Airbox Mod with OEM filter?

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BigJimSlim

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Just got my R18B in time for the off season! I’ve been reading through to learn about all the mods and upgrades available in an effort to plan for the post-first-service fun. So far, Brentune is a likely winner. Where I’m stuck is around the DNA filter/frame job. I’m no engineer, so my understanding is based on what sense I can make out of real world users’ experience vs the company’s claims and marketing. I get more air means more fuel means more power. Cool.

I’ve seen recorded gains in other vehicles (cars and bikes) of between a fraction of a percent up to maybe 2% gains in HP and torque when using just a cotton/oil filter (k&n or similar) and no other adjustments. These were used in stock airboxes where other mechanical restrictions are built in. While small, a gain is a gain and at the cost, over the life of the vehicle, probably a bit of a win for the reusable filter. The oft-cited issue is that the cotton filters present risks to both particle bypass issues and sensor failures due to oil collection. Not sure how prevalent these issues are in a mid-western climate, but understood - there’s risk.

My wondering here then is, what if we did a hybrid version using the OEM paper filter for max particle collection, but use the DNA frame to open up the airbox and max out airflow. In my head, you get the best of both sides with keeping clean and drawing more air. What’s the catch? Anyone with more sense than me have thoughts here?
 
I would have thought the DNA/K&N or any other aftermarket filter will use the OEM frame/shape, the difference however is that the OEM is a paper filter and the aftermarket version would be cotton. The argument is that the cotton will allow more air hence the need to add oil to the filter to help catch those potential particles that may enter intake given that the filter is less restrictive?

I personally think the OEM filter is good. I am not too bothered about an extra 2hp here or there, I don’t think I would have noticed such marginal increase unless we are talking about more than 2hp, that is.

I have seen a mixed bag of opinions.
Those who claims a visible gain and grunt and those who reverted back to OEM.

I can’t comment further as I have never changed to an aftermarket filter. I will let those who did to give you a better understanding of how things works.
 
Anibal said:
I would have thought the DNA/K&N or any other aftermarket filter will use the OEM frame/shape, the difference however is that the OEM is a paper filter and the aftermarket version would be cotton. The argument is that the cotton will allow more air hence the need to add oil to the filter to help catch those potential particles that may enter intake given that the filter is less restrictive?

I personally think the OEM filter is good. I am not too bothered about an extra 2hp here or there, I don’t think I would have noticed such marginal increase unless we are talking about more than 2hp, that is.

I have seen a mixed bag of opinions.
Those who claims a visible gain and grunt and those who reverted back to OEM.

I can’t comment further as I have never changed to an aftermarket filter. I will let those who did to give you a better understanding of how things works.
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With the dna filter (which is the same shape as OEM), you can opt for a frame that replaces the airbox and snorkels, leaving the filter totally open, theoretically pulling more air. What I’m wondering is if there’s a sweet spot in just opening the box with the paper filter as opposed to the cotton filter, which has those risks of letting in particles and oil to the sensor.

I’d love to see someone work through a dyno on these different setups on the r18 and really close the argument one way or the other.
 
4Zweistein said:
I installed the K&N reusable filter with no problems. Can't say that I noticed a difference in performance.
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Yeah, I feel like a percent or two at max performance isn’t going to be super evident. If I can just peel open the airbox and keep the paper, I wonder with the increased availability of air if that does anything worthwhile? From what I can gather, open box plus cotton filter will gain more, but if I can keep the high filtration of the paper and still eke out a horse or two, that’d be best case.
 
I have played with vehicle and bike airfilters a lot over the years..... with pleated, oiled cotton filters I have never noticed any performce increase.... even in applications where increased airflow was part of the equation (ie increased turbo boost...)

So... because I like playing and am a bored retired person with too much time on my hands, I did recently install a DNA kit with the frame. What I noticed staight away was.... nothing much. If I was forced to tick a box or two..... maybe a bit more induction noise... but I'd need to swap if out to check for sure.... then 5 minutes later I probally wouldn't be sure again.... so not much in that I'd say.

Performance wise... nothing I can tell.... but if it was dynoed before and after and it had lost 4nm in the midrange... I'd think.... ok that makes sense.

