Think what you want. But, when I’m on a trip, occasionally I've only been able to get 87 octane. Yes, that happens if you ever ride out of a metropolitan area. Sequoia national park, Death Valley, were recent experiences. Then if I add 1oz of Lucas octane boost per gallon of gas...the bike runs better. This was very noticeable on my TrGlide that had SE255 cams, and a performance tune. That’s my experience. If it’s snake oil fine...this snake oil does what I need.

oh yeah, I’ve never said octane or octane boost gives you more power.

edit: I’d love to see us put this to bed, on a dyno as follows:
Running a fully stock Harley M8, in identical (blind) test conditions on each test as follows:
- top tier 93 octane
- top tier 91 octane
- top tier 87 octane
- same gas as the 87 octane, and add 6 oz of Lucas Octane boost.

My hypothesis: The 93 octane run will produce the most power, with a reduction running 91, then a further reduction running 87. Then the 87 with octane boost will produce more power than the plain 87 octane.

Why; The higher octane allows the ECU to advance the spark more before backing it off to reduce pre-detonation.

Who wants to bet the cost of the dyno runs on this experiment. Looser(s) pay the cost of the dyno, and beers & grub for all in attendance.

 

This would be interesting to see the outcome of. I have no doubt whatsoever that running an octane rating below what is optimum for the particular bike will result in a loss of both power and fuel economy. I also have no doubt that running an octane rating above what is optimum will have a negligible positive effect, and might even lose a tiny bit due to the reduced burn rate.

I want to be clear. Yours isn't the type of situation I was addressing in my post above. I was talking about the guys who are running stock bikes on 93 octane gas who get a magical 15 extra "sotp" horsepower with a little added octane booster.

 

I can put up my bike for testing and all provide a bottle of boost. Carlsbad ain't too far from me.

 

Right...that ain’t gonna happen.

 

I know it isn't. So you see my point, right?.

 

You can squeeze power out of a stocker maybe not 15 hp. But I have seen gains on a 103 ho with a good pipe and air cleaner and good dyno session

 

I'm guessing you missed the sarcasm....

 

Without changing ignition timing you actually make more power with lower octane fuel. (assuming you're not getting spark knock). If you bike runs good on 93 octane and you are not getting spark not you will NOT benefit from running octane boost.

 

The ECU will only PULL timing when it detects knock. It will not increase timing beyond what is written into the spark tables because it senses fuel with higher octane. You could put race gas in the bike and NOT see an increase in performance unless you were to flash some advance into the spark table to take advantage of the higher octane fuel.. Notice that i said higher octane fuel and not better fuel. Higher octane does not always mean "better"

 

Add me to the it's snake oil consensus of octane boosters
Same with premium gas.
Some premium gas is even octane boosted with ethanol.
The same ethanol we all tried to avoid because of the way it hardens plastic and rubber hoses.
I use ethanol neutralizers like Startron Starbrite or Seafoam or even blue Stabil - some might consider those snake oil.
Regular gas and an ethanol neutralizer.
Red stable in the winter.
But I don't swear by any one brand. Many do. They love Starbrite and think Seafoam's garbage or vice versa. I don't think the brand matters that much.
My chainsaws have warning stickers on them. "Do not use premium gas" and "Premium gas may cause overheating".
I don't think it's necessary or desirable.
My 2 cents.