K&N products

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Blue1

Active member
Not to be a buzz kill, but Fuel Moto tells me the K&N is only worth a HP or two at top end.

Manufacturing compromises on some models sometimes create intakes that are a little restricted. In that case, K&N filters can have more significant gains. I suspect with an FTR with stock heads/cams does not have an issue with intake flow, hence the relatively small power increase experienced.
 
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Blue1

Active member
Max Kool said:
In other words, without changing the airbox, just a K&N brings close to nothing.
Click to expand...

I won't pretend to feel 2 or 3 hp at 8500 rpm. I doubt anyone here can either.

And that is only if the fuel map is modified to provide more fuel to match the very slight increase in flow that the gauze filter provides.

K&N filters need cleaning when dirty, must be handled carefully and are expensive.

I've had them on a couple bikes in the past. Mine were indivdual pods on the carbs. Properly jetted, this provided significant hp gains at the top end, at the expense of some low end and mid range.

Contemporary motorcycles breathe more efficiently, partly due to R&D that resulted from trying to keep or increase power in the face of ever-stricter emission laws. Removing air boxes and running pods on a new bike will probably reduce power and driveability.

I had a Kawaski ZRX1200 that was jetted by Ivan Performance. He recommended holes in the airbox to increase flow, but the OEM filter flowed more than enough to supply the stock carburetion with enough air, and with the rejetting to match the increased flow from the airbox mod, power jumped from about 115 hp to about 130 hp. With an OEM filter.

Ivans Performance did extensive dyno testing to come to this result. Expecting big performance gains from a filter change alone is naive.

The lesson here is don't believe all the BS K&N marketing people put out. It flows more than an OEM paper filter, but if your engine doesn't need more flow and you don't rejet or remap, you are throwing money away.
 
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