Why wont motorcycle companys design their bikes to also run on E-85?
Ok guys, here’s a few real facts. First of all, gasoline needs about a 14:1 air-fuel ratio, give or take a bit. Ethanol requires around a 6:1 ratio. Put pure ethanol, or even E85 in your tank and the carb or fuel injection will be running so lean that the engine will never run, or at least run really bad. Back in 1986, Chrysler developed the little gizmo that determines how much ethanol is in the incoming fuel and then adjusts the amount of fuel injected into the intake. Put one of those on a bike and you could run any mix of ethanol. Ethanol does not vaporize as easily as gas (hence the 15% gas in E85) and high amounts of ethanol can cause hard starting in really cold weather. Yes the octane rating is higher but an engine does not run hotter. Because of the differences in latent heat between the two fuels, E85 run through a common carb could cause icing problems. In other words, vaporizing ethanol requires more heat than does gasoline and will form frost on the outside of the carb in
