Having a great bike is one thing, but you should understand what makes that bike so reliable inside and out. Learning this information will help with troubleshooting and finding ways to customize the bike for your specific needs. An air filter may look straightforward, but it’s an invaluable part of your vehicle. Dive into the guide below to start understanding how your bike’s air filter works.
Engine Combustion
The mixture of air and fuel in the engine combusts and delivers the horsepower you need to excel behind the handlebars. If you’re not very familiar with how the engine works, combustion may sound like a bad thing. However, your engine can handle this experience, but only within a certain range.
Keeping combustion efficient in your engine requires you to keep the air that enters the engine clean. Unfortunately, that’s difficult when you’re traversing roads full of dirt, mud, and more. This is where the air filter comes in handy.
Clean Air
The air filter protects unwanted debris and gunk from getting inside the engine. A clean filter plays a big part in keeping the air/fuel mixture in the engine balanced. Without the air filter, dirt and other unwanted materials would get into the engine easily. However, there is still a way for those materials to hinder your bike’s performance. Over time, your engine’s air filter will get dirty. When this happens, it restricts clean airflow into the engine, which will reduce the efficiency and effectiveness with which the engine burns fuel. So how frequently should you replace your dirt bike or motorcycle’s air filter?
Filter Upkeep
Understanding how your bike’s air filter works requires a closer look at maintenance requirements. You should always consult your bike’s owner’s manual to learn the specifics of your model, but there is some general info we can discuss today. The typical rule of thumb is to replace the bike’s air filter every 10,000 to 15,000 miles, though frequent use may result in needing a replacement sooner. Don’t worry; replacing the air filter won’t be a weekly requirement, but you can make it a part of your annual upkeep schedule.
Optimizing Performance
As you can see, maintaining the air filter helps you optimize performance on the road by ensuring the engine can efficiently burn fuel. That said, you can use the air filter to your advantage in other ways. For example, one of the best ways to improve a dirt bike’s performance is by updating your engine’s air filter. Replacing your filter with an aftermarket model presents the opportunity to improve performance details, such as horsepower and fuel efficiency.
Learning how each aftermarket unit will update your vehicle requires you to understand the materials and design involved with that specific unit. Read the listings for each aftermarket filter system carefully, even if you don’t fully understand the specifications. If you run into any questions, talk with the manufacturer directly. They can clear up any unanswered questions you have so that you can get your bike working optimally.