What gas do you use?

[bradzal]

Just picked up the bike and dealer told me just to use regular gas (89) Don't need to worry about premium.
 
Will I be doing any harm if I don't use premium (91 or 94)?
 
Just wondering what I should be putting into it. If it make any difference at all.
 
Thanks!

[bmwpowere36m3]

Very common topic, search... are you located in the US? If so, 87 octane is what is called for by the manual and it works just fine (I use). 89, 91, 93 octane, etc.. will work as well, but there is no benefit on a stock bike. Unless your chasing ethanol-free fuel (usually available in the higher octanes).

[sane]

Very common topic, search... are you located in the US? If so, 87 octane is what is called for by the manual and it works just fine (I use). 89, 91, 93 octane, etc.. will work as well, but there is no benefit on a stock bike. Unless your chasing ethanol-free fuel (usually available in the higher octanes).

+1 on this. 
I have to get 91 octane if I want ethanol free gas here in central Iowa.

[timjh]

Fuel injectors do prefer you source with a Top Tier provider.

[sorkyah]

Fuel injectors do prefer you source with a Top Tier provider.

Your more than welcome to share your stock of race fuel

[timjh]

We use AvGas 100LL in the race cars. Lotsa lead.

[mjh937]

We use AvGas 100LL in the race cars. Lotsa lead.

And LL stands for low lead; of course that is compared to the old 100/130. It has way more lead than the old leaded automotive gas. Do not use it in your FZ-07. 

[sorkyah]

We use AvGas 100LL in the race cars. Lotsa lead.

Well.. have any unleaded race gas

[timjh]

Several places in town sell unleaded race gas at the pumps. It does make a nice smell..

[ducttapewd40]

I use 87, but I'd spent about the last 8 years riding an R6 that actually required premium so it's still a little hard using the regular pump. I know there's no reason for the premium anymore, but it still feels a little wrong. Sometimes I use the mid-grade as a bit of a compromise.

[Beemer]

I switched to ethanol free about a month ago. 

[Fearedbynone]

after the post by 2wdw about detonation in a few of our bikes, i switched to premium.
 
http://fz07.org/thread/4909/fz-07-fuel-octane
 
Dave

[sorkyah]

Shell v-power...
Im still looking for a station that sells ethanol free 89+ fuel

[robborboy]

Using the US's Octane method of (RON + MON)/2 87 is fine for the bike. The bike is also ethanol rated and it is safe there ad well. I fine 89 to smooth the engine out however.
 
The compression ration is 11.5:1 which is just shy of a sport bike like a CBR600RR at 12.2:1 or a R6 at 13.1:1. Whereas something that happily sips, or rather gussied, low grade is a bike like my Shadow 1100 with a compression of 8.0:1.
 
That being said this bike will even run on flex fuel if you try hard enough. However I wouldn't recommend it unless you're somehow stuck somewhere needing fuel with a place that only has it. She doesn't like it at all, but despite her protests she will get you to where you need to go. Ask me how I know.

[sorkyah]

Using the US's Octane method of (RON + MON)/2 87 is fine for the bike. The bike is also ethanol rated and it is safe there ad well. I fine 89 to smooth the engine out however. 
The compression ration is 11.5:1 which is just shy of a sport bike like a CBR600RR at 12.2:1 or a R6 at 13.1:1. Whereas something that happily sips, or rather gussied, low grade is a bike like my Shadow 1100 with a compression of 8.0:1.
 
That being said this bike will even run on flex fuel if you try hard enough. However I wouldn't recommend it unless you're somehow stuck somewhere needing fuel with a place that only has it. She doesn't like it at all, but despite her protests she will get you to where you need to go. Ask me how I know.

You may need to replace your seals though....
gaskets not designed for that high level of exposure to ethanol degrades a helluva lot faster than ya think

[robborboy]

Using the US's Octane method of (RON + MON)/2 87 is fine for the bike. The bike is also ethanol rated and it is safe there ad well. I fine 89 to smooth the engine out however. 
The compression ration is 11.5:1 which is just shy of a sport bike like a CBR600RR at 12.2:1 or a R6 at 13.1:1. Whereas something that happily sips, or rather gussied, low grade is a bike like my Shadow 1100 with a compression of 8.0:1.
 
