I'm 100% with you on this. Ridiculous, 'feel good' policy making, that only raises the costs of food.

That being said, my 93 FLHS owner's manual, states I can use 87 octane gasoline with no more than 10% ethanol. I rarely put that in, and usually opt for either 89, 91, or 93 octane (10% ethanol), depending on where I fuel up.

 

Yeah the east coast does go to an E85 winter blend in densely populated areas.. Not so much Rural... On the other hand I have personally dealt with fuel that sat and collected a lot of moisture, if you pour the **** into a glass you'll see how cloudy and contaminated it gets.. To the point where it won't even ignite... Definitely will need an additive if storing for long periods...

 

We have farming family in MN. From each corn plant you get three ears + plus eight feet or more of greenery that weighs far more than the corn. Seems sensible to me and them to turn that into something useful, although it does seem odd to see an enormous petro-chem plant in the middle of farmland!

 

Oft repeated mistake... 87 octane is Normal for non ethanol [around here anyway] and is all the Octane rating you need.. First things First... using more Octane than you require , actually Hinders performance, and is a Waste besides.
Check the octane rating of high ethanol fuel products...yup !!! This ain't yer Grampa's Octane... ain't racing fuel either... Except for guys who are Blending their own... [a different story]
Our pumps have the sticker that states... "up to 10% ethanol"...and I can guarantee, if ya had a fuel Checker [all Racing Associations have at least one] you will find maximum ethanol is in the Higher octane stuff... Cheap Octane Rating anyone???
Do Not be sucked in... Hell I can turn corn into alkyhol... done it many times... costs more than buying Gasoline, I can tell ya that too... If those plants were Producing anything, they could operate on their Own Product... They are Much like the Government.... Not Producing anything... only Taking in order to Change Hands...
Ohhhh Excuse me.... Rant Over...

 

I know it’s real easy to bash farmers, but grain prices are at multiple year lows right now. Grain prices are not to blame for food prices. For an example, there is .03 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread. If wheat doubles in price, your loaf of bread goes up .03. Of course the bread makers will double the price of a loaf and blame it on higher grain prices. When the price of food goes up, farmers are the last to benefit.

 

So I am one of the few with enough time doing and less time theorizing to have an informed opinion to take this for what it's worth.

Octane rating is anti-knock only. There are more long chain and less short chain volatile hydrocarbons the higher you go. This helps prevent your ping ping ping. If I recall, stock factory manual asks for 91 or better. Anything above that is just helping prevent knock issues from showing up.

Normal Pump Gas - Up to 10% ethanol as advertised, but varies based on time of year and location.
E10 - Supposedly up to 10% ethanol - here it is rated 85 Octane. Far too low to be good in ours on a hot day. Means they leverage the 10% of 100-120 octane of ethanol withh its 90% of whatever octane gasoline to come out with an mix average of 85 Octane. Yours could be different, but those are the numbers on thhe pumps here.
E15 - same thing, just up to 15% ethanol, rated 87 octane here.
E85 - I run this daily on my carby. It does stiffen and corrode rubber as mentioned, so make sure you use as much viton lined stuff as possble. It ONLY becomes an issue with steel or aluminum AFTER it absorbs water. It will form a white corrosion when the Water+E85 mixture sits in contact with Aluminum. It causes steel to rust AFTER it absorbs water and sits in the tank. However at the sacrifice of between 15 and 30% mpg, you get 100-120 octane that runs 30% cooler (that is not bs, that is a joules calculation based on the energy released between gasoline and ethanol, like 830 joules for Corn alcohol vs 1100 joules for Gasolinie.), cools down intake track and chops 150 degrees off pumpgas exhaust temps.
What I do to prevent issues is 2 fold - first I turn the tank off to the carb, open the choke, let the bike idle the carb outta gas. Been doing this for 2 years, and the teaspoon left in the bottom is all that is there. I have no issues with anything INSIDE the carb to this point. The second is to ensure your PCV valve for the tank works without issue, and keep the tank as full as possble. Less air in means less humidiity gets absorbed into it. I commute in the morning and fill up when I get home from work. Again, no issues, but CO is very dry. 40% humidity normally.

Again I have been using E85 for about 2 years at this point with no ill effects.

 

I've been amazed at how much cooler my bike runs on 87 octane than high test in stop and go traffic. High Test will just about melt your nuts off.

 

Really? 87 burns faster than higher octane, that's really strange lol

In my previous bike (an 01 Vulcan 1500) the higher octane just wouldn't burn as well and I'd get occasional misfires

 

Please share your Jetting with E85!!! or...are you Injected??

 

That sounds incredibly rough. I have noticed in my time at the gas stations around my area, the attendants complain nearly weekly that the 91 tanks get too low to where they are at the borderline of shutting them off so you dont pump all that crap in the underground tanks out when you fill up, and the problem seems to be increasing in frequency over the last 5 years.

I travel between 6000 and 9000 feet of elevation so adjust your jetting for altitude - 91 was 40/160 jets and E85 is 52/180 or 52/185 (cant remember which, gotta check my other thread). General rule of thumb is 0-5000ft is okay, go down 1 size every 1-2000feet of elevation from there. However I am also using CVPs emulsion tube and needle, which alters both your atomization over stock and your fuel pull over stock needle. Theyre not big factors but theyre factors nonetheless. One thing I absolutely love about E85 is that when I go see my parents at 9600ft, the bike has NEVER choked on fuel from running too rich. I can go WOT at anytime and I never have to back off. Gasoline was never like that, Id get bogged down and have to back off.