I used to feed my Honda XL100 2-stroke motorcycle with up to 25% alchohol and the rest gasoline. A little carb tweaking was involved, but it worked just fine.
Having tried the same in my Kawasaki KLR 650 4 stroke without complaint, I decided to try straight E-85. Big mistake, made worse by the fact that I filled the whole tank, not just a small test ammount. After a halting ride to Walmart for a wimpy siphon (read small diameter, short hose & it wouldn’t self prime as advertised) & a matching gas can (self venting means leaky) I removed half of the E-85 & replaced it with regular gas. With another carb adjustment it ran O.K., but needed the rpm’s kept above 4000 & a long warm up with the choke open wide.
After running with the carb & choke open so far for a whole tank I expected much lower fuel economy. I was pleasantly suprised that it *increased* 10mpg! So the question is, will it hurt the bike to do this for the summer? Not only did I get better mileage, but an average savings over 50 cents on the gallon.
Any thoughts? Anyone? Homer?
