Modern Vespa

Not sure about the rest of the world, but in the U.K. at least - the premium fuels contain cleaners, other additives and less ethanol so have a greater potential power per litre of fuel.

At Goodwood festival of speed once, BP had plumbed a different fuel to each half of a V8 and then run it for a few thousand miles. Looking through the spark plug holes with their camera - you could see so much carbon build up with regular fuels, but the premium fuel made the piston look brand new.

Higher ron should in theory also lead to a better range per tank full - which can be important on long adventures.

When the same motors are used in Piaggio-branded, non-Vespa scoots, do they still call for premium? Just curious...

Be careful, that's a bit like being intrigued with heroin. I just looked them up and so far they've only made it up to San Luis Obispo so you're safe for now.

That's a great question.

In Italy, and most of Europe, our "base" fuel is 95 Ron and our premium is 98/99 Ron.

Japan apparently has 91 Ron base or 98 Ron premium.

I think this is why Piaggio uses the Italian fuel options but Honda can run on the lower quality Japanese fuel.

Also, I don't think Honda's aren't pushed as far as a result. The 125cc air cooled Honda unit kicks out 9hp (in the Grom, Monkey etc). The 125cc air cooled engines in the Piaggios (Sprint / Primavera / Liberty) have 11hp.

Probably because in Europe 'Regular' is 95 RON. Cheapest you can get.

OK, so 93 (RON 98) is not that common in the US and Canada.

a 5min dig through some manuals

gts300hpe 11:1 95ron
beverly 125 12:1 95ron
beverly 250 11:1 95ron
guzzi v7 10.5:1 95ron
honda 300crf 10.7:1 90ron

So basically 95 Ron is 91 US octane (R+M)/2, right?

BP recommendation for motorcycles
https://www.bp.com/en_id/indonesia/home/products-and-services/fuels-retail/news-article/tips-in-choosing-quality-fuel-for-your-motorcycle.html

fuel with RON 90 is designated for vehicles with 9-10 compression ratio. For a 10-11 compression ratio, it is recommended to use RON 92. While the compression ratio for 11-12, it is best to use RON 95

yes BP wants to sell the more expensive ron but I'll stick with 95 for my hpe with 11:1

a little more googling suggests that higher revving (motorcycles vs cars vs sports cars) needs more octane and earlier ignition advance also does. whereas having good scavenging reduces the needed octane. so what is good for one engine design is not necessarily good for another

Yes.

This seems like a good analogy.

Piaggio says premium (Octane 91) for BV350.

Most stations in FL have 87, 89 and 93. 91 is not so common.

I've always used 93, next jerrycan fill-up will be combo of 93 and 89 to see if there's any difference in mpg.

That jumped out at me also

No, that's just Jim referring to Americans in his usual British way.

Merely quoting a certain G H W Bush - "Ah'm a Merkin". So the rest of the English speaking world adopted this as a nickname - much like Limeys (AU) or Rosbifs (FR) for UK folk.

I never understood putting nitrogen in tires.
Air has more nitrogen than oxygen in it.
The nitrogen molecule is larger than the oxygen molecule.
So the oxygen would leak out first leaving you with more nitrogen, right?
So the more you fill your tires, the higher percentage of nitrogen you will have.

Nitrogen will expand less as it heats up than oxygen.

On a summer day ride i get about 7-8psi increase on the rear tire when starting at around 18C in the morning as it goes up to 65C or more after a few hours of thrashing. Front also increases but only about half as much

see you need to color code the nitrogen green and the oxygen blue so you know which actually leaks out so you can get the proper percentages.