To ethanol or not to ethanol

Kathy Mossey was nice enough to give me a Stewart's gift card for storing her scooter over the winter, so I used it to buy non-ethanol high test gasoline. I like the way my Burgman 650 started and performed better, so I continued using non-ethanol all year whenever I could purchase it.

So Anal Bob tracked the records and has this to report:

4 riding seasons, 20,468 miles/430.89 gal = 47.5 mpg. on ethanol gas

2015 on non-ethanol gas, 4,550 miles /89.23 gal = 51.0 mpg

That's a 7.4% increase in mileage, roughly the percentage of ethanol added to gas in this region. So does that damn stuff burn at all in our engines?

But non-ethanol costs more! Yes, it does - somewhere in the range of 20% more - so you are not saving money here? . Not initially, but the increased performance and avoidance of ethanol-related problems quickly tips the balance sheet in favor of non-ethanol gas. When I use non-ethanol in my old vehicles, scooters, and motorcycles the advantages are very apparent.

So we are back to many scooterists' inertia - non-ethanol costs more and they have to go out of their way to find it. Buck Up, soldier! Every Stewart's has it now and there's even a website to use when you're on the road.