I got to some ragged little gas stop before heading over the mountains to Montrose, you insufferable ***, and they only had standard fuel.

I was very low, so I filled it. I had no octane boost, so it was pinging a bit as the bike started pulling harder.

I had just built this engine, and had come straight there from Fuel Moto, having it dyno tuned.

The lesson I learned was to carry a bottle of octane boost in my bag for those rare occasions that I cannot find it, so that I don't ever hear that slight ping like I did.

 

No harm no foul. You know you're jealous that we don't have to get out of our cars in the rain.

 

I got rained on more in one summer in upstate NY in my younger years, than I did the total four years, after I moved to SoCal, and all I had was my Harley...

 

That’s fine and dandy if you stay at that altitude.

Last summer we rolled into several Colorado towns that only had 87 or even just 85 one time.

When we were doing 500-600 plus miles a day, it’s easy to get low up in the mountains, need to fill up, then come back down out into the desert with no pumps for miles and it’s 100 plus degrees with bikes pinging like crazy.

The lesson for me is, I carry some of the small Lucas octane boost bottles for such occasions. If for no other reason than I don’t want to make another stop 50 miles down the road to fill up with premium.

 

It's always great to have choices...!!!

I have so far been able to work around fuel availability, but always thought about throwing an octane booster in a saddlebag for "emergencies"...

 

I add a few ounces of this stuff every other fill up. Don't know why I trust them, perhaps because they have their banners all around at race tracks



Whatever ya do, be sure to bring an empty credit card, because for some reason known only to a select few, the gas prices out here have risen back up over $5 gal...and that's the cheap stuff like at a casino. Wonder if they can hit over $8 this year.

 

Agreed, that's the stuff I mentioned earlier; I carry a little 5oz bottle of that on trips for when I run into no-name dishwater gas stations. One 5oz bottle treats 5 tanks, usually way more than enough to get back to civilization and Top Tier gas.

I think it's a waste to use it when you fill up with Top Tier (Techron, etc) but I look at it as a way to turn raw cheap gas into something more resembling a decent Top Tier tankful.

Doesn't do anything for octane though, so I keep a couple of tiny 2oz bottles of their Octane Booster on hand in the toolkit for when I get stuck at the one-horse-town solo rusty gas pump that only carries 85.

 

" The more woke states"??? You didn't really say that nonsense did you? Available octane is based on elevation. Do you worry that "they" changed the elevation? Maybe you better check with Tucker Carlson.

 

I have an app. on my phone "Pure Gas" for non ethanol gas locations I'm lucky to have some "QP" Quality Plus Stations near by, 93 proof. I have heard but can't confirm that the wide band o2 sensors do not play well with octane boost additives. Hope that's just hear say.

 

I remember HD sold their own brand of octane boost.