Air filter for Honda VTR 1000

**Wet** · 26th June 2008, 08:31

Just wondering about getting an aftermarket air filter for my bike. I have Micron pipes fitted on the bike already and have seen that most people have changed the air filter also. Can anybody help as to where to purchase and what brand etc?

Cheers, any advice would be appreciated.

**Guided_monkey** · 26th June 2008, 08:39

Well personally I'm running a K&N filter, stage 1 jet kit and two brothers exhausts.

Needed a dyno to sort the tuning properly but no probs there.

You just need to be aware that if you go to a higher flow aftermarket air filter the carbs will probably need some work as well.

**vifferman** · 26th June 2008, 09:40

You could buy one of those BMC filters that's being advertised on here by TripleZeeDynos, or you could do what I did: get some Unifilter foam and a sharp knife, cut your paper airfilter element out, and glue (silicon or hot glue) a piece of filter foam in. It flows air better than the paper filter, and is washable.
Linky here.
I've done it to three bikes now - the fourth already had a Unifilter fitted.
With the FahrSturm, it apparently had a Dynojet kit (but I call bullshit on that - I suspect it was just the stickers!), and all I did was shim the main needles and tweak the idle mixture. It also had the end caps and baffles cut out, but I had new ones made as it was TOOOO loud and didn't help the performance much.

From all my time on Firestorm forums, it seems that doing work to the airbox realises very little if any HP increases, and some airfilters (notably the much-vaunted and over-hyped K&N actually do a shit job of filtering until they get dirty, and don't actually release any neddies. Doubt this? Search Google for actual lab tests.) You can get very small HP increases from mufflers and jetting, but need to spend BIG bucks and go to cams, pistons, etc to get worthwhile increases.

**jc-vtr** · 31st August 2008, 20:48

im wandering can you put 2 seperate smaller filters for each carb? and get rid of the airbox all together?

**rebornrider** · 16th July 2012, 14:28

Hi there, vifferman. I was wondering if you had to do any re-jetting or anything else after modifing your air filter as you mentioned here? I am wanting to convert my standard filter like you did. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

**SMOKEU** · 16th July 2012, 16:10

If the standard type air filters aren't too expensive then stick with those.

**AllanB** · 16th July 2012, 19:22

I've read a fair bit about Hondas being fussy with air filters and in many cases work best with stock ones (the Hornet 900 is documented as such). The prob with most forums is after spending $ on a K&N or similar everyone thinks it goes better after they add the supplied sticker to their sidecover.

**ducatilover** · 17th July 2012, 16:39

Originally Posted by AllanB

I've read a fair bit about Hondas being fussy with air filters and in many cases work best with stock ones (the Hornet 900 is documented as such). The prob with most forums is after spending $ on a K&N or similar everyone thinks it goes better after they add the supplied sticker to their sidecover.

On my stupid VT250 Spada power-hunt (hah...power...250cc...) I got best results from a genuine Honda filter, better than K&N, pods and Unifilter foam. On that particular bike. My ZX6 runs heaps nicer with a K&N than with unifilter foam, but that may just be a cleaner filter thing.
Different bikes like different things, which makes modding so much fun!

**BuzzardNZ** · 18th July 2012, 12:47

I put a BMC on my SV and noticed a slight increase in mid - high range, nothing to write home about though. Good thing is the BMC is washable while the stock filter was throwaway, so good investment if you plan on holding on to your Firestorm for a while.

**sootie** · 6th September 2012, 09:51

I have been running my ZZR1100 with a unifoam filter I cut out for several years now. So far I just wash it out every 6 months or so, have never replaced it, and I think it runs better than the original part.
You probably just need to ignore all the bikeshop super sell, and use something with a fairly similar air resistance to the original part.

**Fatjim** · 7th September 2012, 08:03

The best performance mods I did on my storm was to regularly replace the filter and chain/sprockets. Both yielded greater top speed and fuel economy. No need for K&N, the OEM filter is fine. Get a good chain on there and you might see as much as 20kph more top speed over a worn OEM one.

**Akzle** · 7th September 2012, 12:07

Originally Posted by jc-vtr

im wandering can you put 2 seperate smaller filters for each carb? and get rid of the airbox all together?

you may put a single pod on each carb, if you're that way inclined. (but i've heard that this makes your bike sunny-day-only, as they tend to drink rain + spray easily....)
changing airflow at all will affect your tuning. so a carb o/haul will be req'd after you do whatever you do.

Originally Posted by sootie

I have been running my ZZR1100 with a unifoam filter...

where does one acquire this "unifoam" you speak of.?
i'm guessing the 3m sponge from the supermekke isn't going to cut it....

**ducatilover** · 7th September 2012, 13:43

Originally Posted by Akzle

you may put a single pod on each carb, if you're that way inclined. (but i've heard that this makes your bike sunny-day-only, as they tend to drink rain + spray easily....)
changing airflow at all will affect your tuning. so a carb o/haul will be req'd after you do whatever you do.

where does one acquire this "unifoam" you speak of.?
i'm guessing the 3m sponge from the supermekke isn't going to cut it....

Running pods is usually stupid on CV carbs, they love a nice bit of still air to eat, like in an airbox... if they were that fantastic, they'd be that way from factory (yes, my GN has a pod, but that's because it looks cooler than an airbox)
You can run in to a lot of issues with CVs and pods, not worth the effort considering it's very, very rare to gain any power.

Get unifoam off eBay