03-30-2015, 06:17 AM
(03-27-2015, 05:36 AM)The ferret_imp Wrote: The question that concerns us as CB 1100 owners is, will it harm our bikes?
According to Mother Honda who built them and sets the guidelines for what we could or should not use in our bikes, we CAN use up to 10% ethanol without doing harm to our bikes. They are made to run on it. Plain and simple, black and white. It's in the manual, and has been for years. It's not an airplane, or a boat or a lawn mower, it's a motorcycle, and Honda designed it to run on this stuff. In some areas you can't buy "real gas" anymore. In some areas you can't even buy premium anymore, even WITH corn squeezins in it. Many stations around here are now 87 octane 10% ethanol only. Luckily that works in my CB 1100.
Whether it gets better or worse gas mileage, whether it costs more or less to produce, whether it's good for the environment, farmers or the governments bottom line could be argued here indefinitely with no resolution. In fact there is no resolution for the general public. There is nothing we can do about it. Certainly ranting on an internet motorcycle forum isn't going to accomplish anything.
I can't say whether I like it or not. I'm not a mechanical engineer. I'm not a chemist, and I'm not an environmental engineer. I get pretty good mileage on my bike. My bike doesn't stumble or miss on the gas I put in it. It's smooth and quiet and quite powerful actually. It works just fine for me. I neither like it or dislike it. I just use it.
I'm thankful I'm not in California or (gasp) Europe where gas is prohibitively expensive. I'm glad I'm not in post war Italy or Japan where there was such a fuel shortage that they ran their motors on pine resin fuel.I'm glad it's not ww2 era U.S. where you got tickets allowing you to buy limited amounts of fuel. I'm glad that it's not the 1970s anymore when you had to fill up on some days if your lic plate had even numbers and other days if your plate had odd numbers and there were lines around the block waiting for gas. I'm thankful I can freely buy SOMETHING, and as much of that something that I can afford, to put in my tank which my motorcycle will run on.
I know I will never see gas at 25 cents a gallon again. Hope to never see it at $5.00 a gallon again, but not betting against that happening, and I'm betting Europeans would throw a party if their gas went DOWN to $5 a gallon.
I know for sure, at a soon to be 65, I'm not going waste mental energy worrying about whether I'm going to get 3% less mileage with ethanol in my bike (according to Chip Beck, the only one here who actually owns a fuel station I think, and who seems to be a pretty knowledgeable fella). So I only get 204 miles out of a tank instead of 210. Are you kidding? I'm just glad to still be riding.
You are missing a key point. "Made to run on it" is not the same as made to be stored with it during periods of inactivity. In that scenario, it is not a Honda problem, but an ethanol problem which in and of itself has a shelf life issue. And remember, the timer on that shelf life starts ticking long before you pump it into your fuel tank.
On a side note, I have personally experienced damage to two of my bikes, due to ethanol. First was my 1974 Montesa Cota 247, which had a fiberglass fuel tank. The ethanol attacks the resin causing fiberglass delamination. Just do a few Google searches on ethanol damage to fiberglass tanks in marine applications to get a sense of the problems. The second bike damaged was my 2008 KTM SuperDuke. Like the Honda, it was "made to run on it", but unfortunately the plastic used in the bikes fuel tank was not made to hold it. Over time, the fuel tank began to swell so much that when you removed the tank for maintenance, you would have to lever and pry on it to get the bolt holes to line up again for mounting. The exact same problem hit Harley with their XR1200 and Ducati with Monster tanks. At the extreme, tanks split and leak. Again, do a little Google digging to see what it cost them in warranty issues.
I urge anyone here doubting the evils of ethanol to spend a little time researching it on the American Motorcyclist Website <[url=http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/SearchResults.aspx?cx=017367420668830010234:-dcg-iv5wsm&cof=FORID:11&q=ethanol]HERE>. Better yet, join and support them. They are one of our strongest lobbyist for protecting motorcyclists from the actions of the often well intended ignorance that comes out of Washington. My plea would be that folks educate themselves, move beyond "it hasn't hurt me so it must not be an issue", and get in the fight. If you sign up, the AMA website alerts you to bills, actions, etc. that affect you and allow you to send pre-written letters already properly addressed to to your given representatives. It makes is super simple to get your voice out there.