I have owned my 2001 road glide for a little over a year now. I have used regular unleaded since day 1. Some of the guys I ride with insist I am going to screw up my motor. Twin Cam 88. Can some one please explain to me why I need to use higher octane?
Thanks

 

 

You are not going to damage to your motor. As a matter of fact, the experts (I am not one) will tell you that you should run the lowest octane fuel you can run without experiencing detonation for a more efficient burn. I run an all bore 107" motor that makes 124TQ/110HP on 87 octane fuel; my tuner still doubts me to this day...... I live/ride in south Texas and do run 93 June through August when ambient temps start to approach 100*. I suspect I could run those months on 89 octane, maybe even 87 but I don't want to take a chance of introducing detonation.

 

Agggghhh!!!

 

 

All just to save .20 cents a gallon? $1.20 per tank?
premium and no worries.

 

I use premium , if your bike runs fine on 87 then keep using it. I just chose to run premium.

 

40 - 50 cents a gallon extra here. But it's the only pure gas available.

Does HD ecm have that system that retards your timing if it detects knock?

 

I run premium. No way to know if you need premium unless you look at the timing when it's being ridden to see if the ecm is pulling timing out due to detonation unless it's so bad that you actually hear it because the ecm can't pull enough out. I hope that run on sentence made sense,LOL

 

As long as no pre-detonation in combustion chamber, engine will make fractionally more torque when run on lower octane fuel. Has to do with lower octane fuel having lower vapor pressure. There are LOTS of vitriolic threads about this topic.