Product review: K&N R-1100 air filter
Air filter replacement has always been one of the first things that comes to mind when looking to get some more juice out of your ride. It's an easy and affordable modification. We had already replaced the stock airfilter on our R15 with a replacement K&N unit. This time Methods Automotive have sent us the bigger R-1100. A conical shape filter, the R-1100 is four inches high with a 3-inch base diameter. You need to oil the filter yourself but the supplied packet is rather small so be careful not to waste any. Getting it to fit in the airbox meant cutting the intake pipe a bit.
The airbox was left open for the filter to breathe freer and send more air to the engine. Now on a carburetted bike you'd have to fiddle with the jet size to increase the fuel flow but the R15's fuel injection system took care of it automatically. The effects were immediately evident with a stronger midrange. However the top end seemed to have gone a bit flat. Evidently the stock ECU wasn't sending enough fuel in and the bike was running a tad lean. The issue was solved when we swapped the stock ECU with a Race Dynamics unit that we'd tested earlier. The fuelling issues were sorted out and combined with the increased rev limit of 12,300rpm the top end got a small but noticeable bump.
In terms of numbers, the stock R15 hit the ton in 13.2 seconds, the R-1100 reduced that to 12.3 seconds. With the RD ECU the figure further dropped to an impressive 11.6 seconds. While we used the previous gen R15 you can expect almost identical gains on the new version. Besides the added zing the bike makes a very rorty intake noise; some might even find it too brash. In which case you can lower the decibel levels by losing the airbox, at a slight expense of air flow. What's really to look forward to is how the airfilter and ECU combo work with the full system free flow exhaust we plan to install on the bike soon. Stay tuned.
Priced at Rs 2590 and available at methodsindia.com
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