Air Filters....who needs em!

[Dilbert]

Here's what I did last weekend, bike has always seemed to run a bit rich, having tinkered a bit I decided to whip the filter box off and replace all that gubbins with these nice neat cafe racer stylie filters.





The bike has always popped a bit on overrun even after fixing the exhaust leak, so I was a bit perplexed, anyway, when I got to taking the airbox off I found the branch going to the rear cylinder wasn't actually seated properly .
I whipped the box off anyway and fitted the filters, started and ran Ok and found that the choke lever actually did something now it was much leaner, popping got worse but this was partly expected.
ran it all last week, barks like a rabid dog under acceleration and turned in 60 mpg instead of the usual 50-54 mpg, kept stalling when the throttle was shut off and got a little warmer than usual, plugs went a bit whiter, but not much.
this morning I took the tank off and fiddled with the mixture screws to get the fastest tickover (like it says in the Haynes) then reset the tickover screw to give a good even 1200 rpm tickover and went for a blast.
whoohoo
yes I am the smugest AT owner, works a treat (I recken it's already been rejetted when the MIG exhaust was put on) runs and sounds like a banshee!!!! mmm nice.

[Colin]

Looks good are they a standard road filter or K&N ?.

[Dilbert]

they are special stainless steel mesh filters available through Wemoto or Busters, the advantage with Wemoto being they are already sized for you.
K&N do something similar and are probably better fitration wise as they are made from a coarse weave fabric, the wire mesh ones aren't supposed to be cleaned as the build up of dirt in the mesh inreases the filtration effect.
You will almost certainly need to re-jet or adjust the carburation in some way.
WARNING : K&N told me not to do this as it reduces the low and mid-range flexibility of the motor and can lead to increased engine wear - but I don't care I'd do it just for the noise it makes!!!!

[robelst]

So far, my AT's only lived up to its unshakable reputation for reliability and quality for having a bomb-proof engine, so I would not like to push my luck on this sort of mod. Looks nice though, and I am sure it sounds even better

[Maverick]

I had those type filters on my Suzuki long time ago and they sure made a difference, escpesially when it rained - never felt like such a prat with a bike misfiring and running like I have just got on a bike the first time.

I could never get the bugger to run properly in the rain and the filters was well out of the wet stuff? I still think they look wicked though and you sure have a fair amount of weight out of the way.

[Dilbert]

Maverick
I nearly didn'y do it 'cos I met a guy who had done the same on his GSXR and couldn't get it to run at all afterwards
I reckon they are pretty well out of the rain up inside the petrol tank (not literally) and behind the radiators, besides, I don't go out in the rain
I printed the warning because it won't suit everybody and may prove to be a bad idea in the long run, that's why I've kept all the bits in the garage!

[Maverick]

Well keep us posted and surely no harm in trying. I took out my 6 month old airfilter last night and it was evry dirty. Luckilly Mr Yen sponsered the new one he had spare in his garage - thanks mate

[biker6991]

hey i got some of them fitted a year ago to my xrv650, they are the dogs... i can now say that when i ride down the road everyone looks as they think its a lot bigger bike coming and the sucking from the air intake is great especially at tickover and just slightly above tickover you can really hear it sucking it in GREAT