Air Filter

I have been told that an K&N air filter will produce less power than a stock air filter is there any truth to that?

 

I have no empirical data to give you ,I would imagine it would vary from model to model and bike to bike, I also have a Kawi zx-10r and those boys have told me that the K&N will produce a little less power at top end , I believe it was about a 2hp loss.I switched to a K&N filter on my 2000 vfr,one thing that I noticed about the K&N was that the filter area was slightly less than the Honda. I have ran K&N'S both oil and air filters, they seem to be well made and they dont scrimp on materials, I also like the idea of being able to clean the air filter. I bought a BMC filter for my ZX,they are made in Italy and supposedly used by all the Formula 1 boys.The filter flowed so much air that I could never get my power commander adjusted properly. I really dont think you can go wrong with the stocker or the K&N! EDDIE

 

I understand that the K&N when freshly clean will flow more readily and produce more power. Once it has some service life, the combination of oil and dirt is more of a barier to flow than a dry stock filter with equivalent amount of imbeded dirt. The stocker is supposed to flow better over the K&N for a typical service period.
I have a K&N and clean it about twice per riding season. No complaints.

 

I have a K&N on my 2000 VFR. I can't tell difference. I only use it because I got the K&N for free. If I was to actually pay money for a air filter, it would be a BMC. The way I see it, why spend $50-$100 for an air filter just to get 2HP? To me, it simply is not worth it. The single benefit I see to these filters is that they are re-useable.

On a side note... There were K&N uni pods on my 89 Hawk GT when I bought it. The bike had an annoying "cough" when you rolled on the gas. It happened like 200RPM above idle & never showed itself anywhere else in the rev range. When I had the new chain & sprockets installed, the tech who did the chain owns 5 Hawk GT's & races 2 of them. The first words out of his mouth when I picked up the bike were, "Get rid of those piece of shit uni pods & put the stock air box back on." He said that was the cause of the stumble in the throttle. I put the airbox back on it that afternoon & it was a night & day difference. The bike makes MORE power with the stock airbox & filter AAANNNDD gets better MPG to boot. The uni pods will be on EBAY sometime in the near future.

KC-10 FE out...
lane:

 

So I am not going to go wrong with the K&N or stock then right

 

6 of 1 & half dozen of the other. If you can tell a difference between the stock air filter & a K&N, your butt dyno is more accurate then mine.:biggrin: I did notice change in intake noise with the K&N. It really isn't any louder, it's just different.

KC-10 FE out...
lane:

 

I plan to buy a BMC as well, have heard good things on other sites too! We're on the same page with thr RR as well.