Comments on: Flexible Fuel Motorcycles

By: Specialgreen

Specialgreen — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:56:25 +0000

The E85forum.com website is frequented by people who (ahem) think for themselves: racers, bio-fuel advocates, tinkerers, and a few Genuine Characters. The information there is not “safe” in the corporate sense, but can give you some good background on what other people have tried with E-85 and various vehicles.

Regarding whether the Bimmer (or any bike) can handle E-85: it’s fairly simple to test your bike for its ability to ajdust the air/fuel mixture for E-85. You can try mixing E-85 and gasoline, in increasing amounts, until your sparkplugs turn white. That should be a hint that your ECU is no-longer able to keep the air/fuel mixture in stoich.

I’d recommend starting with a 1:2 mixture of E-85 with regular unleaded, and trying 1:1 and even 2:1. I’d be surprised if you can’t get to a 1:1 mixture, but depending on temp. and altitude, “your mileage may vary.”

Kneesliders will be interested in the 105+ octane of E-85: if you want a dedicated race bike, it’s time to visit your local machinist for some domed pistons. You may want to change-out your front sprocket, or the friction zone will get a tad short.

Shiny side up!
Specialgreen
http://e85forum.com

By: ACP

ACP — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 07:26:07 +0000

I have been told that the BMW R1200 GS / Adventure model can safely adjust to and run on E85. Can anybody confirm this?

By: Specialgreen

Specialgreen — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 04:54:22 +0000

I posted the above article at http://e85forum.com . I have been riding an E85-powered Suzuki GS500 for a couple of years. I did need to rejet significantly, but made no other changes to the fuel system, and have had no fuel-system problems. The motorcycle is not “Flex-Fuel”, since it would run overly rich on plain gasoline. To be truly “Flex-Fuel”, you would need to use a programmable injection system like MegaSquirt.

By: TRG

TRG — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 19:04:42 +0000

Check out the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition at http://www.E85Fuel.com and American Lung Association http://www.CleanAirChoice.org (also has a price index) for more info on E85.

If interested in E85, you’ll also want to tap into this forum:
http://e85forum.com/post-7.html

They talk about E85 use in small engines, etc.

By: Phil Olinger

Phil Olinger — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 21:25:11 +0000

The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) site has great info on Alternative Fuels at http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/

I used the fuel station locator to find biodiesel for my turbodiesel car: http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/infrastructure/refueling.html