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Leaded Fuel (petrol)?


quadrajet
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Besides the obvious environmental issues, are there any drawbacks to running leaded fuel in a trials bike? I've been looking for higher octane fuels in my area and the only stuff above 92 is some 100 octane leaded that I stumbled across.

Of course I won't be running it, but it got me thinking...is leaded fuel bad for a trials bike? All I can think of is, there's no catalytic converter to muck up, so theoretically, I suppose it's probably better for it than unleaded (again, not that I'm going to run it in my Beta).

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Just Curious:

If leaded fuel would not cause any harm, then why would you suggest running a mix.

Also, as many people on this board assume the person giving advice is legitimate, would you care to tell us who you are and qualify yourself with regards to giving advice on whether or not leaded fuel is ok to run in a trials motorcycle?

Is this advice from experience, knowledge career???

Don't get me wrong, just asking as I'd hate to ruin my moto on the advice of an unkown.

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My uneducated guess would be that leaded fuel is OK.

Lead is a lubricant, and more of that would probably help a top end.

It does leave deposits, and I could imagine that having an effect on the small sparkplug gaps we run.

Until we are forced to run catalytic converters, it's probably not a problem.

BUT (that's a big but :rolleyes: ), I would never recommend it, as I'm only guessing.

The safest bet is to follow factory recommendations, and I think all factories specifically call for unleaded.

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Whoa there big fella, I appologize if you took my post the wrong way.

I didn't mean to imply that your information is incorrect in any way. I simply wanted to know if you are an industry expert or the like as I would gladly head your advice if I knew who you were.

This board has an incredible number of experts in many different areas and I'm guessing that you are one of them.

I'm sure you can imagine how some prankster might offer some bad advice just because he has some sort of mental derangement.

I honestly don't know if it is safe to run leaded fuel in my motorcycle and would be apt to use it instead of $8 per gallon race gas and I'm sure there are thousands of other people that read this board who would be equally interested.

You are absolutely correct in that we all have the option to ignore advise. My posts can be a perfect example of that :rolleyes: because I tend to add just a little bit of sarcasm in them and there are some who simply don't know how to take it.

Anyway, as I said, no offence was intended, just wanted to know if you had used the leaded fuel in your bike before or had some inside knowledge on the subject.

My name is Johnny and I live in Big Bear, California. It's such a small community that pretty much everyone knows who "the tall blond guy that snowboards in a Hawaiian shirt and drives the huge red truck" is and could point you in my direction for a cold beer and chat about motorcycles and such. Anyone talking trials is always welcomed.

How about you? Where ya from friend?

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Yeah, I've heard about that lack of petrol problem you guys have.

You should hear the whiney little britches complaining that gasoline is $2.50 per gallon for their worthless little electic/gas car that gets 50 mpg.

I laugh at them as I drop $100 into the tank of my F250 crew cab long bed diesel that get 6.2 mpg towing my toybox full of motorcycles. It get's me to the next diesel station anyway.

I guess we'd have to pay your prices if we didn't go kicking some middle eastern ass :rolleyes: once in a while!

Cheers brotha ;)

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Do I sense and old fight brewing? (But I could be wrong of course... just guessing)

Paul Mac

You know, I thought about the old banter that Race Gas Guy and I had years ago as I'm writting about the petrol thing but he and I had out our differences, shook hands [figuratively speaking] and were good with it. I still use Aviation Fuel for my bike and that is why I am wondering about the leaded thing. Av gas is only about $3 per gallon as opposed to the $8 for race gas. If I could fun leaded with higher octane then I might do that but I'm certainly not going to use it off the advice of some backyard Louisiana boy who spends most of his time cooking his own alcohol.

Now, I'm not saying that HondaRS is that, I just don't know.

Hell, if my buddy "the Beave" is back and hiding behind a Honda name that would be too cool. I think there are a few people that might remember him ;) And to clear that up, Lane and I are buddies so any bashing we might do and no matter how heated up it might get, we WILL share a beer at an event [iF HE EVER COMES OUT AGAIN]

So, How about it Honda??? Have you given up the fruity boys on the sets of Hollywood and come back to play in Trials land??

Of course if you're not Beave then please disregard. :rolleyes:

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Im not any kind of expert by a long shot but always have an opinion anyway and in most cases have experience to back it up.

With that being said I have run straight avgas in my Betas since 2000. People say to mix it with pump gas but I dont. I find the bike runs best on straight avgas. My 01 Beta is still in the area I ride and even though a few of the owners that have had it since me beat the tar out of it she still runs fine.

The lead wont hurt the bike, as mentioned before it is a lubricant. On top of that avgas is a higher grade more refined fuel than pump gas. Splash some on your hand and it dries immediatly with no oily residue. Oil as we know does not contribute to horsepower.

At $4 US it remains my fuel of choice. Although it is not legal for your local airport to sell it to you for your bike, some new FAA rule, if they ask what it is for you have just gotten into the wonderfull world of Ultralites. If your concious has a problem with that there is always Ultra 94 at your local Sunoco.

Aaron

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Ride on Al,

Now this will show my lack of knowledge:

Are you saying that Av Gas is leaded??

If that is the case, most of you have heard me say before that most of my buddies have been running Av Gas for many years in our trials bikes and it is awesome and I would have to agree with HondaRS in that the leaded is obviously fine.

For reference, I run the p*** out of my trials bike, racing big bore bikes across the desert, Tecate Hare Scrambles, Malcom Smith 'No Wimps' trail rides etc.

I will tell you that the trials bike doesn't sound so good after a long desert stretch after it's been pinned in top gear. That's when you get the knocking sound but never when riding like a normal trials rider. [As if I could do that]

Some screw is loose in my head wherein I have been racing the trials bike against the fast bikes in the desert and my KTM 520 on national trials loops. Then again, I enjoy beating the crap out of my self.

Good to hear from you Al!

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Yep I don't ride enough but I've been using Av gas too for a couple years.

It's 100 octane low lead.

Seems to work. Our airport has been more than nice about selling it to me, must have been that dozen doughnuts I bribed them will a while back.

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