Hey all you Aussies, what fuel do you use??

ballmead

ballmead

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I just read my manual and it says that 91 RON fuel is required to run my 2010 FZ1N.
I have been putting 98 RON into it and I reckon I have been wasting my money.
I think 95 RON is more than good enough and from now on I will be putting this in my bike.
What grade of fuel do you Gen II Aussie owners use?
 
Anything more than the grade recommended by the manufacturer is a waste of money unless you have modified the motor in some significant way (timing advance, compression increase, etc).

You should 'technically' see better engine performance from using the grade recommended over using a higher grade--most important, you will also save yourself a wad of cash :Rockon:

I know some people say they're willing to 'splurge' for the best fuel and 'baby their machine' and I have tried higher grades before just as an experiment but the science behind it says otherwise and my experience is that it really offers no benefit whatsoever.
 
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The problem in Australia is that the recommended grade, standard 91RON, will soon be fazed out leaving us with 95 or 95 RON alternatives.
95 it is for me, from now on.
 
Only use BP Ultimate (98 RON) in every single one of my bikes..

Recently my 04 Gix 750 done itself some mischief, after disasembling the entire motor it became very evident that the piston crowns and valves were extremely clean, this is also after 76,000 km.. So to me it 100% backs up BP's claims that it is a cleaner burning fuel..

Save yourself a wad of cash?!?!?!? C'mon, seriously you'd save what, $1.50 per tank!!!
That's like saying, "save yourself some cash and buy touring tyres and run them, forget about soft tyres"..

So yes, there IS benifits to running higher octane fuels.. Much like the benifits your motor gets from running a quality engine oil as opposed to some rubbish brand..

ps: First post.. WOOOT!!!
 
I dunno, my ears aren't scientific instruments but the bike sounds a lot better when run on the recommended 91 ron fuel.

It sounds less clicky and more in tune.
 
I feel my bike feels a little smoother on the higher octane, the power possibly is better on the standard. I think if you are unsure probably best to go with the 95 RON, obviously 91 RON is the minimum, the manual recommends 91 or higher.
 
I use 98 and 95 mostly. Only because it supposedly burns cleaner. I've tried all octane ratings on this and my FZ6 and can honestly say, I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever. Put in 91....bike carries the front wheel up to nearly 130 kays. Put in 95....ditto. Put in 98.....ditto ditto. Mileage is the same also.
 
I generally use 91 in mine. For the first 12 months (2008/9) I had my bike (2003 FZ1) I kept a detailed log of what went in and the km's I was getting per tank. A total of 16,000kms for the year
  • Over the 2500 km's it ran 98 octane I averaged 6.68L/100km
  • Over the 5000 km's it ran 95 octane I averaged 6.55L/100km
  • Over the 8500km's it ran 91/92 octane I averaged 6.27L/100km.
I used to think I got a bit more performance out of the higher octane petrol but at the end of the day "my bike" is less efficient when using the higher octane fuel.

I will add that most of the time I chose to add the higher octane fuel I was going out for a good days riding all at once, twisties/touring not commuting, so while I might have been more eager with the right wrist those days it wasn't hampered by stop/start either.

Don't know if that helps. I now only bother to use the 91/92 stuff unless it has ethanol added in which case i go up to the 95 or whatever. I never use the Ethanol blended stuff.

Cheers, Burnesy
 
That's some excellent data and definitely illustrates the theories regarding using the minimum octane affecting performance and fuel consumption.

When one sees an increase in fuel consumption between using higher octane than normal, I guess the theory is that the fuel is not being combusted efficiently and being wasted; thus the decreased economy. That said, when fuel is not completely burnt up in a cycle, doesn't that also result in reduced power?

Food for thought I guess...

Thanks for that great info! Definitely much better than hearsay and 'seat of the pants' tests which really are good for nothing whatsoever
 
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Beware the ethanol!!

In NSW the government has mandated that all 91 RON unleaded must eventually contain 10% ethanol increasing to 15% in a few years.
It's getting harder to find non ethanol unleaded up where I live anyway.

Yamaha warns not to use any ethanol fuels in the bike which pretty much rules 91 out.

I have run all 3 types in my bike over the years- 91, 95 and 98.

On standard unleaded my bike "pings" under hard acceleration which tells me that it does not like the basic unleaded.

I now only use either 95 or 98 Caltex/Mobil/BP fuels and have done so for a few years now. I try to avoid Shell.

