Modern Vespa

Here in Northern Europe it's quite common to find "synthetic gasoline" available for small engines, aka. alkylate gasoline. It's cleaner burning due to it being synthetized from by-products from gasoline production, and at least seems to work just fine in chainsaws, lawnmowers etc.

Now, I noticed that it has a RON of 94, and a MON of 92, so it's R+M/2 rating is 93, which is quite high, and it's not terribly expensive compared to regular gasoline (less than 1.5x if you buy it in 25 liter cans).

And the best part is, this stuff never goes bad, I have cans that are several years old, and they never seem to change. This is probably mostly due to the fuel being ethanol free, but it's amazing compared to normal gasoline.

So, what are your guys thoughts on this? Here's a link to the US site, sadly the datasheet showing the MON and RON is only available in Swedish and Finnish. https://www.aspenfuels.us/products/all/aspen-2/

(BTW, I'm not in any way affiliated with these guys).

I run a 93 octane (R+M)/2, also called AKI Anti-Knock Index, in my scoot here in the states. It works fine.

TLDR: Aspen is using an Isooctane instead of ethanol blended with their gasoline feedstock to achieve their stated octane rating. Who knows what quality the oil they are adding to the pre-mix. I would have no issue running an alkylate gasoline (even at a reasonable price premium) but I would not run the Aspen pre-mix for my tuner Vespa engine.

I have gone down the fuel rabbit hole before, but will keep this higher level.

Below is a simplistic explanation:
Gasoline out of the refinery tap is lower octane than what is needed at the pump. Therefore you need to bump up the AKI before selling at the pump. To increase AKI you need to spike the gasoline with one or more of the following: alcohols (methanol, ethanol, etc), ethers (MTBE, ETBE, etc), or antiknock agent (Tetraethyllead aka TEL aka lead, Isooctane, etc).

Let's focus on Isooctane. "Isooctane is produced on a massive scale in the petroleum industry by alkylation of isobutene with isobutane. The process is conducted in alkylation units in the presence of acid catalysts." Wikipedia: Isooctane (2,2,4-Trimethylpentane). Yay, we got there. Alkylate = Isooctane. My guess is that it cost more to use an alkylate versus ethanol to spike octane. However if you can charge a premium to a customer who cares about having non-ethanol fuel then it is a win win. STFU with your marketing crap, this is a fuel which is made up of almost entirely of hydrocarbons. /end rant

Now to the oil portion of their premix. I think what oil you run in a 2 stroke is very important, but maybe I bought into the industry's marketing hype. I didn't see Aspen list out the oil they use and what standard is tested to. I would be worried they are more concerned about pushing the environmental angle than the performance result. See the link further down about 2 stroke oil.

If you want to join the rabbit hole below are 2 great links about 2T oils and 2T gasolines:
Klemm Vintage: About Two Stroke Oils and Premixes
Klemm Vintage: About Gasolines and Octanes for Vintage Two-Strokes

Disclaimer: I'm not in industry, and did simplify some points. I could be incorrect about the simplifications and I am willing to learn.

Not to sidetrack too much, but curious what oil you are using on your tuned engine?

Motul 710. Not saying it is the best, but better than chainsaw/offbrand. Plus my local scoot shop sells it, helps support him. I would be open to Amsoil 2T stuff if he sold it.

I've also been solely using Motul 710.

It really hurts, when I read sentence like this..

https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/7722/why-are-there-so-many-different-pasta-shapes

Also including.



A guy I met in Brazil claimed he invented it at his London restaurant.

I believe that's the most popular choice of pasta at any Mardi Gras worldwide..

I love the label "King Size" when the package is only half the normal weight..

It's so clever...

Here's the comparison chart (in Swedish unfortunately) for the fuel, it seems to contain quite a bit less "undesirables" compared to normal gasoline at least.

Translation of the different terms:

Ångtryck = Vapor Pressure
Svavel = Sulphur
Aromater = Aromatics
Bensen = Benzene
Olefiner = Olefins
Etanol = Ethanol
Oxidationsstabilitet (minuter) = Oxidation Stability (minutes)

So, the takeaway is that it's comparatively as volatile as gasoline, but contains way less sulphur, aromatic compounds and olefins compared to gasoline, and practically no benzene.

The EN228 column is EN228 standard gasoline, middle column is standard alkylate gasoline, and Aspen to the left.

The 2T oil used in the premix is claimed to be the following (freely translated from Swedish by yours truly), most if pure marketing and no standards nor specifications are presented. Funnily enough they recommend that you use marine 2T oil for outboard applications and do the mixing yourself...