Fuel mixture

[Duncan250]

I have a sherco 2008 trails and wondered what the mixture for the bike is? Thanks in advance.

[Tr1AL]

1 hour ago, Duncan250 said:

I have a sherco 2008 trails and wondered what the mixture for the bike is? Thanks in advance.

If you are going to use a TRIAL specific oil like ROCK OIL  Strawberry or PUTOLINE Strawberry ETC then you can choose to put 65:1 , 70:1 , 80:1 , 100:1  take your pick any one of those ratios will work it depends how much you know about oil really . VERTIGO trials bikes run at near 200:1 so you are in a very grey area.  If it were my bike I would go for 80;1 but you will probably find that you just opened a 'Can of worms'. The theory is the less oil you use the cleaner your EXHAUST SYSTEM will be for a longer period and as 2 strokes power output is affected by the design of the system IE the length and diameter of the header/front pipe and the volume and shape of the mid box and silencer and how the exhaust is packed with wire wool in the mid box and fibre glass string ETC in the silencer box then if it gets clogged with excessive amounts of un burnt oil  that turns into caked carbon deposits then it will alter the way that the motor delivers the power. You would not want to run your particular bike at 200;1 but 100:1 would not hurt it with modern oils,  80:1 is the being safer ratio. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Tr1AL

[lemur]

13 hours ago, Duncan250 said:

I have a sherco 2008 trails and wondered what the mixture for the bike is? Thanks in advance.

The owner manual says 2% and that works out to 50:1 ratio so imho that would be a good place to start.

[Tr1AL]

5 hours ago, lemur said:

The owner manual says 2% and that works out to 50:1 ratio so imho that would be a good place to start.

Seriously that is way too much oil in the mix and is recommended in the manual purely because they have to warranty the bike for a short while and their oil manufacturing partner of that moment in time IPONE or which ever brand they do a deal with wants you to use as much oil as possible to make money  , it is  just wasting oil and your own money. 

[Cee-B]

10 minutes ago, Tr1AL said:

Seriously that is way too much oil in the mix and is recommended in the manual purely because they have to warranty the bike for a short while and their oil manufacturing partner of that moment in time IPONE or which ever brand they do a deal with wants you to use as much oil as possible to make money  , it is  just wasting oil and your own money. 

Maybe so, but I've never heard of an engine seizing due to too much oil. I use 60:1. As long as it isn't producing too much 'spooge' and it reacts sharply, I'm OK with maybe using a little too much oil; it is a helluva lot cheaper than what might happen through using too little.

[Tr1AL]

26 minutes ago, Cee-B said:

Maybe so, but I've never heard of an engine seizing due to too much oil. I use 60:1. As long as it isn't producing too much 'spooge' and it reacts sharply, I'm OK with maybe using a little too much oil; it is a helluva lot cheaper than what might happen through using too little.

Nothing will happen, i have run water cooled trials motors during the 1990.s at 100:1 and nothing happened and at 80:1 and nothing happened if you want to waste oil and your money then of course that is your prerogative.

[lemur]

2 hours ago, Tr1AL said:

Seriously that is way too much oil in the mix and is recommended in the manual purely because they have to warranty the bike for a short while and their oil manufacturing partner of that moment in time IPONE or which ever brand they do a deal with wants you to use as much oil as possible to make money  , it is  just wasting oil and your own money. 

I can see that, would goop up the exhaust system if the oil isn't being burnt off sufficiently and I've had ipone do that.  If you use a 2-stroke oil from a reputable company that says 100:1 right on the bottle that is a safe bet in my opinion and it won't goop up the exhaust much. If the oil makes no claim to being suited to lean mixture I tend to pay more attention to the service manuals.  

Edited December 29, 2023 by lemur
because ipone is not iphone

[faussy]

Because its a 15 year old bike and youre calling it a trail bike id definietly suggest no less than 60:1

[lemur]

Starting in 1976 I rode a Montesa 360VA (air-cooled 2-stroke with a single ring piston and honed steel barrel) running Bel ray MC-1 oil at the ratio of 80:1 as written on the bottle, never had an oil related problem on that machine.  The only time I did have a pre-mix oil problem was when I attempted to use some MC-1 that was so far beyond its shelf life it had turned brown instead of blue.  Using the discoloured oil resulted in gummed up and stuck piston rings on a chainsaw, but it didn't kill the saw, I was able to clean it up, reassembled it and it ran fine for a few more years.  I've used Amsoil 100:1 Saber at 1% pre-mix in chainsaws, snowmobiles and motorcycles for decades with no problem just as long as the oil and fuel was good to begin with and that includes machines that would normally call for 32:1 using oil that has 32:1 written right on the bottle.

I don't think an oil manufacturer would risk recommending an oil ratio that does not work, so I tend to go by what is written on the bottle.  I'm also seeing more and more synthetic oils that have no mix ratio printed on the bottle which is concerning because I think they are just trying to avoid liability and make everything the consumers fault.  I tend to not buy that oil if there is an option and there usually is.

Note: Saber 100:1 2-stroke oil is literally too concentrated to run in oil injected machines at the normal oil injection ratios, that's why Amsoil makes Interceptor which is virtually the same oil except rated for 50:1 If the oil says it is good for oil injection systems it won't be suited to 1% lean pre-mix.  If the oil says it is good for oil injection systems on the bottle then stay with the ratio recommended in your service manual.

Why do you want to run less oil in a pre-mix <- because adding oil to the fuel lowers the fuel octane and lean oil ratios will not lower the octane as much, plus it is less likely to deposit unburnt oil residue through your exhaust system.  If your exhaust system is constantly leaking black mung from every seam and clogging up your exhaust packing with raw oil then you are using too much oil in the pre-mix, time to change brands and find something that works.

[tony27]

With a decent synthetic oil 70-80:1 is fine

Biggest cause of clogged packing in exhausts is not getting the exhaust hot enough, if you ever do a decent climb that requires larger throttle openings for a few minutes you'll be surprised at how much the bike smokes & continues to smoke when you stop, a good trail ride every so often does wonders for keeping the exhaust clean