pump gas

Anyone dropping down to reg gas do to the high gas prices and are you noticing any bad side affects do to the fact that these bikes were designed to run on 96 octane ?  

Engines that are designed for High Octane Fuel will run on Lesser Grades, however, will not have the same output of power.  Some Bikes will have 'Notable Pinging' under Load, or Wide Open Throttle, in addition to Excessive Black Carbon Build-up inside the Combustion Chambers, and in the Exhaust Passages, all the way out to the Can.
These symptoms are due to the Engine's Design, in that it can not reach its full burn potential of the supplied fuel.  As a result, the 'Ping', or 'Knock', is a Pre-Detonation Noise from the Cylinder, and the outcome is less Power Output from the Explosion, pushed against the Piston Head.
If used in a pinch (lack of cash for gas this week), it will not really harm anything, however, it is NOT advisable to run Lesser Grades of Fuel in your High Octane Rocket for extended periods of time, as it may cause real damage!
Pre-Detonation over prolonged periods can cause Cracked Rings/Pistons, Cylinder Wall/Piston Head Gauling, and a General Mess of your Exhaust System!
If you have run Lesser Grades, be sure to add an Octane Booster, or at the very least, a Fuel Stablizer/Injector Clean Solution to your next Full Tank of Premium Grade Octane!  

Wow i thought i was going get someone saying thats crazy and i have been running 87 for years and it works great. That was spot on and it just gets me sometimes when people try to sqeeze one hp out of there bikes when they have yet to even see how there bikes were ment to run. Although octane booster in a can more often than not you are lucky to increase octane by half a point. Another myth is that higher octane makes you run hotter this is not true you actually run cooler you get a cleaner more consistant burn that translates into more power.lazy myself and use 91 pump premium in my area but every so often i by myself 55 gallons of 103 racing unleaded and mix it with pump premium which gives me 96 97 octane.  

Nice trick on the '103'!  Pays off in a lot smoother accelleration I bet!!  Just don't run it straight, unless you are ready to do a Valve Job soon!
As for the Octane Booster, it is really useless, and does not, or rather, can not, bring 87 Oc up to even 89 Oc.  The suggestion was to add it to the remaining 87 Oc in the Tank, and Top it to Full with Premium, to counter the Lesser Grade Octain still in the Tank.

And thanks for asking the Questions!  Sucks having all this 'useless' info... sometimes makes me feel like my head is going to explode!  So it is good to give some out, and relieve the pressure!!! LOL

Anyway... Ride Safe CAM  

Yea thought i would throw a few topics out there to spice things maybe lol. And yea i have never run it straight 103. it's true there is a point were to much ocatne will give you valve recession. do to the fact that the burn is just way to controlled or slow.You can really drive yourself crazy playing with fuel and trying to get the optimum mix. Besides all that one really good fuel treatment is red line complete fuel system treatment,it's a stabalizer reason i lke it so much is it ludes your injectores,helps with the octane issue,and also like old school mechanics would put a cap full of atf in the gas it's an upper cylinder lude. hits the piston with some lube from the top side gets that top ring. Good stuff if you have not yet tried it i would.  

Wow. Thanks for that information. I feel as though I've been cheating the bike out of good "clean water" so to speak.  

I have been using 91 octane since I got my bike.  That's the premium around here, I'd put in higher if I could - it's not that much more expensive when you're only putting in like 3.4 gallons.

R-man's explanation was helpful, but way over my head!  I just try to do what the manual says.    

.......just started running vp c10 unleaded race fuel.  it runs extremely clean and crisp but yeah a bit pricey but worth it every once in awhile.  the octane is 96 and is non-oxygenated and safe for cat converters.  try it..........runs great in my 07 600rr.