I was at Goodwood festival of speed 2 years ago and Shell had a stand with two engines, one run with Shell the other non Shell petrol.
Needless to say the Shell engine was immaculate, the other was blackened and pock marked. I can only assume it was tested under
control conditions and verified.
Well, up until a year ago I had no preference, if I needed fuel I’d buy it.
However, a year ago (ish) I was given a SHELL reward card, so I wanted to use Shell as much as possible to reap the benefits of points etc (not that they do much) but I’d also never been told to take my helmet off.
Yesterday I filled up with mobil1 and WOW! My bike felt like a sack of sh*t, I did hope it was just a coincidence but she still feels sluggish, in the workshop tomorrow so I’m going to drain her and put the yellow stuff in!
Since filling up with mobil1 it feels like I’m on 2-3 cylinders up until about 4-5k RPM after that she seems to run better but still not 100%.
Got a good list to fill tomorrow!
not sure there will be enough hours in the day…
I usually use Shell but it had happened many times of using other brands and I’ve never noticed any difference!
After converting from the ordinary one to the V-Power I did notice a huge change tho:
THE FOLLOWING DAY THE BIKE WON’T START!!!
can you believe it? I just spent extra money not to ride my bike :crazy:
Got given a bottle of AVGAS, the stuff piston engined planes use. Wow that made a difference to the Street Triple R.
The 990 doesn’t have a knock sensor, so it won’t benefit from the extra compressibility. I won’t speak for the other bikes listed on here, but I’d be surprised if any of them actually benefit from anything more than 95 without a remap.
edit: if you pull the plug under the seat you can put it into octane 80 mode which really doesn’t make as much difference as one might expect… so if a 15 octane gap doesn’t do that much, paying for an extra 2 or 3 seems rather futile!
Martin - You seem to know what youre talking about.
A knock sensor adjusts the timing of the engine to prevent knock caused by pre-ignition of lower RON fuels right? Higher RON fuels are able to withstand higher temperatures, so you dont get pre-ignition and a “cleaner” more efficient burn.
If higher RON fuel has a lower energy/volume, is it the increase compression ratio that leads to more power?
I use Texaco as local.
Put normal fuel in unless I’m with Pin he will fill mine and his with that high octane stuff!
Not sure if I have noticed any different!
mispost!
As long as it doesn’t explode on the way up, the timing will denote a little sooner before TDC to make more power when tuned for higher octane. As an engine without a knock sensor won’t get any feedback to sense this, it will always wait that bit longer to detonate because it doesn’t know any better and producing less power than it could have done with that denser mix.
If you’re engine’s a bit rough then higher octane might restore how it should be performing on 95.
Cheers. I checked the manual for mine and its happy with anything over 91.
As sad as it is, I’ve been googling the benefits of using higher octane fuels & it seems there’s more to be said for the way the fuel is stored at the individual filling station, filters cleaned etc than anything else.
Shell do seem to promote their superunlead as having the highest level of additives, used to help (keep) clean the injectors though.
The only reason I use the high octane fuel
Is because
The government is going to start using fuel with E10 added
I think it’s ethanol and it eats most of the fuel system
It not in the high octane fuel
Keep a look out for it
.
.
Pin
I’m using either high or “normal” octane fuel. But it is fair to say that on high octane fuel the engine work is more pleasant (I’m talking about noise and smoothness) The difference in fuel consumption is not that huge as we would expect.
R
I prefer Shell but I don’t really mind as long as it’s not some dodgy no-name petrol station. I try to avoid supermarket brands as well, Tesco Value doesn’t really do it for me.
Well, just stuck 3/4 of a tank of this stuff in.
http://www.shell.co.uk/gbr/products-services/on-the-road/fuels/vpower/what-is-v-power-nitro-plus.html
8p a litre more than your regular unleaded so barely a £1 extra. It seems to be Shells new pr gimmick but what the hell eh? :Whistling:
And how did/does it feel?
I’m tempted just because it says nitro…
sainsburys due to convenience price and nectar points. otherwise shell. but been using fuelly for a while now and can say that there is no difference in terms of mpg between the two
pan for nectar points you can use bp?
I prefer shell for cost but will put whatever… i prefer to use stations that have pay at pump… only shell and esso i’ve found that have them
Esso least expensive round my way so Esso. No problems with wearing a helmet mainly because I’m there often enough that the guy knows me and doesn’t bother. If I’m in a hurry I’ll use the Shell pay at pump though half the time they’re out of order. I had a girlfriend once who told me Esso were to be avoided for some ethical reason…but I’m not with her any more and can’t recall what the issue was:). Buying at 131p a litre instead of 135p only saves me a couple of quid a month but if everyone only bought the cheapest fuel the other garages would have to drop their prices to compete. When I’m feeling particularly parsimonious I will only half fill the tank…you get more mpg when you’re lugging less wet weight around…and on my bike it also goes noticeably quicker when it’s nearly empty compared to nearly full.
i know but there isnt one convenient and they are always more expensive that sainsburys 
Well, just stuck 3/4 of a tank of this stuff in.http://www.shell.co.uk/gbr/products-services/on-the-road/fuels/vpower/what-is-v-power-nitro-plus.html8p a litre more than your regular unleaded so barely a £1 extra. It seems to be Shells new pr gimmick but what the hell eh? And how did/does it feel?I’m tempted just because it says nitro…"
Not really sure if there’s any noticable difference yet. I lkke the idea that the extra additives are (supposedly) helping keep all the internal voodoo bits clean. I might have to get those revs up to ensure it thoroughly does its job 
Having read all the marketing bumph and various internet comments, I have to admit to coming around to thinking Shell could be my fuel of choice.