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TFI and low grade fuel

Mavagrand

Mavagrand

Senior Member
My brother rides an 08 Vulcan Nomad. Since purchase his bike has pinged, sometimes pretty bad. He installed a TFI and says he now runs 87 octane with no pinging. I told him not a good idea, his bike was designed for 93 and he should run it. He got online with a forum and read since bike is now running richer he can run a lower grade fuel. He wanted to hear that cause he is cheap and tries to squeeze a penny until it bleeds. I think in the long run it could damage his bike, but don't know enough to convince him. Am I right?? Will it damage his bike? or is he gonna be ok running low grade? thanx.
 
Are you sure about what fuel that bike is designed to run. The owners manual of my Honda shadow says 87 and up for the octane. So just because it's a motorcycle doesn't mean you have to put super in it.
 
Adding more fuel has little to no effect on what grade of fuel it is designed to run on. Compression is what determines what is needed and if you run less octane, you wallet may suffer the effects later on down the road. Money saved now by running a lower octane could cause an expensive repair down the road but if he saves a few dollars you'll never convince him of running the proper octane needed for the motor. Let him find out on his own.
 
Regarding his octane requirement, I only know what he has said..he had to run 93. Regarding compression, thank you both Smitty and Glider, I will talk to him about the compression rather than the pinging. He believes since his bike does not ping at 87 then it is fine to run. I hate to see him suffer loss later on so hopefully I can convince him not to be so cheap.l
 
You should ask him what he hopes to save running lower octane in a bike. $.75 a tank? when you look at it like that it hardly seems worth it to me. JMO.
 
Mavagrand said:
Regarding his octane requirement, I only know what he has said..he had to run 93. Regarding compression, thank you both Smitty and Glider, I will talk to him about the compression rather than the pinging. He believes since his bike does not ping at 87 then it is fine to run. I hate to see him suffer loss later on so hopefully I can convince him not to be so cheap.l
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HIS riding habits may differ from the norm.... IF HIS bike doesn't PING with the lower octane gas,,,,, and if HIS motor is designed for higher octane(what smitty and glider says) He probably DOESN"T lug it at all.....normal lugging will cause a PING problem with too low octane rating.....

HIS riding style. temp. outside, rpm's and gear in use will have a lot to do with the NO PING if higher octane is needed in his bike....

when on my bike,,,,, I have used low octane fuel because nothing else was available until next fill-up @ miles down the road...

USING low octane fuel,,,I would NOT LUGG (one gear up) the motor and go REAL EASY on the throttle to increase speed.... NOBODY around would know I USED FUEL THAT WOULD NORMALLY PING.......... not even the bike...

JUST MY WAY signed....BUBBIE
 
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