What octane fuel you using?

[ChipBeck_imp]

It's a relatively low-compression motor (9.5:1)...so I think regular 87 octane would be appropriate. With your FZ-8 being considerably higher at 12:1, I'd think 91-93 would be required. (When we're talking motorcycle gas tanks, the difference is rarely more than a few nickels total).

Anyway, a more direct answer to your question would be no - higher octane gas will not give you any more power. The reason modern engines have knock sensors is not necessarily to take advantage of higher octane, but to prevent damage in the event of lower octane being in the tank. Usually, the engine won't be able to run as designed, and that's where the power loss (or apparent "power gain") will come from.

Jim,

There are several modern automobiles that are designed to and do produce more HP when using higher octain fuel. Their rated horsepower assumes 91 octain gas and their knock sensors work together with lightning fast spark advance/retard to give the engine maximum spark advance without detonation. They allow 87 octain to be used as the spark will be retarded automatically. The engine will run fine without any damage at all, it will just produce slightly less HP. The less sophisticated knock sensors in some other cars are set up to prevent damage by not allowing detonation but because the cars are rated using regular gas they will not allow enough spark advance to take advantage of premium gas so there is no benefit to using it.

I don't think the CB1100 has knock sensors at all but I'm not sure. I always use premium fuel in my bikes in any event. Cheers.

Chip