That being said this bike will even run on flex fuel if you try hard enough. However I wouldn't recommend it unless you're somehow stuck somewhere needing fuel with a place that only has it. She doesn't like it at all, but despite her protests she will get you to where you need to go. Ask me how I know.

You may need to replace your seals though.... gaskets not designed for that high level of exposure to ethanol degrades a helluva lot faster than ya think

A single tank won't hurt it. Especially since it already has ethanol hardened seals. Nevermind thay replacing the seals, if it ever came to it is a relatively easy job. More time consuming than anything else. I've got another bike so I mainly just wanted to see how it would handle it above all else.
 

[sorkyah]

You may need to replace your seals though.... gaskets not designed for that high level of exposure to ethanol degrades a helluva lot faster than ya think

A single tank won't hurt it. Especially since it already has ethanol hardened seals. Nevermind thay replacing the seals, if it ever came to it is a relatively easy job. More time consuming than anything else. I've got another bike so I mainly just wanted to see how it would handle it above all else.

The seals on it currently are designed for 15% blend ethanol
flex fuel is (min-max)80-90% ethanol
they require a different rubber
i do at least one fuel system reseal a week from people out here in phoenix trying to cheap out on their gas by using e85/flex-fuel

[robborboy]

A single tank won't hurt it. Especially since it already has ethanol hardened seals. Nevermind thay replacing the seals, if it ever came to it is a relatively easy job. More time consuming than anything else. I've got another bike so I mainly just wanted to see how it would handle it above all else.

The seals on it currently are designed for 15% blend ethanol flex fuel is (min-max)80-90% ethanol
they require a different rubber
i do at least one fuel system reseal a week from people out here in phoenix trying to cheap out on their gas by using e85/flex-fuel

Must be different in different areas. Here min for flex fuel is a much lower percentage. Actually as low as the minimum requirement to meet the flex fuel definition of 51%. And at my time of testing it was around 60%. That said even my old 82 with seals of the period handles 15% without issue.

[sorkyah]

The seals on it currently are designed for 15% blend ethanol flex fuel is (min-max)80-90% ethanol
they require a different rubber
i do at least one fuel system reseal a week from people out here in phoenix trying to cheap out on their gas by using e85/flex-fuel

Must be different in different areas. Here min for flex fuel is a much lower percentage. Actually as low as the minimum requirement to meet the flex fuel definition of 51%. And at my time of testing it was around 60%. That said even my old 82 with seals of the period handles 15% without issue.

Flex fuel in the midwest is a different fuel
here in AZ, E85 is our 'flex-fuel' because we dont have nearly as much soy or corn production
 

[Duke]

after the post by 2wdw about detonation in a few of our bikes, i switched to premium. 
http://fz07.org/thread/4909/fz-07-fuel-octane
 
Dave

Good link!
 
As far as I understand, 87 octane is fine because the manual is assuming you're FZ-07 is completely factory stock. Under those conditions, 87 octane as a minimum is fine.
 
When you change anything that affects the engine (air flow, exhaust system, ECU flash, etc.) Then you'll need to start using 91 or better due to changed compression ratio and air/fuel ratio.

[r1limited]

Very common topic, search... are you located in the US? If so, 87 octane is what is called for by the manual and it works just fine (I use). 89, 91, 93 octane, etc.. will work as well, but there is no benefit on a stock bike. Unless your chasing ethanol-free fuel (usually available in the higher octanes).

+1 on this. 
I have to get 91 octane if I want ethanol free gas here in central Iowa.

