Filterskins? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

don'tknowwhy
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North Las Vegas, NV US
Edited Date/Time 5/22/2020 12:55pm
As an admitted, "Cleaning air filters sucks" kind of guy I've often wondered if filter skins would get me a second ride out of a clean air filter or not.

I only ride prep'ed and watered tracks so theres usually not too much airborne dust to contend with...... that being said would I be able to safely get two rides out of a clean air filter instead of one? Are they prone to clogging at all if it happens to be hot windy day that does get more dirt airborne than usual?

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fourfourone
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86oh, CT US
5/21/2020 8:40am
I change my filter when it looks dirty. Usually between 1 and 3 rides. Many times on watered and groomed tracks, my filter looked brand new after riding for the day. I've also ridden in very dusty trail conditions where the filter looks shot after a 45 minute ride.
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chad_111
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CA
5/21/2020 8:42am
They definitely help for me. If it’s a really dusty day though best to take it off after one moto, they do clog faster than just the air filter alone, made this mistake once.
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loftyair
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riverside, CA US
5/21/2020 8:43am
I use them.
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kb228
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Mansfield, OH US
5/21/2020 9:52am
Cleaning filters sucks way less when you use the no toil system.

Filter socks are a must have when you ride in dusty places imo
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The Shop

Moto_Geek
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Golden, CO US
5/21/2020 9:55am Edited Date/Time 5/21/2020 9:56am
If they clog early, you lose a lot of power. Since no toil so easy to clean a filter now. just buy 3-4 filter, wash them all together when they are all dirty, re-oil all, and set 3 aside in zip blocks ready to switch out. When you do them all together the task is very minimal IMO and filters are reusable so no waste.
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aeffertz
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La Crosse, WI US
5/21/2020 10:15am
A lot of our tracks get dusty here so if you’re riding all day, it’s nice to just yoink the filter skin off mid day when it starts to get dirty.
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Teej317
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Colstrip, MT US
5/21/2020 10:22am
Filter skins not a bad idea for dusty conditions. I just go without them and change the filter every 2 hrs no matter how it looks.
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Larry450
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ZW
5/21/2020 10:34am Edited Date/Time 5/21/2020 12:07pm
Disposable hair net work great. 100pc set for less than 10$
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peelout
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Ogden, UT US
5/21/2020 10:38am

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Mossy
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Newport News, VA US
5/21/2020 10:43am
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a catastrophic failure.
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-MAVERICK-
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Ontario CA
5/21/2020 10:58am
peelout wrote:
[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/05/21/428685/s1200_filter_skins.jpg[/img]

Grinning Made me think of this:

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HondaMan66
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Atlanta, GA US
5/21/2020 11:13am
The last time I used one at a fast track, when I took the seat off to remove it, it looked like my CR250R was trying to suck the whole filter into the air boot.
LungButter
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Yellow Pine, ID US
5/21/2020 11:21am
Mossy wrote:
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a...
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a catastrophic failure.
So every off-road racer that does 3 hour races should do a new motor every race? Some of the stuff I read on here is insane.

I run some oiled pre-foam where air enters the air box, fully submerge my filters in FFT, let them dry 24 hours before install and I change them out when they are completely dirty, usually around 10-13 hours.

My motor has 155hrs on it currently and runs like new. I've been doing basically this same thing to every bike I've owned since 2005 and I've NEVER sucked dirt and had to do a bottom end. To each their own....

As to the original question, Filterskins work good. You can also cut the lip off an old air filter and place it over a clean one as a pre-filter.

