree,

Same situation here, most of my stations carry 91 at most (you can find 93, but it's hit or miss when the needle is low). Per the dealer shop, the Strat needs 93 to run correctly and anything less and you run the risk of fouling. Any name brand shops you know that carry something like this (Autozone, Etc.), and is it safe to keep in a saddlebag or only in the garage? Mechanical neophyte here, but trying to learn.

 

[Brad_G]

From your profile text it says you have a '12 Road Star. Have you done any mods or made changes?

I find it interesting your experience where it runs so poorly and such poor fuel mileage. My '08 (first year of fuel injection) seems to run fine on 87 and I usually run the 10% ethanol blend. I pretty steadily get mid/upper 30's for MPG with occasional low 40's. Mine is stock. Just wondering what would cause it to run so crappy.

 

[Chapdawg]

It should run just fine on good old 87 pump squirt, most manufactures recommend higher octane to keep them out of court if there is any engine troubles, it's a way for them to say; You didn't run 93 octane...and it detononated the motor to death, Jaguars and Mercs and Bmw's have the same book recommendations, They all run fine on pump squirt, especially having a detonation sensor to retard timing.

On the scoot, Replace your plugs every year and see how she does on a sip of 87.

 

[upchucks]

Have cobra two into ones on it with the cheater plugs for the O2 sensors.
Cobra tuner, not the autotune

 

[Brad_G]

Have cobra two into ones on it with the cheater plugs for the O2 sensors.

Does it have a power commander or any fuel processor on it?

Someone on the clinic website bought a fuel injected bike with aftermarket pipes and the O2 cheaters. He was having some kind of flutter/running issue at highway speed. He ended up putting a stock exhaust on it so he could put the O2 sensors back on and his issues cleared up.

Wonder if it's something with the cheaters? You could always add bungs to your Cobra pipe if needed. Redline Emissions Products NOx / O2 Weld Bung (BG1016) - M10 X 1.25, 1" OD, 5/16" H, Stepped

 

[upchucks]

Getting good results from some tankfuls would lead you to believe it was the gas and not needing special parts or reverting back to stock, would it not?
Any who, I put a gallon of 89 in to check and runs fine, mileage in question til I run it out. Trying 87 next

 

[Brad_G]

Getting good results from some tankfuls would lead you to believe it was the gas and not needing special parts or reverting back to stock, would it not?
Any who, I put a gallon of 89 in to check and runs fine, mileage in question til I run it out. Trying 87 next

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply to go back to stock. I've heard good things from those that' have switched to the 2 into 1 pipe. I'm just saying according to the owners manual and my own experience that you should be able to run regular 87 octane without issue. So if your bike is having an issue with that.....why? It would suck being on a trip and not being able to enjoy it due to lack of a certain fuel.

 

[Yamaha Pat]

I have a 650 that takes 87 and a Strat that take 91 recommended. I put a tank load of 87 in the Strat and didn't notice a difference but at half a tank filled it with 91 because it's what Yamaha says is best.

 

[upchucks]

I've been debating going back to stock to see the mileage improve. I had an absolute bear of a time trying to hammer the stock double muffler back into place after ditching the Cobra slipons and gave up. If it wasn't for the pita to remove the tank to change the wiring back I probably already would have.
While the bike ran ok w/o the tuner, I went with it anyway.
Seems like nonsense just to make the bike louder, esp since I had drilled out the baffle in the stockers. Never again.

 

[Chapdawg]

There seems to be an obsession out there to make a bike faster, noisier blah blah, stock bikes run their best left alone, and they go to a lot of hard work to match all that up to be smooth and fuel efficient and run on good old available street fuel, how fast does a guy need to go? or get out of some ones way??? I agree UPchucks, put er back stock and enjoy a beautiful highly refined machine like the Japs engineered it... dump the red neck engineering.

 

[upchucks]

Tested ok on 89, stumbles with 87. Getting 40 mpg with 89. Not worth the extra 2-3mpg to spring for 93 octane so I'm back to happy.
Was contemplating giong to the dark side with a Roadking, but someone pointed out either on here or YouTube 4 or 5 areas in which the Yamaha motor is superior engineering and dependability wise.
One example being I mentioned my stator failure to a cult member and he lamented all the crap you have to go thru to change out a Harley's, not knowing I had the superior bike.
The Japanese manufacturers learn from Harley shortcomings and engineer superior products

 

[Brad_G]

Tested ok on 89, stumbles with 87. Getting 40 mpg with 89. Not worth the extra 2-3mpg to spring for 93 octane so I'm back to happy.
Was contemplating giong to the dark side with a Roadking, but someone pointed out either on here or YouTube 4 or 5 areas in which the Yamaha motor is superior engineering and dependability wise.
One example being I mentioned my stator failure to a cult member and he lamented all the crap you have to go thru to change out a Harley's, not knowing I had the superior bike.
The Japanese manufacturers learn from Harley shortcomings and engineer superior products

The guy I bought my Road Star from flips bikes. He had a nice Voyager trike in his garage along with a few others. He was currently riding an HD Ultra Glide. While we were taking care of the transaction we went into the back where his shop is and he had his daughters bike on a lift working on it. I believe it was a stator but not certain. He also mentioned how much more maintenance and work it is to keep a HD on the road. He said the Road Star was one of his favorite bikes. Maybe true...or he was just a good salesman....either way I've been happy.