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Ethanol free gasoline

exavid

exavid

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Joined
Feb 15, 2014
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759
Location
Medford, Oregon
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A few days ago I filled my almost empty tank with 92 octane ethanol-free gasoline. It does make a difference, the mileage according to the bike's computer went up somewhere around 10%, the throttle off idle and slow riding action is much smoother, no more 'off and on' effect. My scooter used to feel like the TPS was damaged just above idle, especially when riding around 25mph in a residential area after a stretch of higher speed running. Not with pure gas. It's throttle response is smoother than before for sure. Idles smoother and a bit quieter as well. I sure wish our stupid government would eliminate the ethanol mandate. They've already admitted it doesn't really accomplish anything. Originally it was to reduce reliance on foreign oil which is not a problem now. The only reason we're burning food in our vehicles and driving up costs in the supermarkets is because the big companies like ADM are heavily invested in corn for ethanol.
We have two stations nearby that sell pure gas, it's more expensive but only amounts to about $2.00 extra even if the tank was completely empty. To me it looks well worth the higher price fuel for the improved performance.
 
There are websites that can help you locate these stations. I remember crossing the Rocky Mountains back in 2011. At least one gas station owner told me he refuses to add ethanol because the cars needed all the power they could get climbing some of the steep grades off of the interstates.

Before the advent of "Gasohol" my K1200LT used to get better than 50 mpg regularly. Now if I'm lucky I get mid to high forties. That summer crossing the Rockies I was getting better than 50 mpg again.
 
JaimeC said:
There are websites that can help you locate these stations. I remember crossing the Rocky Mountains back in 2011. At least one gas station owner told me he refuses to add ethanol because the cars needed all the power they could get climbing some of the steep grades off of the interstates.

Before the advent of "Gasohol" my K1200LT used to get better than 50 mpg regularly. Now if I'm lucky I get mid to high forties. That summer crossing the Rockies I was getting better than 50 mpg again.
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Interesting about the websites. I found a couple and it seems there a few in Cali but nothing near me. It was the "on / off effect" that got me curious at low speeds, etc. I wondered about that.
 
over here in the UK we can get 97 or 99 RON fuel and i always use this. many say that there is no difference but i can feel it. better MPG, better power and the peace of mind that these fuels use cleaning addatives.
i sypathise with you guy's over the pond that have to use the ethanol stuff but fear it's on it's way to us!!!
 
I'm thinking the biggest issue here is the corn lobby. They've managed to get corn products into damn near EVERYTHING we consume over here. Study after study has shown there is no benefit to producing ethanol from corn; the energy consumed to produce the ethanol is at best equal to the energy produced by the ethanol, and at worst it takes more energy to produce ethanol from corn than we actually get back from it. Producing ethanol from sugar cane is far more efficient, but sugar cane doesn't grow in the United States. It's also why almost all of our foods are sweetened by high fructose corn syrup than with sucrose (which is made from sugar cane).

For years the term "Rice Burner" was a derogatory term for bikes from Asia, but truthfully American bikes could be called "Corn Burners." It's just that most Americans aren't even aware of how MUCH corn they eat every day.
 
While I was on Amazon buying some products I also bought some Startron gas additive, So I check out the reviews there are 14 pages of reviews (10) per page out of the 134 reviews there were only 4 negative (1 or 2 stars ) all the other reviews were mostly 5 stars about 120 and the others were 4 stars I use this stuff all the time it was just nice to see such great reviews.
 
I have used Startron and it did improve the performance and mileage in noticeable amounts. Unfortunately it is expensive.
 
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