I did it thinking that induction noise might be nice.... as I have had that on a car before..... but.... with the helmet on... and earplugs a lot of the time.... what is one really going to hear.

So.... it was a success.... as it gave me something to do for a bit! (and I didn't break anything).
 
Noelpolar said:
I have played with vehicle and bike airfilters a lot over the years..... with pleated, oiled cotton filters I have never noticed any performce increase.... even in applications where increased airflow was part of the equation (ie increased turbo boost...)

So... because I like playing and am a bored retired person with too much time on my hands, I did recently install a DNA kit with the frame. What I noticed staight away was.... nothing much. If I was forced to tick a box or two..... maybe a bit more induction noise... but I'd need to swap if out to check for sure.... then 5 minutes later I probally wouldn't be sure again.... so not much in that I'd say.

Performance wise... nothing I can tell.... but if it was dynoed before and after and it had lost 4nm in the midrange... I'd think.... ok that makes sense.

I did it thinking that induction noise might be nice.... as I have had that on a car before..... but.... with the helmet on... and earplugs a lot of the time.... what is one really going to hear.

So.... it was a success.... as it gave me something to do for a bit! (and I didn't break anything).
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I’m always the skeptic, so the marketing of the cotton filters hits me with some question marks. So I wonder if it’s worth the cost and time to do any kind of filter swap if I’m not really hotdogging much. Seems maybe the Brentune is the tool to give a little gain while also evening out some of the quirks with throttle response and the performance dip in the 3k rpm range. And that’s plenty spendy!
 
I swapped out my stock air filter on my R9T for a K&N. Not sure it did anything, but what DID make a difference was having the bike re mapped ON a dyno, not just re flashing it.

There is a company that created a re map for the R18s, as many of you probably know. They used two bikes in separate climates to create the map. I'm thinking of doig that once my bike is broken in

I only have 350 miles in it.....

And then with this bike.....I'm gonna stop F'in with it. Every bike I've had I change everything to he point where you start having problems. The R18 should have enough GO with the re map....If not, I'll suffer through.
 
Randy Kahn said:
I swapped out my stock air filter on my R9T for a K&N. Not sure it did anything, but what DID make a difference was having the bike re mapped ON a dyno, not just re flashing it.

There is a company that created a re map for the R18s, as many of you probably know. They used two bikes in separate climates to create the map. I'm thinking of doig that once my bike is broken in

I only have 350 miles in it.....

And then with this bike.....I'm gonna stop F'in with it. Every bike I've had I change everything to he point where you start having problems. The R18 should have enough GO with the re map....If not, I'll suffer through.
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Yep, the Brentune seems to be a load and go deal. Costly as a mother, so the end value will be subjective. I do see tons of positives about it though, and no negatives at all. The worst is that it’s subtle, but still significant in how it changes the performance. I’m with you though - while I’m a tinkerer, I gotta just let this one be. I’ll probably do the tune and let it ride.

I won’t have my first service mileage done til spring now (just got the bike 2 weeks ago), so it’ll be a wait, but time enough to sock away some coin to afford the tune.
 
BigJimSlim said:
Yep, the Brentune seems to be a load and go deal. Costly as a mother, so the end value will be subjective. I do see tons of positives about it though, and no negatives at all. The worst is that it’s subtle, but still significant in how it changes the performance. I’m with you though - while I’m a tinkerer, I gotta just let this one be. I’ll probably do the tune and let it ride.

I won’t have my first service mileage done til spring now (just got the bike 2 weeks ago), so it’ll be a wait, but time enough to sock away some coin to afford the tune.
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BJS,

My son in law is the computer whiz here, I'm still working on mastering the toaster... He'll be out visiting in a few months. He'll load the Brentune for me. I've only got a few hundred miles on my bike, gotta get the 600 breaking in, and ideally another 1000 miles before I re map it. But I'm going to force myself NOT to start IMPROVING the bike until it becomes a nightmare. The bike is fine just the way it is....I opened it up a little yesterday, nothing wrong with the acceleration, seems to hit the torque curve at around 4k, I usually ride around 3-3200 rpms, I'm not racing anyone. I took some real tight twisties in the canyons, didn't bottom out, very nimble for such a big bike.
This is not the bike for a new rider, but if your an old burned out nut like me...perfect!!!
 
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