Due to a change in the UK my local petrol station now only does E10 fuel. Is it safe to run my 1987 K100 RT on this or am I going to have to find another garage?

Carry on riding as you are!!!

Been using E10 in France, its fine.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:Carry on riding as you are!!!

Been using E10 in France, its fine.

Thanks Olaf. I thought that would be the case but it is nice to have reassurance. Hoping to come over to Cork soon but alas in the car as SHE WHO IS ADORED is not able to travel by bike anymore.

The only downside to E10 is that fuel efficiency drops 1-2% so you won't go quite as far on a tank before needing to refuel.

Also, if you don't ride over the winter and the bike will be sitting for 4-5 months it's a good idea to add a fuel stabilizer and a fuel system cleaner to the fuel and running it through the fuel system for 5-10 minutes before putting the bike in storage. Even better would be to drain the E10 and replace it with stabilized non-ethanol fuel. You might try checking at marinas for non-ethanol, here in the U.S. marine and agricultural fuel can still be found without the E10.

So-called 'super unleaded' is still E5. Olaf puts a lot of miles on his bikes, so I'd say E10 is not a problem for him. I used to put a shedload of miles on mine until work-from-home became permanent and that reduced the annual mileage by 11,000 to around 5,000 (normally - actually almost zero in the last two years). DoT recommendation is any vehicles pre-2011 should switch to using SL unless you know your engine was built for E10. So: I'll be switching to super unleaded when E10 finally reaches this sceptic isle next year and bugger the extra few pennies per tankful.

Looks like everybody is doing a copy'n'paste from the DoT article:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/e10-petrol-explained

Very interested in this, the local supermarkets don't sell Super and the Shell sells V-Power at an eye-watering £1.57 a litre last time I looked.. Not only is there all the rubberiness in the fuel system (and what is even in that there FPR??) but what does it do to our precious, quick rot aluminium tanks? Especially ones that already have little rusty blisters at the lowest point on the left side, which is almost all of them.

Not many bike related things make me nervous, but putting E10 into an old K is one of those things

Snod Blatter wrote:Very interested in this, the local supermarkets don't sell Super and the Shell sells V-Power at an eye-watering £1.57 a litre last time I looked.. Not only is there all the rubberiness in the fuel system (and what is even in that there FPR??) but what does it do to our precious, quick rot aluminium tanks? Especially ones that already have little rusty blisters at the lowest point on the left side, which is almost all of them.

Not many bike related things make me nervous, but putting E10 into an old K is one of those things

As I mentioned above, E10 isn't automatically bad for K bikes.  As long as you aren't leaving the fuel in the tank for more than 6 months there is no damage that it will do.  Anyone using a tank of fuel every two weeks or less will probably never see any effect from the E10.  I have been running my bikes on E10 for several years with no adverse effects. If anything, my tank actually looks cleaner inside.

If your situation requires long term idleness, it would be wise to drain as much of the fuel in the tank as possible and replacing it with 5 or 6 liters of non-ethanol treated with a stabilizer and 60ml of isopropyl alcohol.  Run the engine for a couple minutes to mix this fuel cocktail with the remaining E10 and rest easy that the engine and tank will be okay when you return.

As I mentioned above, non-ethanol should still be available at places that supply marine and agricultural equipment.   If you can't find it there, you could could also check camping supply shops for Coleman petrol stove/lantern fuel.  This will be a pricier option, but better than nothing.  Just be sure to check the container to confirm that fuel contains no alcohol.  I don't know what the octane rating of this fuel is, so to be sure, at the end of storage before using the bike I would fill the tank with regular petrol to dilute the stove fuel.  I would be gentle with the throttle while running this fuel.  While it's unlikely to cause detonation it wouldn't hurt to be cautious until you get to the season's second tank of fuel.

Here in Netherlands E10 means max 10% ethanol, but no min.
E5 means max 5%, but also no min.
D7 means ethanol in diesel, not recommended for K-bikes (unless you have a diesel in your K, but still.....)

I read somewhere else about 2cc/L TC-W3 two stroke oil in the tank. Seems legit

Arlina wrote:I read somewhere else about 2cc/L TC-W3 two stroke oil in the tank. Seems legit

Castrol-R!!!

Arlina wrote:Here in Netherlands E10 means max 10% ethanol, but no min.
E5 means max 5%, but also no min.
D7 means ethanol in diesel, not recommended for K-bikes (unless you have a diesel in your K, but still.....)

I read somewhere else about 2cc/L TC-W3 two stroke oil in the tank. Seems legit

K bikes at least K1100LT runs very good on 10% diesel!!!. DAMHIK.

Castrol R The true MAN smell of speed, even better than Old Spice. My old Speedway bikes JAP power DOPE in tank Castrol R in its veins.Happy days


NB.. Dope is METHANOL Fuel.  Not the RIDER

I used to use a lot of dope. 

Another former interest, building and flying model planes...