Aspen fuel is ideal for classic motorcycles

Why use Aspen fuel in your beloved classic?

Aspen fuel for Classic Motorcycles

One of the biggest issues facing the collector of classic motorcycles is the quality of modern petrol. The petrol that we buy from the filling station today is quite poor quality compared with a decade or so ago.

Oil companies are under more and more pressure to extract more fuel from every barrel of crude, which is leading to a poorer quality fuel. This modern petrol is made up of more than 100 chemicals, roughly a third of which are Aromatic Hydrocarbons (solvents). It is these solvents that give petrol its signature 'heady' smell, but these chemicals are also responsible for the rapid degradation of petrol. At times this fuel can degrade to an unacceptable level in as little as a month, after which time the ability to start an engine will be compromised and power will drop when started. The stale fuel also starts to slowly dissolve soft materials such as rubber fuel hoses, plastic fuel tanks and aluminium carburettor parts.

The safe storage life of 'pump petrol is now only around one month, although the actual rate of degradation depends on heat, light and humidity. Storage of cans in a cool, dark and dry cabinet will extend the life of petrol, whereas the fuel in the tank of a motorcycle kept near the window in a warm garage will degrade the very fastest.

Oil companies are also now having to add a percentage of ethanol (biofuel from a renewable source) to petrol to make it go further, preserving underground oil reserves for a few more years, a noble cause.

However, the ethanol has an affinity to water and absorbs its own volume in water, with which it mixes and forms a watery mess in the bottom of the tank which eventually turns to a gel in a process known as 'phase separation'

Many classic motorcycle owners run their beloved machines much less often than they wish they could. Pressures on time from other commitments leave much less free time than we thought we would have when we first bought our bikes, leaving us very little time to use them. Then of course, when we do get the time we find the weather against us.

The result is that our bikes sit unused for lengthy periods, and of course, the fuel tanks often tend to be quite large, so we don't empty them out between use. And of course, these days we tend not to turn the fuel off and let the engine run dry like we used to, so fuel remains in the carburettor, doing what fuel does best, going stale.

So when we do at last get a chance to use our beloved motorcycle we find the engine will not start, or if it does then it runs like a bag of proverbial compost. Large bills from the engineer ensue.

But there is now an answer to this problem in the form of Aspen alkylate fuel. This is a chemically pure form of petrol made from the surplus gases at the refinery and contains no Ethanol or other solvents.

The result is that Aspen can sit in the can, or on the bike for years with no detriment to the carburettor, fuel lines or pump diaphragms, ensuring a perfect start every time, even after many months of storage. Bikes stored with Aspen will start easily even after months (or years) of storage and furthermore, they start cleanly and sweetly with none of the coughing and wheezing, or the clouds of smelly exhaust that we are all used to with 'pump' petrol that has been around for more than a month or so.

The engine oil will stay perfectly clean when using Aspen as it does not have to clean up the filthy products of combustion associated with 'pump' fuel, and the spark plug too will remain virtually untarnished. The upper cylinder of a new engine run on Aspen from new will look just like new if dismantled after several years of use, whereas one run on 'pump' will have heavy carbon deposits, but when used exclusively on Aspen these old carbon deposits will slowly and surely diminish. These benefits alone will to some extent counter the extra cost incurred by the use of Aspen fuel.

Even though Aspen is some 2.5 times the cost of 'pump' it's a cost that Aspen users are more than happy with to ensure that their motorcycles suffer no further deterioration.

Aspen alkylate fuel is still a very unknown product. I came across it in 2011 through my garden machinery business. We were suffering so many fuel-related issues on both 4-stroke and 2-stroke engines that something needed to be done. In fact, I believe that around 85% of small engine problems are related to the ageing and storage of 'pump' petrol. Since adopting Aspen as our preferred fuel, becoming the Devon Aspen agent, and encouraging our customers to use it, we now suffer virtually no fuel-related issues on the machines run on Aspen. 

We are already selling Aspen in quite considerable quantities to owners of vintage and classic motorcycles

Aspen comes in two forms, Aspen 4 (blue cans) for four-stroke engines, and Aspen 2 FRT for two strokes. The Aspen 2 is premixed with high-grade 2-stroke oil at 2%.

Both fuels can be purchased over the counter at our East Devon shop.

See our Aspen Pages for more information or to find prices.