Running cold

[Obliviontoad]

Saw it mentioned that the CB likes the cold weather. Not surprising given the nature of internal combustion. But I got to ride in close to freezing weather the last few days, and I really like the way it ran. Especially with the ethanol free gas. Then again, it may just be all in my head and its simply running well because its just that damned good.

Now, if it would just stop snowing, don't want to have to put chains on this thing...

 

[the Ferret]

I think bikes do run a little better in cooler, less dense air too ... At least my seat dyno says so.

 

[dBuster_imp]

Does anyone else live where they have this "winter blend" of gas? Could that be making it run differently? I know around here they have that winter blend gas

Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk 4.2.4

 

[Deanohh_imp]

Cooler air = denser air = more oxygen.

 

[sanoke_imp]

Been out in the low 30's (F) here some and the bike still runs great. I believe that the fuel injection does a pretty good job of compensating for changes in temperature. One of the reasons I got the CB1100 was because of that. I rode my Maxim 550 all year round and had to fiddle with the mixture to keep it running smooth as the seasons changed. Really nice not to have to do that with the CB1100.

 

[Obliviontoad]

Winter gas bad. Let's not open that particular can of worms. I do use stabilizer in my engines, and my snowblower that has sat for a year fired up on the third pull. And runs like a top. As does my 72 CB350, but I don't take that out near as much. Getting warmer gear and maybe the heated grips next. That will fix everything except the weather conditions.

 

[the Ferret]

Cooler air = denser air = more oxygen.

Aww crap..I had denser, then changed it to less dense. 50/50 shot and I got it wrong. Now, you know why I don't buy lottery tickets.

 

[ingobohn_imp]

As sanoke said, the "modern" fuel injection compensates air density (be it because of temperature or altitude).
Only "old" carburators had issues with more/less oxygen.

There might be a difference for our CB 1100 between hot and cold weather: maybe under very hot conditions the air cooling is at its limit and the fuel tends to more spontaneous combustions in the "overheated" cylinders. Just guessing...

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

Theres no doubt that any IC engine will make more power with colder air vs. hot, all other things being equal. That includes FI engines, and its why you'll see racers doing things like putting bags of ice on their intakes / intercoolers between heats (pun intended).

How much differenence? Enough to tell, especially when you're going from the low 90s to the mid to low 70s overnight.

 

[sanoke_imp]

As sanoke said, the "modern" fuel injection compensates air density (be it because of temperature or altitude).
Only "old" carburators had issues with more/less oxygen.

There might be a difference for our CB 1100 between hot and cold weather: maybe under very hot conditions the air cooling is at its limit and the fuel tends to more spontaneous combustions in the "overheated" cylinders. Just guessing...

I'll bet that's why Honda recommends 86 Octane. The compression is pretty low but being air cooled and lean due to emissions, summer heat may push it towards pre-ignition.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

As sanoke said, the "modern" fuel injection compensates air density (be it because of temperature or altitude).
Only "old" carburators had issues with more/less oxygen.

There might be a difference for our CB 1100 between hot and cold weather: maybe under very hot conditions the air cooling is at its limit and the fuel tends to more spontaneous combustions in the "overheated" cylinders. Just guessing...

I'll bet that's why Honda recommends 86 Octane. The compression is pretty low but being air cooled and lean due to emissions, summer heat may push it towards pre-ignition.

Ok, sure, but what if you're using full-synthetic oil instead of regular mineral oil?

(muh-ah-hah)

 

[ingobohn_imp]

Officially at least in Germany, Honda recommends 92 octane. But my dealer said with a smile on his face, "with the CB 1100 it's the same like with every Honda: you can fuel it up with everything but diesel".

 

[the Ferret]

In Germany, fuels are graded differently for octane than in the US

 

[ingobohn_imp]

Ah, really? I thought the "octane grading" is worldwide the same, so 92 octane in the U.S. is of same quality as in Germany.

 

[the Ferret]

Ours are approved for 87 octane ( our regular) I think you dont have 87, right? And 92 is your regular.

 

[ingobohn_imp]

Ah okay, now I understand. You mean the engine homologation differs from country to country or continent to continent. Yes right, 87 octane fuel is not available here in Germany. Even 92 octane fuel is nearly no longer available anymore. As there are so many different fuel types here and as at our gas stations each gas pump has more than one nozzle (one for each different sort of fuel), some pumps have 5 or 6 nozzles. So I think with Diesel, Diesel+, Super 95 E5, Super 95 E10, and Super+ most of the gas stations simply gave up serving also Benzin 92.
As a Benzin 92 engine can also operate with Super 95 this is generally no problem - despite the fact that Benzin 92 was some cents cheaper per liter. So I think the second reason to deprecate Benzin 92 at German fuel stations is simply the higher profit they can make with other type of fuels.

I fuel up my CB 1100 always with Super 95.

Besides that: Homologation for octane 86 grade would also have some side effects on emission levels, hp/torque of the engine and fuel consumption, right?
I just check the U.S. Honda website and did not find any specifications of the CB 1100 engine regarding hp/torque, I only found this.

 

[the Ferret]

With regards to hp and torque, I tend to look at dyno charts rather than mfg claims. Seems they are dynoing about 80 hp and 65 ft lbs of torque at the rear wheel

 

[Deanohh_imp]

Homologation shomologation. They simply use a different formula so you get 2 different octane numbers for the same gas.... theres 2 different methods so you get 2 different numbers but they mean essentially the same thing.

 

[Deanohh_imp]

Ah, really? I thought the "octane grading" is worldwide the same, so 92 octane in the U.S. is of same quality as in Germany.

octane is not a worldwide standard. My 92 is higher octane than your 92 because the arithmetic is different.

 

[ingobohn_imp]

Hmm, now I am puzzled... I know that Wikipedia is not THE truth both they say that the octane rating and especially the RON (this is the number which is referred to) is a worldwide standard.
Of course now it could be that US numbers at gas pumps do not state the RON but something different.