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New 2012 V 650A OWNER - GAS QUESTION

6K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  M@rk 
#1 ·
I just picked up my new 2012 650 Vstrom from the dealer 2 days ago. As I was reading the owners manual the recommended gas is 87 octane or higher. This gets me a little confuse as I think Suzuki should have been more specific....

Question: Which gas do you use?
 
#4 ·
87. Higher won't hurt anything except your wallet. Higher won't help anything except the oil company profit.
 
#9 ·
Interesting subject as I just had the 6000km service on the L2.
A very slight hesitation(miss)when idling was blamed on the fuel.I use 95 and the Suzy shop said to only use 98.I'm not so sure :confused:

And is a US octane the same as a OZ octane,or just up side down.????
The Strom is designed to run on 95 and it shouldn't be necessary to use 98 to make the bike run properly.

US octane (MON) and OZ/EU octane (RON) is not the same:
87 octane in the USA = 92 octane in Europe
89 octane in the USA= 94 octane in Europe
92 octane in the USA = 97 octane in Europe
- you can read more about it here.
 
#11 ·
This gets me a little confuse as I think Suzuki should have been more specific....
Question: Which gas do you use?
it is specific. "87 octane or higher". suzuki has to say it that way because, suzuki is a UJM. iow's their bikes are sold all over the world and different countries have different fuels and different fuel ratings. that said, 87 being the minimum octane. in the US, 87 octane or higher means, "regular automotive grade fuel". i use regular automotive grade fuel with the highest AKI rating - 93 octane, for best mpg. http://www.stromtrooper.com/746492-post1.html see fuelly link below for more info..
 
#12 ·
JR's use of the scientific method is suspect. Higher octane should not increase mileage unless in is ethanol free and regular is not. Do your own comparison but be aware there are a lot of variables involved. My bike has delivered 42-62mpg depending on conditions.
 
#13 ·
87 octane is fine. i normally stick with the same brand but the bike runs fine with any brand I have tried. In my area Shell premium (91 octane) has zero ethanol (indicated on the pump). When about to store the bike, the last couple of fill-ups are with 91 octane and Stabil will be added with the final fillup.
Need to run a comparison in the warmer weather to determine whether the extra cost of the shell premium is offset by a mileage gain.
 
#16 ·
Need to run a comparison in the warmer weather to determine whether the extra cost of the shell premium is offset by a mileage gain.
For it to make economic sense around here, your mileage would have to improve by at least 20% on the ethnol-free gas.
 
#17 ·
Since E10 has the penalty of up to 10% of the fuel having only 66% of the energy of gasoline, a 20% improvement is not in the cards.
 
#18 ·
I haven't seen a noticable improvement with my '07 on ethanol-free gas in either performance or efficiency.
 
#20 ·
I'd rather not use E10 for storage. There are fuel additives out there like Marine Sta-Bil that help with it though.
 
#21 ·
my milage is getting lower and lower. I started out getting 55mpg on 87 octane but now its down to 48. No idea why. I am thinking it might be the winter fuel mix. I know with my TU250 I could only get to 65mph during the winter as the fuel sucked and over 70mph in the summer. At least on the Vstrom you can still keep up with the traffic no matter what.
 
#22 ·
#24 ·
mileage

I live in Canada...the part of the world north of the USA, In my manual there is a statement that specifies 87 octane for Canada , which is regular gas for us. Midgrade must be used in the USA. I have tryed premium.... no difference except that I may have had better mileage because my wallet was lighter! Having travelled into NY I always filled up with midgrade. No issues. Some cars require premium for premium performance....
 
#25 ·
Fuel requirements are the same for USA and Canada, 87 (R+M)/2 or higher. 87 does fine. Over 5000ft, 85 does fine.
 
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