15% ethanol

[Dirty Dave]

Seems that the nefarious engine destroyers are at it again by upping the ethanol content
in gasoline to 15% here in Canada.

Particularly with lower octane grades.
My 2018 Kawasaki Z900 owners manual stipulates very clearly not to exceed 10%
or damage will occur to the engine. (Our poor lawn mowers etc)

My question is: Will the 15% ethanol hike do damage to our beloved Valkyries.......

[WintrSol]

E15 will make the engine run even more lean than E10; you may want to consider increasing the jet size a bit.
Look at the spark plugs after some use, just to see if they are burning off any carbon that was coating the insulator.

[Pluggy]

Dave, I pulled this off the Internet.  It is about US regulations, but may give you additional insight in the subject.

Here goes: Putting E15 into a motorcycle violates federal misfueling regulations under the Clean Air Act because the fuel is only legally certified for 2001 and newer passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and flex-fuel vehicles.

[Dirty Dave]

Great news!

Where do I roll my bike to the  mass grave provided by regulators?

 

[WintrSol]

In the U.S. they still sell ethanol-free gas 'out in the sticks' to support farm and related vehicles. The site https://www.pure-gas.org/ has lists of the stations that sell it; it is updated by the public, and is sometimes inaccurate. Perhaps there is a similar tool for up north?

EDIT: I just looked at that site, and there are some provinces on the list, like ON. Good luck with that.

[Dirty Dave]

Thanks for the helpful tips.

Quebec has no ethanol free and I found before on the site that Ontario still has
a source or two scattered around.

Even if I moved close to one of those pumps, I still like to take trips on my bikes,
sometime thousands of miles.

I know some stations sell 10% premium gas so I suppose I could "treat" my Valk to
an unneeded octane boost. Later detonation shouldn't really matter.

Finally, I apologize for changes in regulations.
Everything I love seems to come under attack, restriction or confiscation
at some point.

Sometimes even lies are told to "uphold" these things.

I have lived too long & am tired.

  

[WintrSol]

U.S. EPA says: https://www.epa.gov/fuels-registration-reporting-and-compliance-help/e15-fuel-registration

[Dirty Dave]

The trouble with "normal" is it always gets worse....

Bruce Cockburn


 

[98valk]

E15 will make the engine run even more lean than E10; you may want to consider increasing the jet size a bit.
Look at the spark plugs after some use, just to see if they are burning off any carbon that was coating the insulator.

not as lean as we would think. I richen up the main when I was doing air box mods installing viking exhaust. almost yr later I got on a factory pro dyno and was pig rich on the top end like 10:1.

[crow]

New and improved, is never the latter.