Low fuel octane on 990
 

I'm planning to ride from Australia through Southeast Asia to Europe then south through West Africa to South Africa and I'm wondering how the 2010 990 will perform on the poor quality fuels available in the countries I plan to travel. Is there any other setting available other than the wire you unplug to run on less than 95 rating? Do I need any other setting? Also can I get tyres in northern India? Any help much appreciated.

The thing to watch for on the 990 is a clogged fuel filter. The 990 is very sensitive to dirty fuel. It is a major job to replace the filter, which is in the tank. If you suspect dirty fuel, pre strain it when filling up. If you ride with a clogged filter the bike will choke, starved of fuel, and it will damage your fuel pump, an even more expensive exercise.

Thanks for that info. I replaced the filters before I left Australia and have a spare with me. Seems to be okay so far, the idle is a little slow after about 5000km in Indonesia.

Good luck. You wont pick up a fuel filter problem at idle. It is when you try and accelerate. You will feel the bike choke and wont want to rev beyond about 5000 rpm. It is not a roadside repair. It involves removing crash bar, fairing, draining fuel from the tank, removing fuel pump etc. Did you get the whole fuel filter kit?

It is far safer to prefilter. There are kits to attach a prefilter to the filler caps.

Are you carrying synthetic oil to top up? The LC8 does use oil between services and synthetic is not easy to find.

Where do you plan on doing a service? It may be a good idea to check if they have a filter kit available and change it (it costs a fair bit for the labour) but it is safer. Ask them for a prefilter kit as well. I get about 20-25 000 km on a filter but it only takes 1 tank of bad fuel to leave you stranded. There always comes that day when you are low on fuel and you get to that station that is old, run down, not used often, and you cringe at what is going into your tank. Your bike may run on that tank, you fill up again then the choking starts.....Don't mess about with cleaning the filter. Change it. The cost is in the labour, so it makes no sense so save small sums by trying to clean a filter.

To do it your self is quite a job and you will need something clean to drain the fuel into, unless you are near enough to somewhere where you can walk back with new fuel.