My streetfighter tank had to be replaced due to swelling caused by ethanol, I now only use bp ultimate unleaded. No ethanol added to it.
Surely you mean: "My streetfighter tank had to be replaced due to swelling caused by Ducati making it out of the wrong grade of plastic"?
I wonder whether the Ethanol content has made the fuel more aggressive to hoses, and especially those submerged in tanks? When I unwisely replaced the internal breather hoses in my tank with some new fuel tubing which looked identical to the (very expensive, apparently) Ducati variety, I was shocked at the rapidity ( a week or two) with which leakage problems developed, and at the nasty swollen state of the tubes when I removed them again before replacement with some genuine submersible hose (impossible to get in exactly the right size, so I had to use larger and find a way to make it fit). For some reason submerging a tube in fuel seems to put it under much more stress than simply having fuel on the inside ( smaller diameters of tubing don't have different material on the inside and outside as far as I can tell).
I wonder whether MZ had a stockpile of old Communist plastic tanks - perhaps made out of the same stuff as Trabants? I'll bet that pre-1990s East German gasoline was not without some additives.
If there are any real-life examples of specific problems with fuel tanks, taps, seals, pumps, pipes, carburettors, or injectors which are genuinely caused by ethanol/methanol in fuel (rather than old age or inappropriate materials), it would be very interesting to hear about them. Then forewarned owners of relevant models might take action to replace pipes, etc in advance of trouble hitting.
^ it's all out there Pete : - Ethanol Producer Magazine – The Latest News and Data About Ethanol Production E85 has been used for a while now, continual/long term use being possibly the quickest way to find out exactly what degrades/perishes. EDIT - the above link is for one page within a website, i would hope that anyone using it would realise that you can then go on to read any article within that website..
the information re: affected materials hasn't changed significantly I would hazard a dress plus it was just to get you started. A visit to Forum Ducati.ms using their excellent search engine will reveal far more i'm sure.
When I used to have a 1974 750SS bevel with a GRP tank (with the transparent stripe), that tank always leaked slightly in places anyway. They did from new - no need for ethanol.
Here in Brazil we have 25% / 27% and 100% ethanol. The majority of the cars do not have any problem with that and they are all made to work with all kind of ethanol percentages. mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Unfortunately, imported bikes suffer more with that amount of ethanol. The only thing that we do are some preventive maintenance at shorter intervals.
