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I've had my scooter since 2010 and always used 93 premium at whichever gas station I ended up at, usually having "up to 10% ethanol." It ran great and had a good linear response with the throttle up until about 2 or 3 years ago where I noticed it started feeling like it was "driving uphill". It would have no power until about 50% throttle.

Short version: When I use gas with ethanol from any gas station, my bike doesn't accelerate when between 10% and 50% throttle except from a full stop... but soon as I hit 10mph or so, it loses all its power every time. Keep giving it more throttle and it just gets louder but doesn't really rev higher... give it more throttle over 50% and it takes off. When I try to cruise at a speed and back off throttle, the bike throws forward and starts engine-braking a little. When I use Ethanol free gas, I don't have this problem at all and it runs great. What's going on?

Long version (more details):
I had it inspected and nothing was wrong other than the clog the mechanic seemed to create by blowing strong air through the tubes, causing my bike not to even idle anymore...and needing WOT just to even move. He made me drive it home and back the next day in that condition...the bike almost threw me off multiple times because having to be WOT. I have terrible experience with the shops here... ANYWAY... in the end he cleaned up the pilot jet which was clogged (from him I bet), put in some ethanol treatment and told me to try ethanol free gas. He said the rest of my carb was fine, but maybe the uphill feel was my needle jet running lean. I asked if the needle could be adjusted since I'd seen it done on YouTube, but he said mine doesn't have the adjustment washer.

I tried the ethanol free gas (93 octane like I always did) and after a couple tanks WOW, my bike felt normal again. I went back to pump gas and it was feeling like going uphill again. Back to ethanol free, and it felt normal again. It's always the same result no matter how many times I switch back and forth.

I should mention on top of that, my bike was also doing an annoying bogging thing around the same low/mid throttle and although it would keep speed, it wasn't constant power... I kept feeling the bike jerking back and forth a little bit. I actually thought it was the wind for a while, but it definitely wasn't. Ethanol free fixed that too...

I'm hoping someone here might know the answer why this happens. On another note, I'm debating trying regular 87 octane with ethanol from any normal gas station after reading up that scooters don't actually need premium because of china octane conversion/whatever? Maybe my bike will like 87... I don't know. I'm just hoping, because the ethanol free gas station has hours and you can't pump it yourself... have to wait on the worker to come out and pump it, plus no pay at the pump... just kinda inconvenient altogether!

Is there some explanation for why my bike runs much better on the ethanol free gas?

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