Hitchcocks Forum

A word to the wise. If you're travelling in Europe DONT use Super E10 petrol. I put some in yesterday due to my ignorance. The bike has run like a bag of spanners all day. I was going to drop the plugs tonight and change them until I got to thinking what I had done differently. Apparently it contains 10% ethanol and as I don't speak or read German this useful piece of info passed me by. Beware! Hope I've not done any damage.

Ditto.

unfortunately for the B5 it was the only pump available last Sunday at an unmanned garage.
Modern bikes should come with E10 resistant fuel lines and seals. Come across any blue coloured fuel yet? Other than not being green it doesn't seem to be noticeably different.

To be fair,,,, any EFI bike should be fine with E10. I live in France and I mostly run my 2009 Electra on it, just because it's cheaper. I've ran my 2004 Harley on it for 4 years, but then as E10 was developed in the states the HD was designed to run on it. No problems with the Harley over 20,000 miles on the stuff, and the Enfield runs no differently whatever I put in it. I wouldn't use it in my Transalp, CX or mower though, as they all have carbs and none E10 fuel lines to dissolve. Strictly 98 Ron for the 2CV though, I've advanced the ignition to gain an extra 1/2 bhp so it pinks on 95!

Andy, All,

Since I will be continental riding later in the year and you say avoid E10 - do you have a recommendation for what we should use? With my current bike (EFI Triumph) I don't even look at the spec as long as the handles green - it seems to make no difference.

Am i right in thinking that ethanol contains more oxygen in combustion so an EFI will compensate via its oxygen sensor.

whereas a carb set up will cope upto 5% Ethanol but 10% will run a weak mixture and possibly pink and overheat..

Ethanol contains approx. 34% less energy per unit volume than petrol.
For E10 (10% ethanol and 90% petrol), the effect is small (~3%).
Pure ethanol has an octane of 113 so any added to petrol will raise the octane of the petrol slightly.
Using E10 should not cause pinking/knocking but will result in a drop in performance as the calorific value of the ethanol is less.
Buy the best you can see at the pumps.

Thanks Haggis, Just pondering why 10% ethanol made Andys bike sound like a bag of spanners..

Would the jetting be wrong for the fuel or require different timing to cope?

I'm more or less forced to use 5% down here in the south west..

Paulk - just remember that in Germany the handle may well be blue,,,,,,,,,,, Austria & Switzerland too I think. I've literally just got home from a trip through Germany, Austria, Italy & Switzerland on the Harley, only been home a week and I've forgotten already! BUT, the pumps will be marked with 95, 98, or E10 . Just pick your preferred brew, with any EFI bike I just buy the cheapest, the EFI will compensate, that's it's job. As I said earlier, I wouldn't use E10 in anything with a carburetor, it can damage brass and rubber components if they're not specified for it. I suspect the bike running like a bag of spanners was more connected to the heat than the fuel, the EFI Enfields, like my Harley, have hydraulic tappets, not necessarily a good mix with hot, thinning engine oil. Just MHO of course, I could be wrong (my wife assures me it CAN happen,,,,,,) it's always possible the bike's ecu didn't adjust for the fuel, just seems unlikely. Having said all that, one tank full of the "wrong" fuel is unlikely to do any lasting damage (as long as it's petrol, not diesel of course), and if you're touring, the wrong fuel is always preferable to pushing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, IMHO.

Thanks for the info - I wasn't overly worried but I thought I'd ask the question. What happened to EU uniformity with different coloured things, you'd think we're a different country

I know Paulk, anybody would think that England wasn't the most important and influential country in the world,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

But while we're on the subject of wrong colours '- remember that if you stray as far as Italy the M/Way signs are green and "A" road signs are blue. Caught me out the first time I went, despite knowing about it in advance, you just tend to follow the green sign automatically,,,,,, well I did anyway,,,,,,, and it's so long ago I couldn't even blame it on old age,,,,,,,,,,,,