Posted in: Brass by shovelhead13 on December 11th, 2010 | 0 Comments
This shows all the mechanical problems one Harley chopper rider has had to fight since gasoline contaminated with ethanol fuel additive was forced upon him. It also shows how and why he has figured a legal way to avoid it.
Ethanol Free Gasoline Dependant
Bil still owns a 1980 thousand CC Sportster chopper. It was purchased long before ethanol got mixed into gasoline. Back then Bil could only afford a repossessed Harley Davidson not a brand new one. Over the years many of the stock parts have been replaced. The stock frame got traded for a nineteen seventy one Sportster drag bike frame so the motorcycle could be lowered with some side bolt on Shovel head shock absorbers. The small stock gasoline tank got traded off for a two and a half gallon pair of custom wide glide gas tanks. Forward controls replaced the stock shifter and break pedal. In order to give it a nice level low appearance the stock front end got replaced by a nineteen forty six Harley Scout bike springer front end. His motorcycle now looks older than it really is. Shouldn’t antique motorcycles balance just as well as brand new ones?
Ethanol Free Gasoline Fuel Mileage
One must understand how much it cracked Bil up to think about people watching him as he rode his old Harley chopper. Bil thought it would blow some minds when people saw all the gray in his beard and matched that with how old his motorcycle looked. It’s just that he couldn’t afford to waist money like some old fashioned biker. That made him be careful and watch out at how much gasoline got burned while travelling along. While ethanol free gasoline was available trying to purchase the best quality gasoline made a big difference. That fact allowed his antique to get forty eight miles per gallon. When the price of gasoline first started jumping up Bil could laugh. He thought that the large Sportster engine pushing the small chopper frame made his motorcycle a major monetary investment. Shouldn’t older bikers enjoy riding motorcycles that run better on premium gasoline than some with ethanol added to it?
No Ethanol Free Gasoline Lowers Mileage
Unfortunately Bil didn’t understand how having ethanol added to normal ethanol free gasoline would effect the amount of gasoline his old chopper burned. When the motorcycle started burning a lot of fuel Bil figured there might be some contamination in it. Something that leaked into the below ground gas station gasoline tanks. The gasoline tank petcock that Bil uses has three places to set the lever at. One can shut the gas off or switch it on or when needed switch it to reserve. A couple of the local gasoline stations sold gas that made the petcock fuel filter clog up so bad Bil had to switch the petcock onto reserve while there was still plenty of gasoline in the tanks. One station sold gas in such poor quality that his motorcycle would start acting like it was running out of gas shortly after warming up. In order to save some money shouldn’t chopper riders purchase high quality gasoline?
