Leaded Fuel ???????

[CAKustom]

O.K. I KNOW THIS IS A DUMB QUESTION BUT REMEMBER I COME FROM THE NEW AGE OF UNLEADED FUEL ONLY. THE MANUAL AND SIDE COVER INFO SAYS TO RUN LEADED FUEL IN THESE OLD HOGS, WHICH LEADS ME TO WONDER - IS THERE ANYTHING THAT SHOULD BE DONE DIFFERENTLY TO RUN UNLEADED, OR ARE THERE ADDITIVES THAT WILL MAKE THE BIKE RUN BETTER? LIKE I SAID- I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LEADED FUELS, AND ANY INFO ABOUT THIS MATTER WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

THANKS, CORY

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Cory,

This was copied from the Miscellaneous tips section:

Leaded vs. Unleaded circa~2002
Jurek Zarzycki

Yamaha stated that the XS11 was designed for unleaded gas which was required in Japan and Europe long before it was required in USA. They said that if you are adding lead to your gas, you are wasting your money and polluting for no good reason. I believe them, and never added lead. Recently I popped the head to replace the valve stem seals and the valves were in a perfect shape after 60,000 miles. But if it makes you feel good, then do it!

T.C.

[tfm3]

Love the pun-[which leads me to wonder]
My limited understanding of fuels leads me to this combustion.
The lead was all about lubrication.
Some new premium unleaded fuels have that lube/detergent built into them,some don't. After 15 years of trying every additive there is on old motors I've come to the conclusion that the only thing they're good for is preventive maintainance in small doses.

Back in the days of the transition between leaded and unleaded fuel there were HUGE variations in quality/efficiency.When I aquired my first XS ['90-95] it would only run on one brand of fuel.
Hope I haven't mislead you in any way.

[chevy45412001]

leaded fuels

leaded fuels were run in vehicals before hardened valve seats.the lead would actualy leave a deposit on the head around the seat,so the valve would not recess.Now that makes me wonder? Is that the reason we have valve seat recession on our bikes?(valve moving closer to cam,giving the tight tolerance on the valve adjustment procedure?)Do our bikes have hardened seats?

[Speedwagon]

One of the reasons lead was used, is it acts like an octane booster. So a lot of vehicles that used to run on leaded gas require premium unleaded to run properly. Older vehicles, alot of times, have higher compression ratios, resulting in detonation(pinging) with regular unleaded gas.

[srq68]

Leaded fuel....

Anybody tried burning 100 octane low-lead AVGAS in their engine? That's available at your local airport for $2.50-$3.10/gal.