Seat of the pants dyno tells me that 95 seems to be right for the bike. Can't really feel the benefit of the extra 3 RONs.
 
FZ1S said:
Yamaha warns not to use any ethanol fuels in the bike which pretty much rules 91 out.
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Where do they say this? I'm interested to see

Edit: I found something here:

Yamaha's French Technical Service is reportedly accelerating durability testing in an attempt to validate that its vehicles are compatible with E10. In the meantime, the group is informing its customers that oxidation inside the gas tank and swelling or degradation of rubber components that come in contact with the fuel are potential problems. These are well-known issues, and none of them are all that difficult to overcome, so we're assuming Yamaha will get the issue taken care of ASAP.
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Doesn't say anything about not using it, just that they're not sure if their components are compatible with ethanol
 
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Dustin said:
Doesn't say anything about not using it, just that they're not sure if their components are compatible with ethanol
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If they are not sure then I'm not using it, and I don't.

Agree with the earlier statements that finding 91/92 without ethanol added is getting harder. Have a couple of places down here however even these ones are moving away from the no ethanol blend over the next 6 months. After that I'll be using the 95.
 
It will definitely be interesting to see the long-term effects of using ethanol-blended fuels. I am one of the people who chooses to use it so we will see what toll it takes on my bikes :)
 
Having read this thread I spoke to Yamaha Enogra and asked if they had experienced engine problems with FZ1,s running differant fuels. They informed that they had carried out warranty work on bikes running certain fuels and warned me away from the Shell brand.

I spoke to their mechanic and he recommended the BP vortex which backs up what I was informed when I purchased my bike.

I run the BP whenever I can and have experienced no problems. One thing is for sure all fuels are not the same whatever the brand and whatever the Ron grade. When I lived in New zealand the guys that race bikes warned me away from the 98 Ron saying it was crap fuel and better to run on lower grade Ron with added octain boost.

Probably best to ask the local racing lads for their thought on the better fuels

Cheers
Gazza
 
R1Gazza said:
Having read this thread I spoke to Yamaha Enogra and asked if they had experienced engine problems with FZ1,s running differant fuels. They informed that they had carried out warranty work on bikes running certain fuels and warned me away from the Shell brand.

I spoke to their mechanic and he recommended the BP vortex which backs up what I was informed when I purchased my bike.

I run the BP whenever I can and have experienced no problems. One thing is for sure all fuels are not the same whatever the brand and whatever the Ron grade. When I lived in New zealand the guys that race bikes warned me away from the 98 Ron saying it was crap fuel and better to run on lower grade Ron with added octain boost.

Probably best to ask the local racing lads for their thought on the better fuels

Cheers
Gazza
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I'm confused. Is that BP ultimate or Castrol Vortex that you recommend?
 
ballmead said:
I'm confused. Is that BP ultimate or Castrol Vortex that you recommend?
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I think it is Caltex who distrutes 95 and 98 Vortex.

The joke in all of this is that "Super" (which contained lead) was a 95 octane based fuel. It also retailed at the same price as "unleaded", which was a 91 octane fuel (until the government started to tax it to make us get rid of old cars) and then, ultimately removed it from sale for environmental reasons.

How is it then that 95 unleaded is now 10 cents+ a litre more expensive than 91 unleaded when they were effectively the same price a few years back?!?!?!

Seems like an oil company rip off to me.
 
R1Gazza said:
Having read this thread I spoke to Yamaha Enogra and asked if they had experienced engine problems with FZ1,s running differant fuels. They informed that they had carried out warranty work on bikes running certain fuels and warned me away from the Shell brand.

I spoke to their mechanic and he recommended the BP vortex which backs up what I was informed when I purchased my bike.

I run the BP whenever I can and have experienced no problems. One thing is for sure all fuels are not the same whatever the brand and whatever the Ron grade. When I lived in New zealand the guys that race bikes warned me away from the 98 Ron saying it was crap fuel and better to run on lower grade Ron with added octain boost.

Probably best to ask the local racing lads for their thought on the better fuels

Cheers
Gazza
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That's were I got my bike from..

I was warned about that Shell crap when it first came out.. Apparently it leaves a gel like substance in carbs and FI systems, after time that gel turns into a solid and in turn bad things happen to bikes..
 
Hi Guys,
Sorry about the confusion with the fuels, either the the BP ultimate (my choice) or the Caltex Vortex are the prefered fuels of the racing guys I spoke to.

Gazza
 
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