I have a 2023 Super Tenere, the owner's manual says 91 octane fuel?

I was doubly incorrect. It is 170, not 107. And that's not the octane, it's the "proof" of E85 alchohol.

"Look for the Demon's eye to be yellow (signifying the corn that E85 is blended with) and a "170" numeral to denote the proofing of the alcohol content in E85 fuel. May 8, 2023"

I run through about a tank a day, so I use 87 octane due to overall cost. With over 350K SuperTenere miles, no issues that I know of. When gas is really cheap I'll put in the 91 as a treat.

Here in Scandinavia we have 95 E10 and 98 E5 nothing lower, and I can't notice any difference between them.

Jari said:

Here in Scandinavia we have 95 E10 and 98 E5 nothing lower, and I can't notice any difference between them.

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In my opinion, the only time higher octane makes a difference is when the air temps and the weight loaded onto the bike goes up. If I don't use premium in our 106° Summers when riding two up, she'll rattle. And using the lesser grade of fuel would only save me $5 per 200-mile fill-up.

Wow! $5 dollars difference on a 200 mile fill between regular and premium??? That’s like a dollar a gallon price difference! Even in SoCal the biggest difference I’ve seen is closer to 0.30 / gallon. Worst case that’s only $1.80 for a full 6 gallon fill, which for me will go close to 260+ miles.

Yup, anywhere between $.80 and $1 from regular to premium. I had never paid attention to the difference between them until Dirt Dad mentioned it. I remember, not that long ago, that the difference between grades was a dime.

There is about the same spread here in Ontario, Canada after conversions for the gallon and dollar. Sadly diesel is close to the same price as premium here too now.

Here in Wisconsin premium is usually 50 cents to $1 more than regular, the price difference seems to be getting bigger every year. Premium here supposedly contains no ethanol.

Think I remember way back, difference between grades was like a dime, when gasoline was gasoline. Ethanol content probably makes up a lot of difference.

Jari said:

Here in Scandinavia we have 95 E10 and 98 E5 nothing lower, and I can't notice any difference between them.

Click to expand...

Different measurement system. Those numbers are not the same as North American numbers.



Again, while it maybe safe to run a lower than recommended Oct rating (I've done it myself) due to knock & O2 sensors pre and post cat, the best performance will come from the lowest octane rating that does not cause the engine to pull timing to deal with knock. This is definitely more likely in higher temps, so it's 'safer' to run lower Oct than recommended when it's cooler. Still, for a few cents a liter, I run the recommended Octane in my vehicles (and for ones that have had some significant tuning, I run what it's tuned for).

These engines do not have knock sensors like automotive. Timing will not “pull”back.
Timing will pull back in ECU if air temp or coolant temp getting too high.


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I prefer top tier also. The stations that are not usually charge close to or same as top tier anyway.

use what ever fuel you want to or have access to. I've ridden over 370,000 miles on my two Super Teneres and I'd say +80% of the time I've used 87 octane. To each their own but I know 87 isn't going to screw up your engine. Might it feel smoother and get better mileage, maybe, maybe not. Most bikes will only ever get ridden a few thousand miles a year, there's more of a chance of the gas breaking down and gumming up than damage from putting in a tank of 87.

Congratulations on your 2023 S10. I have one also and it only sees premium unleaded gasoline (91 min octane). I figure the Yamaha engineers are pretty smart and know what's best for my bike.

Starting in May, I even put premium in my Jeep. I only put 2k miles/yr on the Jeep, and 6k miles/yr on the Tenere. So, once our summer sets in, the Jeep only gets driven once a week. I figured by the time it gets refilled, the 91 octane is probably lucky to be 87.