It will be nice if some Indian Magazine or some media does an actual test instead of printing this claim, that claim, proof etc. I read in a foreign bike magazine where they actually put those premium and regular fuel into the bikes and tested them. One test bike was fuel injected while the other was carburettor. In the test, both FI & carb one shows improved results overall with premium fuel. Though the improvement was more noticiable in the FI. They also did dyno to test get accurate figures though I do not remember the figures to quote here.

As far as performance such as acceleration are concern, I don't think they'll be noticiable just by riding the bike normally especially on carburator bikes as the improvement is very small. Just imagine, adding a 60 kilo pillion hardly seems to make a difference in normal riding condition. Thats a couple of BHP reduction in power to weight ratio.

I can't put much faith in print media reports these days, as they are more likely to sensationalize than report the truth. They selectively omit parts of a report flesh out the parts that they think will get the best ratings. They're also likely to look at outdated sources for scientific data. How many times have we seen claims on news papers and feel like laughing out loud, because we had personal experiences or had knowledge that contradicted the claims?

What I can say is that I have felt a real difference in engine smoothness with Xtrapremium. I had to put in a couple of litres of ordinary petrol the other day because my reserve nearly ran out, and I could tell the difference almost immediately. I have not looked into the mileage issue, because I have been using XP since I first got my bike.

I think that there are a lot of others who will agree with me that premium fuels are worth the extra 2 Rs. Of course, if the difference had been more, or if wasn't so widely available, I would likely think twice. I never felt tempted to switch to Speed97, because it was almost Rs. 7 extra, and because the only pump that had it was on the other side of the city.

All of the modern Indian bikes run high compression engines and burn lean for better fuel efficiency. That higher octane fuels reduce knocking in high compression engines is proven fact. That's why racing engines use 100 octane fuel.

To conclude, the issue is not whether high octane fuel is better, but whether the fuel we're paying Xtra for really has the Xtra octane ratings. That should be easy enough to check for any magazine.

Im usually a silent observer of all these threads/topics. When it comes to the petroleum part of the discussion I know a few top officials in the Oil Industries across India. Anyways the point is most of you feel that the premium fuels that you are offered contain a higher amount of Octane.

Sorry to burst the bubble but it doesnt. It just contains some chemicals that reduce carbon deposits.

As per Oil industry standards the the minimum octane content is 88 in the case of Urban and around 86-87 in rural. This applies to all the Govt operated oil companies(I dont know about the pvt vendors like shell etc)

And according to govt requirements you are supposed to ad 5% of ethanol. This applies to all the companies reduce Co2 emissions. With this ethanol you end up getting 2-3 more octane EVEN in the normal fuel.

From a couple of months most of these companies are not able to procure the Ethanol required for mixing.

The bottom line, atleast in Karnataka the normal fuels contain 88-91 octane and only BPCL provides speed 97 which has 97 octanes +or- 1 in all cases.

Also there are only 3 Equipements to check the octane content in Karnataka. They cost 2.75cr each.

If anyone is really interested to check the octane content of some samples, PM me I shall direct you thru the channel. The testing comes at a cost, 8-10k by the company.

Cheers,

Its true that Shell petrol gives you a smother run - not sure about the millage.....