I'm planning an Alps trip on my Commando and wondered whether anybody can advise as to the general availability of E5/non-ethanol fuel at petrol filling stations on the continent ?
I guess this topic will also interest those riding to the Czech rally
Ethanol free fuel
In Holland, Shell V-Power 98, BP Ultimate 98 and Tamoil Superplus 98 contain no ethanol. Esso Synergy Supreme+ 98 used to be ethanol-free, but the website is not clear about what is is at present.
In Germany, there is ethanol-free Shell V-Power Racing 100 and Aral Ultimate 102 as well.
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E5
In Belgium, most of the 'brand name' garages have an E5 pump which of course indicates a maximum rather than a minimum. Both my 16H and Commando run quite happily on it...but fuel here has stunk of acetone and spray-gun cleaner for the last 25 years. Don't spill it on your paint, but don't worry about riding with it. France seems to be pretty much the same.
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Thanks for everybody's…
Thanks for everybody's comments. I was last on the continent in 2019 ( when the world was a different place !) and had been wondering what the rate of change reference fuel supplies had been.
Neil - enjoy the Rally - several of us from Bristol Branch had a foray to Czechoslovakia in 1991 - memories of very attractive ladies and eight pints of Pilsener for £1 - trust you find it has not changed much !
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I can,t recall seeing any marked non ethanol fuel in the last couple of 2800 mile Euro trips to the Austrian Rally and Sicily. I used whatever was available when I got near the 250 mile mark. The bike didn,t mind what went in from supermarket E10 95 to Aral102 octane. Ran perfectly and got consistent fuel consumption figures.
Doing the same to the Czech Rally and also returning across the Alps. Fuel type is a bit like wet sumping, Don,t worry about it and keep riding.