As a motorcyclist for more years than I care to mention I know that all new motorcycles sold today and in recent years are basically “strangled”. In other words, to meet the ever more strict emissions and noise regulations the bike manufacturers are forced to restrict the air intakes as well as the exhaust. Indeed almost all new bike engines today are water cooled because that helps further to reduce the engine noise (they used to be mainly air cooled).
Generally speaking I know that the two major manufacturers of high flow air filters sold in Europe are BMC and K&N. BMC is an Italian company based in Bologna whereas K and N is American out of California. I have fitted these filters to my bikes (and cars) for many years and I find them both to be excellent products, they use oiled cotton instead of paper which allows considerably more air flow so the ride experience is better cos the engine can breathe in more air. PS the main air and oil filter brand in the UK these days is Hiflo, they are very well distributed and their manufacturing facility is in Thailand. These air filters last for many years and they can be serviced which means just cleaning and reoiling.
Fast forward to last weekend. I recently purchased a very young and well cared for Yamaha XT660X with full service history (2016 registered bike with only 10k kms). I have owned two XT660s in the past and I really enjoy these little bikes!! In order for her to run better I found a Greek company called DNA and I ordered their Stage 2 filter for this bike. The XT engine is so starved of air that the air gets into the filter box through a tiny snorkel placed under the seat and the airbox itself is sealed except for this tiny opening. This DNA product replaces one side of the airbox with a metal frame plus an additional filter so this more then doubles the air that can flow into the airbox and thus into the engine, see the pictures below.
This simple and very inexpensive mod has totally transformed the way that the engine performs!! There is a little more induction noise but not excessive. The bike had previously been running slightly rich as the previous owner had fitted two Arrow pipes and removed the catalytic converter so pops and bangs (caused by unburnt fuel exploding in the exhaust pipes) were common whereas after this modification the bike pops less and runs much better and feels more willing to rev and to pull.
See the photos below and WELL DONE DNA great products!!!
The packaging is clean and the instructions are excellent. The product is super simple to fit and the end result clean and very effective too.
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