Suzuki Gixxer SF250 Flex Fuel - E85 Over E20?

Over the past few months the focus is on ethanol blend and the possibility of the blend percentage increasing in the future. Flex fuel is the talk of the town, E20 is the norm, E30 being considered and E85 fuel is the latest addition. Many might think the Hero Splendor is the first E85 bike to go on sale in India, as there was a lot of promotion by the brand, but in reality it was its erstwhile partner Honda. 

The first production E85 motorcycle to go on sale in India was the Honda CB300F flex fuel launched in 2024. However, the bike was discontinued owing to poor sales. Currently, the Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel is the only E85 motorcycle that one can buy. In this test we figure out whether E85 makes sense, how much is the fuel efficiency difference in comparison to the E20 fuel and more importantly should you buy one? 

Finding Fuel

The first challenge for us during this test was fuel, yes, while a handful of pumps started selling E85 petrol but owing to almost nil demand, many had stopped selling it. In fact at a few pumps, there was fuel available but apparently they had orders from the company not to dispense the fuel, which I thought was absurd. A few pump attendants also informed us that E85 is a huge investment-intensive operation as it’s not just about adding a new E85 dispenser, the entire eco system needs to be upgraded. 

The underground tanks had to be rebuilt as the E85 is more corrosive and it can’t be stored in existing tanks, so for a pump owner that's an additional burden to take care of. Luckily, we were able to locate one IOC pump for this run, so unless E85 bikes and cars are sold in a decent number, finding pumps will be a challenge akin to finding EV chargers when electric cars were introduced. However, the Government has announced that 500 E85 fuel pumps will be operational by the end of 2026. Currently E85 fuel is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune

The Fuel Run

For our fuel efficiency run, we wanted to mix an array of riding scenarios. The first test for the Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel was the traffic infested roads of Mumbai. We rode the bike close to 50 km in city traffic, before venturing out on the highway. 

For our highway run we did a 100 km ride on the old Mumbai-Pune highway till Lonavala and the cruising speed was between 85-95 kmph depending on the traffic. To add some twist, we rode the bike also on the ghats towards Lonavala to add more stress on the engine and validate its performance. The Ghat section run was around 25 km. So in total we had a mixed cycle of around 175 km for the fuel efficiency test. 

And on the mechanical part, the power and torque figures of both the E20 and the E85 variants are identical. Talking about real-world performance, I could hardly feel any difference. The only noticeable lag in acceleration was felt in roll-ons as with E85 fuel, the bike felt slightly lazy to accelerate. 

The chassis and the other hardware components remain the same and the Gixxer SF250 offers you exciting handling dynamics. It feels composed in corners and is among the best handling motorcycles in its segment. What further amplifies the handling performance is the sporty riding stance with the clip-on handlebar. Visually too both the variants have the same styling, the only difference is the graphics on the fairing and the E85 variant is offered in a distinct bordeaux red shade as seen on our test bike. 

The Numbers Check