It will not help to run premium....the timing and compression ratio definitely are set up for regular 87 octane....(Maybe 85 or 86 out west in the mountains even) Some people indicate their bikes actually RUN BETTER with regular. That's not my experience, but premium is not worth the cost, since it makes no improvement. However, if you can get non ethanol gas, do get it, for you may get a little more MPG with that. In that case you may have no choice what octane you get because vendors vary, the one nearest me only carries it in premium, others only have it in regular. But again the price may be so high as to not be worth using it all the time. Like every fifth tank to run all the ethanol residue out so it doesn't build up. There may be tune modifications that advance your timing so much as to make premium necessary, but rideability would suffer greatly.