Old Bloke Wants an Old Bike

[Bowserman]

Hi. 

64 year old looking to get a bike to play with on nice days only.

After a 1970's Jap machine around 500-750cc. All I have had when I was younger was a Yamaha DT125 and a Suzuki 250.

 

What modern fuel is everyone using in the old bikes, and what issues does it cause?

[manxie49]

IMHO Use super unleaded, steer clear of E10, carbed bikes don't like it.  This vid may be of interest, but there's plenty of information on this subject on Google 

 

[Gerontious]

8 hours ago, manxie49 said:

IMHO Use super unleaded, steer clear of E10, carbed bikes don't like it.  This vid may be of interest, but there's plenty of information on this subject on Google 

 

 

Makes me wonder how the French (for example) manage. away from the autoroutes and larger towns anything aside from E10 is impossible to find.

[manxie49]

1 hour ago, Gerontious said:

 

Makes me wonder how the French (for example) manage. away from the autoroutes and larger towns anything aside from E10 is impossible to find.

Probably fuel additives, octane boosters?  Not sure really, all I know is that I only use it in my bikes if I absolutely have to ….. the stuff is pure shite

[Gerontious]

9 minutes ago, manxie49 said:

Probably fuel additives, octane boosters?  Not sure really, all I know is that I only use it in my bikes if I absolutely have to ….. the stuff is pure shite

makes no difference to me. Though I do think the best place for ethanol is in a glass with some ice. And a slice of lime when I’m feeling particularly whimsical.

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, Gerontious said:

 

Makes me wonder how the French (for example) manage. away from the autoroutes and larger towns anything aside from E10 is impossible to find.

Our town with a population of 5000 has a UExpress supermarket that sells E5 and E10 fuel, that is when strikes don't disrupt supplies !  Most Super U stations will have E5 and there not that difficult to find. I've been running my carburetted 1991 3VD on mostly, but not exclusively, on E5 for the past 5 years. However on longer tours I've had to take what I could get and I haven't had any problems.  Mind you, some of the first things I did when I got the bike was to apply a treatment to the tank to clean and seal it and replace all fuel hoses with stuff that can withstand modern fuels.

If you're only passing through France I wouldn't worry about it too much, just revert to your regular fuel when you get home.

[Gerontious]

8 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Our town with a population of 5000 has a UExpress supermarket that sells E5 and E10 fuel, that is when strikes don't disrupt supplies !  Most Super U stations will have E5 and there not that difficult to find. I've been running my carburetted 1991 3VD on mostly, but not exclusively, on E5 for the past 5 years. However on longer tours I've had to take what I could get and I haven't had any problems.  Mind you, some of the first things I did when I got the bike was to apply a treatment to the tank to clean and seal it and replace all fuel hoses with stuff that can withstand modern fuels.

If you're only passing through France I wouldn't worry about it too much, just revert to your regular fuel when you get home.

I don’t worry about it at all. Aside from it being a waste of perfectly drinkable ethanol. Mixing it with petrol just ruins the taste!!

[Bowserman]

Thanks everyone.

 

have bought a Suzuki GS550E and the owner has been running it on E5, so I will continue with that.

[skyrider]

6 hours ago, Bowserman said:

Thanks everyone.

 

have bought a Suzuki GS550E and the owner has been running it on E5, so I will continue with that.

a good idea

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I run a carbed bike on E10, never had any issues even when it's been in the tank for a while during the winter. There's a lot of scaremongering over E10.

[MikeHorton]

Honda dealer told me not to bother with E5 in the ATAS when I bought it. I did put some in when I laid it up for the winter as they recommended. It makes no odds to performance and hardly any difference to consumption. On a new bike I think e10 is fine