In the UK/Western Europe, we'll be riding a Honda ST1300 that runs okay on normal unleaded petrol (ULP = 87-91 octane), but we prefer Premium (PULP = 95-98 octane) which is recommended.

In early threads, I've read comments by beddhist and Steve Pickford, about difficulties getting petrol on Sundays in rural France and other places, and about using plastic to pay for it. This got me thinking about fuelling-up and raised other questions:

1. Is Premium easliy accessible?
2. Is fuel generally clean? (i.e. even in the back blocks?)
3. What is the current price per litre for ULP, and how much extra cost for Premium?
4. How much does price vary? (i.e. like in Australia it varies significantly: between States because of local taxes, from city to outback because of freight and competition, and on different days of the week!)
5. How common is ethanol an additive? (e.g. e-10). Honda does not recommend ethanol in the ST1300. If it is common, is it only in ULP, or has it been added now also to PULP?

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks
John

This not as big an issue as it used to be IME. More and more French self service at supermarkets take the UK card. If really in doubt, make yiur path cross a motorway and use a stretch to get to a service station.

French people are always happy to swop cash for fuel on their cards.

To answer Q's

1) Yes
2) Yes, Europe is highly civilised
3) UK=85-90p, France similar, cheapest in Lichenstein/Luxembourg
4) Not greatly, highest prices are in motorway services
5) Pass, but most stations in UK and France have both, but our rating starts at 95 anyway.

Check out
About Fuel - Octane Ratings and RON - PetrolPrices.com

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Hi John:

I keep a ST1100 in Switzerland, I've ridden it 60,000 miles all over the place in the last 5 years.

I pretty much agree with what Bruce has said. I can't remember ever seeing a gas station in an EC country that didn't sell premium grade fuel. Maybe in rural Poland or Romania, perhaps, but certainly you won't have any concerns about getting premium fuel in Western or Central Europe.

Buying fuel after-hours (nights and weekends) can be a PITA in France, but as Bruce mentioned, all you have to do is wait until a local comes along to fill up their car (using a credit card), and swap them cash. Just be sure to have a few 10 or 20 Euro notes on you (you can't expect someone to have change). I have never had any difficulty doing this, as soon as the locals see you are from out of the country they instinctively comprehend your problem. Heck, my Swiss credit card doesn't work in most French gas stations! That notwithstanding, France is a great place, don't miss it. However, if you ever need to buy (for example) a can of Coke, a pack of cigarettes, and a newspaper, just be aware that you are going to have to visit three separate shops to accomplish that task.

Ethanol doesn't seem to have caught on in Europe. It's big in North America because there are huge swaths of land available to grow the corn. In Europe, farms are not so big, and the farmers can make more money growing other stuff. I would not be too concerned at all about the ethanol.

Although Luxembourg does have cheap fuel, Switzerland has even cheaper fuel. Netherlands and the UK have the highest prices.

Austria the cheapest AFAIK.

Lars

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You won't find anything lower than 95 in Europe, so you can just fill up anywhere. Some stations sell a 97 or 98 premium or super unleaded, which is a bit more expensive.

Full european prices canbe found here:
AA Roadwatch : European Petrol Prices

General tips and legal requirements:

The AA: European Driving

As others have said the only place where fuel availability can be a problem is rural france during the weekend. Most places are closed saturday afternoon and sunday, and if they have an automated pump it won't accept foreign credit cards. The large service stations on major routes will still be open, so make sure you fill up before heading onto the smaller roads.
Petrol quality is never a problem - most of the stations are operated by the major oil companies, eg Esso, BP, Elf, Fina, Repsol, etc

Just remembered the worst time to look for petrol, or anything , in France.... Aug 15th, some religious day :-) And don't ever break down that day :-)

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Uh, I'm not so sure about that. I was not paying attention when I filled my VW Golf up with 91 octane in the Czech Republic two years ago - a mile or so down the road, the poor car started coughing, the CEL (Check Engine Light) came on, and the car went into "Limp Home" mode. I happened to have a VW diagnostic scan tool with me, so I scanned the engine controller, and found misfire problems on all cylinders.

Although it is possible that the Middle European countries may have phased out the really low octane gasoline by now, it is also possible that really low octane fuel may still be sold in countries where there are a lot of old Eastern Bloc cars that don't need higher octane. So, do pay attention to the octane number on the pump.

I think Mark's observation that "95 is the lowest you can find" is probably quite true for Western Europe.

Michael

That's is not true - it depends on the country. For example, you won't be able to get anything lower than 95 on Corsica, you'll have quite some trouble in Italy and France. Yet every gas station in Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and several other countries sells all of'em - 91, 95, 98 and in some cases 100.

PS: I find it quite amusing that you're asking this question... sounds like people outside of Europe think of us as uncivilized blobs

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Prices June of 2006:

Germany (on the Autobahn): €1.414/liter for Super Plus 98

Northern Italy (Dolomites-Garda): €1.338/liter for 95 to as high as €1.522/liter for Shell V Power 100.

You'll find some gas stations in Italy are automated which means you slip a €10 note into the pump and it'll dispense €10 worth of gas. Larger towns and cities, that isn't an issue. So carry a bunch of €10 note with you.

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All the best,
Alex

Alex's BMW Motorcycle & Global Touring Page
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- If motorcyclists claim to be individuals, why then do so many of them ride in packs?

Thank you everyone for your information, especially MarkLG as I found the AA web site particularly useful for budgeting my 20,000+km travels throughout the EU and on lots of other road use issues
Cheers
John

in General the further south and / or east you go, the cheaper the fuel gets ... starting at UK / NL which is the expensive part ... Croatia, Bosnia et al are all cheaper still (around 90 euro cents) . Russia is about 20 rubles a litre for 95 (60 euro cents a lire)

The big exception to this generalisation is Turkey ... where fuel is taxed to the max ... and is about EUR 1.50 a litre

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