Any reason I shouldn't use ethanol-free in my motorcycle?

I've not really noticed any issues of running ethanol gasoline through my motorcycles or cars and our stuff has been 10% for a few years now over here. I run it through all of my bikes (ninja, ducati, cb360, and even my f7c) and i've had no issues.

I have yet to see any scientifically conclusive evidence that anyone has shown me (other than internet conspiracies) that my bikes will all blow a head gasket over it. It's a fairly low concentration of ethanol in the blend. I have, however, noticed some of my bikes do run a tad lean (you just have to adjust them for it) off of the stuff. it is a fact that it can degrade components such as rubber over time.

What i have done for my bikes, is run fuel cleaner through them twice a month to keep the fuel system clean from any corrosion and help out all the components to keep them running like clockwork. But if you keep up on your maintenance and treat your bike right you should be fine bro.

Fact of the matter is if you worry about the ethanol gas you're never going to get to go on any rides, you might have one gas station there but then you aren't going to be able to go more than x miles from it.

Fill her up, start it up, go have a blast man. Just keep up on your maintenance and treat her right and she'll be nice back.

Ride safe.

PS: Nice to see another oregonian rider on here :)

To set the record straight, when ethanol blends first came out, a few but not all pre-1975 vehicles had some rubber components in the carbs soften and go bad. No all, just a few. I ran the stuff in tractors built in the mid-60s and never had any problems.

Ethanol blends will run leaner than 100% gasoline. For the same volume, ethanol has fewer Btu's than gasoline and will make the fuel-air mix just a bit leaner.

As far as the gas station goes, I wonder if Oregon law requires ethanol blends in all road fuels and only non-road vehicles such as farm tractors, lawnmowers, antique vehicles, stationary engines and so on can run it.

The biggest reason against using fuel with any ethanol is the rubber in the tank, tubes, carbs and engine. Depending on the age of the engine, some of the rubber based components ( o rings, oil seals, hosing, etc) were not designed to take ethanol, others were designed to take up to a certain percentage, maximum.

For example my car (1998 Corolla) and bike (RF900) both say in the service manuals that ethanol based fuels can be used in them, with the car stating 10% maximum. My bike on the other hand says up to 5 or 10% (though i suspect it says 5% max), i cannot recall which and pretty much flatly refuse to put any ethanol based fuel in my bike.

Avoid ethanol at all costs. I have several bikes, and cars and almost all have troubles running the ethanol. I first tried this back when they still called it "gasohol" and these have been my observations:

My 81 Thunderbird got 24mph with straight gas and 7mph with ethanol.

My 72 HD fouls spark plugs in about 200miles with ethanol but will last whole season with gas.

My 99 Nissan Frontier goes from 14mpg with ethanol to 18 with gas.

My 61, 75 and 91 BMWs and my 75 Corvette and 86 Gold wing all run like crap on ethanol and get horrible mileage.(Gold Wing gets 44 mpg with gas and 29 with ethanol blends)

I have four that are unaffected by ethanol- 84 Nissan Pickup, Honda CT 110, 74 Sportster and my 49 Pan.

There's something wrong with your question, because it doesn't make sense. About 95% to 98% of the country sells ethanol-free gas. What you might be thinking of is lead-free gas. Old cars NEEDED lead in the gas, to help lubricate the engine and valves. But once they "got the lead out" in 1970's, then if you had an older car, you would have to put some lead additive in your gas occasionally to keep valves working well.

that's an incomprehensible statement, either the gas station is sniffing their own gasoline or they're just joking you. As I said, 98% of the country sells ethanol free gas. It's the cities that make you buy the gas with ethanol.

Your motorcycle is good for ANY gasoline you can buy nowadays. If they're messing with you like that, go get the gas somewhere else. Even small towns have more than one gas station. Just put gas in the bike's tank. there's no mystery about it, no fancy formula needed, just buy the cheapest or pay few pennies more for some name brand. It's all pretty much the same. running ehtanol free and ethanol-10% doesn't really make a difference in your vehicle, altho' some say it does. Just buy the damn gas!!

If it's a new bike, it was built for ethanol gas.

All our gas is 10 % as well.

I don't have any problem running it in my '06.

I run premium. 91 to 93 octane, depending on the station.