WR450 - Octane rating?

[OkieRider]

While doing some research on the WR450 I read in the service manual that Yamaha recommends 95 octane gas. Has anyone used anything less? If so, was there any major problems - pinging, power loss etc.?

[Indy_WR450]

You can run as low as 87 at high altitude. Dont worry about it. I run 92/93 all the time without issues. ?

[latehit]

I believe that is the Research Octane rating not the pump octane rating. (r+m)/2 The research octane rating is higher than the pump label simply by the mathmatical equation. I am pretty sure the equation is correct. I use premium pump gas and I have yet to hear a ping and it seems to run great.

Just my 2 cents. ?

[simon@vic]

anything 91 and higher wil be fine.

AVOID SHELL GAS esp in canada.

[dominator426]

Mine actually had a slight ping, especially in mid-RPM's, with the Esso 92 PON (pump octane number; r+m/2). It then worsened when they switched to 91 PON (=95 motor octane number, as prescribed in WR's manual) last fall. I will now run 1/3 100 LL(low lead) aviation fuel with 2/3 91 PON which will give me 94 octane fuel... We're not so lucky to have it readily available at the pump up here but we do have an airport. ?

[simon@vic]

i use chevron 94 or petro can 94. both are very good fuels.

[JVP]

I use a mix of race gas (110) and pump gas (91) at a 2 to 3 ratio. It is pretty close to the recommended octane of 95-96. I found that at the higher octanes there is no backfires on decelerations. This is just my opinion: The motor runs cooler with higher octane gas. Cooler is more power! ?

[JVP]

Why Shell? I herd this before. I use Shell in California with no problems? What's up? ?

[ckulzer]

I have had good luck with mixing 92 octane unleaded pump gas and 100 octane unleaded together in a 50/50 ratio. I was getting a slight ping under heavy, low rpm loads. My bike has only seen one tank of straight 92 since I bought it last spring.

The comment about popping is an interesting one - I have not had any bog or popping issues.

Ride fast - take chances

Chad