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Air Filter

The K1300S has two air filters and BMW recommends changing every 24,000 miles.
It didn't take long to get at the filters so I blew them out at 12,000 and changed at 24,000 miles.

And the K1200GT/K1300GT have ONE of those filters. I blow them out at 6k and replace at 12k, but in adverse conditions (like riding through bad bug infestations) I’ve had to replace them at 6k. It DOES make a difference in how the bike runs.

Best,
DeVern
 
Here's a thought for those of you who abhor the price of air filters or frequently ride through areas of "high bug/air ratios".

Take some black fibreglass screening material you might use to repair a screen door, cut it to size, wrap it around the air inlet on your motorcycle and secure it with a zip tie. I got mine from http://www.rcrint.com/easyscreen_en.htm

I did this on my R1100S and on my K1200S with no ill effects and my filters stay much cleaner than previous experience shows. Sorry, no before/after pictures - you're just gonna have to trust me on this. :D
 
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Here's a thought for those of you who abhor the price of air filters or frequently ride through areas of "high bug/air ratios".

Take some black fibreglass screening material you might use to repair a screen door, cut it to size, wrap it around the air inlet on your motorcycle and secure it with a zip tie. I got mine from http://www.rcrint.com/easyscreen_en.htm

I did this on my R1100S and on my K1200S with no ill effects except that my filters stay much cleaner than previous experience shows. Sorry, no before/after pictures - you're just gonna have to trust me on this. :D

That is actually a great solution to keep mice from going into the tunnel to get to your filter for nesting.
 
https://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterXRef.html

Oil filter information.

Anyone ever hear of K&N Air Filters? That's what I'm going to put in after another 15k miles or so on the stock one. Then I'll probably sell the bike before I look at the air filter again.

Where do you put the gas cap while filling?

I’d suggest some deep research into the filtration capabilities of the K&N air filters before going that route. While the re-usability is appealing, there are several published analysis on the subject. Here in the desert Southwest, I personally wouldn’t buy a used bike that had been run on a K&N for much of it’s life. Filters are one of the more reasonable expenses in BMW ownership, especially when sourced through places like Beemer Boneyard.

Best,
DeVern
 
That is actually a great solution to keep mice from going into the tunnel to get to your filter for nesting.

And some of the bugs I've encountered (especially around the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in New York) have been the size of mice. :laugh
 
https://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterXRef.html

Oil filter information.

Anyone ever hear of K&N Air Filters? That's what I'm going to put in after another 15k miles or so on the stock one. Then I'll probably sell the bike before I look at the air filter again.

Where do you put the gas cap while filling?

If you don't plan to keep the bike long, and don't care about dirt flowing through, you really don't need to check or change the filter at all. A K&N filter still needs to be cleaned and re-oiled on a regular basis. And it will not filter dust as well as the stock, paper version. I see that their website claims 30,000-50,000 miles before cleaning, but that's probably because their filter is not collecting much dirt.

I bought a K&N air filter for a 25 year old bike with about 63 thousand miles when the stock part was getting harder to find. I found no detectable change in performance. Six months and about two thousand miles of suburban commuting later, while replacing leaky throttle shaft seals, I found that the previously spotless CV slides were coated with a thick, oily, red layer of dust, as were the air intake boots. The filter and the maintenance kit went in the trash and I bought paper filters thereafter.

This guy did some very extensive tests to compare air filters, measuring air flow and measuring contaminants that passed through. (Watch the beginning to understand the method, skip the repeated tests, see the results at 34:00) Paper performed best in all but one test of airflow - K&N was best on that test, while also being 2nd worst (of 6) for passing contamination on that same test.
 
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