Do it Ethinol is EVIL EVIL EVIL 
92 Pure Gas here $4.37 a gal and worth it IMO.  Yes there are slight gains one is the engine will not slowly die an evil death by ethinol two the engine will gain some performance advantage to a pure 100% oxygenated blend.  Nothing we will notice power wise but mileage, gas is more efficient.  What was said about stock bikes are true, anything higher than 91/92 is futile with a bone stock bike.  Knew people who always paid for that 100 race fuel, still beat em
 

[roosterxp]

I strictly run 91+ Non-oxygenated (ethanol free) fuel here in South MN. My bike seems to enjoy that grade and for the extra $.75 per tank to fuel it..  I have heard too many horror stories about running the 87 with ethanol.. but just my opinion.

[rider]

From what I understand, octane rating only affects how easily gasoline detonates under compression.  The higher the octane level, the more compression it can withstand before exploding in your cylinder.  This was done to eliminate pre-detonation or knocking (detonating too soon from compression rather than from the spark plug), and thus slowing this piston before it's reached the top of the stroke, causing power loss and wear on the engine.  The FZ-07''s engine compression is borderline between high and low compression, so I'd use whatever works best/runs smoothest/gets the best mileage/most power - whatever you judge your bike's performance by.  Lower octane supposedly has the most power.  If you have a lot of performance mods, you may need a higher octane fuel, or maybe not.  I have an aftermarket exhaust but no ECU flash yet and I can't tell a difference in performance or mileage between premium and regular octane (but that's just with the butt-dyno).  I just run the cheap gas as there's no ethanol-free options around me.

There's lots smarter people out there than me, but this is how I've understood it to work.

[gregjet]

Few current vehicles now days do not have ethanol tolerant everything. Yamaha may do some things strange, but this is one area I am pretty sure that will be OK. The steel fuel tank is a worry though unless it is lined ( rust).

This motor is reasonably high compression so will be happier on 91 (ROZ/RON+MON) ie 95RON other places. Good chamber design( only Honda does it better IMHO) and modern multi sensor ECU's will run pretty much anything. Forget ultra octane ratings . Money for nothing and may even decrease performance on the track . Max usable RPM is reasonably low, so ultra high octane fuels won't actually hurt ( plenty of time for them to ignite and burn) but probably pointless. By the time this engine has got to 10000 you are pretty much wasting your time.

[cyow5]

On 9/16/2017 at 7:46 PM, rider said:

From what I understand, octane rating only affects how easily gasoline detonates under compression.  The higher the octane level, the more compression it can withstand before exploding in your cylinder.  This was done to eliminate pre-detonation or knocking (detonating too soon from compression rather than from the spark plug), and thus slowing this piston before it's reached the top of the stroke, causing power loss and wear on the engine.  The FZ-07''s engine compression is borderline between high and low compression, so I'd use whatever works best/runs smoothest/gets the best mileage/most power - whatever you judge your bike's performance by.  Lower octane supposedly has the most power.  If you have a lot of performance mods, you may need a higher octane fuel, or maybe not.  I have an aftermarket exhaust but no ECU flash yet and I can't tell a difference in performance or mileage between premium and regular octane (but that's just with the butt-dyno).  I just run the cheap gas as there's no ethanol-free options around me.

There's lots smarter people out there than me, but this is how I've understood it to work.

To expand on this, it can be distilled down to this simple approach - the pressure peak needs to be timed correctly to the piston position. If your peak pressure occurs when the piston is near top dead center (TDC) or near bottom dead center (BDC) then the crank arm is vertical and doesn't have any leverage. Lower octanes burn faster, so if the spark lights everything expecting the flame to burn at a certain rate, then upping the octane is very similar to retarding the timing. This will lose power on a stock motor most of the time, but it can be good for a motor that is getting more airflow than stock. 

 

Also, normal combustion is a deflagration process - the flame moves through the chamber lower than the speed of sound. Detonation is when it moves through supersonic, and that is why it makes an audible ping like hitting sheet metal with a hammer. Detonation produces very brief but very high sound vibrations, and that's where you get some severe damage. They make some really trick spark plugs with pressure transducers in them so you can plot cylinder pressure vs. crank angle to really dial in everything. These plots also help determine what is knock and what is just mechanical noise.