R3T fuel

Octane rating and fuel

The R3 is a comparatively low compression ratio M/C engine at 8:7 to 1. Most modern M/C engines are up around 10:1. Harley is at 9:2 to 1. Look at it this way. The higher the octane rating, the slower the fuel burns. A high compression engine needs a slower burning fuel to control pre-ignition. At our low compression we can use 87 all day long.

I ride in the So Cal hot deserts and use 87 octane with NO pinging problems. So you can use premium high octane fuel, but you are WASTING your money. In fact you might even see better fuel mileage and power using regular. Sounds weird, but true.
 
I use 87 in my R3T also and never have any pinging. You really are wasting money throwing the high octane in it. Happy changing.
 
my 08 R3T owners manual reccomends 87 so that is what I burn with no issues normally, however while in NC last week I got some bad fuel so there is Techron in the next few tanks and it is running great again with that in there,
 
Elvis said:
my 08 R3T owners manual reccomends 87 so that is what I burn with no issues normally, however while in NC last week I got some bad fuel so there is Techron in the next few tanks and it is running great again with that in there,
Click to expand...

So, with using 87 octane, do I need to use an additive?
 
slidderhd said:
So, with using 87 octane, do I need to use an additive?
Click to expand...

No, unless you have some water. It is good to run a bottle every 10k miles or so to clean your injectors. I used to run Seafoam which pretty much does the same thing
 
The bike comes from the factory tuned to run 87 octane regular ( (R+M)/2 ) method.

Irritates me to no end every time I hear that a dealer says to run Premium. You would think that they would read the f*k'n manual.
 
Either they're too lazy to read the manual or they don't like saying to just run it on standard fuel. Perhaps they think it makes the owner feel more special if the bike 'needs' special fuel.

And by the way - and I realise this is the Touring forum - I normally run mine ('09 Standard) on 91 RON, which is equivalent to your 87 (or 89) I think, but on the trip back from Hervey Bay had to put some 95 and 98 in to avoid ethanol. There was a difference. The bike ran rougher at low speed and was harder to start. The engine also seemed a little noisier at idle. Other than that it didn't seem to be doing anything either way to performance or fuel consumption; just cost $3 a tank more. I should add though that some Roadsters don't seem to like it quite as much. Well, Malcy's didn't.
 
Thanks for the responses. Guess I will give it a try next spring since we are supposed to get some SNOW tonight! Time to put ome stabilizer in the tank and run it a bit.. well maybe in a week or so..might get an Indian summer before it really hits.
 
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