87 octane?

hey i got a k7 gixxer 600 and ive heard that the 600s were designed to run off 87 octane? ive always put 93 or highest premium at the pump? has neone else heard this should i b puttin 87 in my bike?  

Alright the curiousity got me, Who told you that your bike was "designed" to run on 87 octane??  I think the answer your looking for can actually be found in the pages of SSB a couple months back. Dave help me out here wasn't it around august?? when you guys tested all three octanes?? I only remember the outcome was simple, the lower the octane the lower your horsepower was.  And it lowered your miles per gallon also with the 87 octane.  

there's a million theories on this, but ultimately we found more power and smoother running on better octane.

European models come with a sticker on the tank that says "95 octane minimum" or something to that effect.

lastly, every race bike in the paddock runs high octane race fuel, not low 87 octane.

seriously, just spend the extra 75 cents per fill up for the good stuff. why not?  

Higher octane fuel is better filtered and thus has fewer impurities.  

your bike has a compression ratio of 11-1 or higher, by running 87 octane there is a higher risk of detonation, resulting in pitted or even blown out piston crowns, fuel is not rated on how good it is or even how clean it is, fuel is rated on it's resistance to burn, -dave- race bikes use "race fuel" because the compression ration is upwards to 13-1 and possible higher using a regular fuel whould litarly cause the engine to blow apart on the inside, and there is no power differance between the 3 octanes or een mpg for the matter, unledd your at an university using multi billion dollar equipment so that none of the variables change, your full of it, so to simple say always spend the 20 cents more for the "better" fuel it will help to prolong the life of your engine.  

There is no truth to the myth that the higher number octane is "better" fuel or is a better quality.  It might cost more money, but it doesn't mean that it's better.  It just depends on the engine and the specifics.  Now if Suzuki reccomends the higher octane rating from the factory than I'd suggest to adhere to it.  They reccomend it for a reason.  I realize that the gixxer is a sportsbike so the compression ratio is probably higher than your average dual-sport or standard bike.

Now if you have a Kawasaki for instance and the factory reccomends 87 octane....you're wasting your money by using 93.  You're not using better quality fuel, you're just using fuel that surpases the needs of the engine during the compression stroke.  

The reason that fuel comes in different octane ratings has to do with the compression ratio.  The higher the compression ratio is, the more the air/fuel mixture will be compressed....and the more the air/fuel gets compressed, the hotter the mixture gets.  The key here is that the higher the compression ratio, the hotter the mixture gets...and it is because of this that there is a danger some of it will ignite prematurely (before the spark plug does its job).  This is what knock is.  

All the octane rating is...is a measure of the fuel's resistance to knock....the premature detonation.  So really there is no truth to a higher octane fuel being "better", unless your engine NEEDS it because then it would be a better choice than the others....but I would just say it meets different standards.  Because on an engine that requires 87...both the 87 and 93 are EQUAL...albeit the 93 also having the distinction of being unnecessary.

That's why if you have an engine that needs 87 and you use 93, you're wasting your money because your compression ratio isn't high enough or the characteristics of the engine aren't to where it is in danger of knock...and you're wasting money that you don't need to.

Sorry that I kinda rambled on about this.  I could probably explain it in far fewer words normally, but it's late and my mind is everywhere right now.  I just thought that I should explain this matter as I was getting the impression that there might be some confusion over the reason different fuels are rating with different octane numbers.  I have seen too many people in everyday life not understand why they are putting 93 into their vehicle that requires 87 other than the fact that it's more expensive therefore it's better.  

Sorry suzuguy...I was so quick to post my reply that I didn't see that you already covered the topic.  

Yeah, I always find it funny as well, the guys that "always spend the 20 cents more for the better fuel" thinking that "it will help to prolong the life of your engine".