Gapless ® Piston Rings
       
Total Seal's patented Gapless ® Piston rings provide increased performance through unmatched sealing of the cylinder and combustion gasses in the combustion chamber. Increased horsepower and torque along with longer engine life are just a couple of the reasons why Total Seal's Gapless ® Piston rings are the best rings available. Here are many more.
Increased horsepower and torque
Longer engine life
Saves money (fewer teardowns)
Improved consistenny
Cleaner engine oil
Longer ring life
     
Better Oil control
Less friction
Lower engine oil temperatures
Wider torque curve
More engine vacuum
Increased intake signal
       How it Works...
       
As shown in the illustration, compression gas is deflected by the rail into the piston groove and aid in pressure loading the ring throughout the 4 stroke cycle. At the same time the rail also and most importantly closes off the combustion gas leak path created by the ring end gap. This gap is the primary cause of blow-by in a 4 cycle engine. With a conventional type ring as the ring and cylinder wear the ring end gap increases and the blow-by figures increase. The Gapless® ring blow-by figures are not affected by this wear, as the ring end gap increases it is blocked by the rail portion of Total Seals patented interlocking 2 piece design stopping the blow-by at the source. Conventional style rings when newly installed will show leak down figures of 7% or higher these figures can quickly exceed 20% or higher after a surprisingly short period of time. Gapless® rings on the other hand when newly installed typically show leak down figures of 2% and lower and should remain the same throughout the life of the engine.

http://www.totalseal.com/TechPage.aspx#trGaplessPistRings

Wont change compression measurably, but would make for less burned crap in the oil.,

I'm not a fan of total seal rings. I've run across a few people who have run them more with issues than without.
This is on turbocharged 4 cylinder engines seeing 20+ psi though and not on bikes.


--Steve

If it stops (or minimizes) leakdown, it has to raise compression.

I like the idea, but I cant imagine it would make that much of a difference on an S40. The piston has 3 rings and you stagger the ring gaps and if they are gapped correctly there isnt too much that will blow by in the 50 cycles in a second that it will make @ 3000 rpm.

I dont think higher octane generally is needed till you get over 9:1 or 9.5:1.  The savage is somewhere around 8.5:1 on paper.

Im not sure preignition is that much of problem on a single cylinder anyways is it? Its only got to work with its own timing and not other cylinders.