From what I'm reading here I should make a course on good filter and air box prep, cause some of you guys are doing an insane amount of unnecessary work.
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5/21/2020 11:32am
I use Twin Air GP skins. I normally get about 5 rides out of a filter. I just clean the skin after every ride.
Spooner
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Kansas City, MO US
5/21/2020 11:36am
Moto_Geek wrote:
If they clog early, you lose a lot of power. Since no toil so easy to clean a filter now. just buy 3-4 filter, wash them...
If they clog early, you lose a lot of power. Since no toil so easy to clean a filter now. just buy 3-4 filter, wash them all together when they are all dirty, re-oil all, and set 3 aside in zip blocks ready to switch out. When you do them all together the task is very minimal IMO and filters are reusable so no waste.
Exactly what I do. So glad I started using No toil and just do them in batches as well.
3
fourfourone
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86oh, CT US
5/21/2020 11:36am
Mossy wrote:
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a...
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a catastrophic failure.
This is a joke right?
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kb228
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Mansfield, OH US
5/21/2020 11:50am
Mossy wrote:
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a...
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a catastrophic failure.
Hahaaha
5/21/2020 11:53am
i use them in dusty cross country races, never used them in moto, i change the filter nearly every time i ride, its just habbit,
5/21/2020 12:01pm Edited Date/Time 5/22/2020 5:41am
We race very dusty hare scrambles in CO and I don't like filter skins. They coat over very quickly and then nothing gets thru. Instead, I like Twin Air's "dust cover" which is a really coarse foam that goes over the regular (TwinAir, presumably) air filter. Instead of soaking the outer filter in oil, I use the "water aquifer" approach in which I try to filer dirt out gradually. So... the outer filter gets just a VERY light coat of oil. The actual Twin Air outer gets a slightly heavier coat, and I do most of my oiling from the _inside_ of the filter. This way.... I hope.... dust is _gradually_ filtered out instead of caking up on the first surface it meets. It seems to be working for me.

During a 2 hour hare scramble, I'll also have a completely fresh air filter ready to go... cage, filter, and cover. While my crew (my non-racing friend) dumps a gallon of gas in the bike, I rip the cover off and pull the filter. He has already set a fresh filter on the milk crate and I grab that, put it on, check the seal, pop the cover on, and go. 30 seconds.

Here's the race where I first used a FilterSkin. Cut to about 1/2 way and listen to my bike. I DNF'ed this one on the last lap because winning a little trophy wasn't worth the damage to my bike. After this, I discovered the TA dust cover.

https://youtu.be/aHtGtVllo2E?t=42
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davis224
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Cornland, IL US
Fantasy
5/21/2020 12:45pm
Mossy wrote:
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a...
Change my filters every 1.5 hours. Anything more than that and you should be splitting your cases and making sure all is good or risk a catastrophic failure.
You drop a new motor in your daily driver every other oil change? If you take your filter off and no dirt has gotten through... no dirt has gotten through. I'm over 100 hours without a valve adjustment. A properly oiled filter does its job well.
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TooOld4WFO
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Fresno, CA US
5/21/2020 8:53pm
HondaMan66 wrote:
The last time I used one at a fast track, when I took the seat off to remove it, it looked like my CR250R was trying...
The last time I used one at a fast track, when I took the seat off to remove it, it looked like my CR250R was trying to suck the whole filter into the air boot.
Honda man.. I am trying to get hold of you regarding a Honda letter you posted in another thread. I sent you a PM but you must not have seen it.
5/21/2020 9:26pm
If it's dirty = clean it
Not dirty = do not clean it
4
Motoxdoc
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Steamboat Springs, CO US
5/22/2020 12:03am
I never "got" them. They seem like a lazy-guy thing. Instead of using a filter skin, slightly restricting the air to your bike, and then taking it off when it gets dirty....how about every time your filter gets dirty, just clean it or swap it with a clean one?
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KMC440
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US
5/22/2020 12:19am
If you're riding in very sandy conditions slide a womans nylon (yes those things on a woman's legs) over the filter DRY.
5/22/2020 1:41am
I use filter skins on long unsupported multiple day rides in Baja where I'm not going to have to opportunity clean or swap my filter. I can pack a few pre oiled skins for the trip in my tail bag taking up no room at all. Never really considered them an everyday kind of solution.

Suppose you could use them at the track. They do restrict airflow a bit more than the filter alone in my experience. But with No Toil and the ease of its use, I just have two filters for my bikes and always have a clean one to rotate in.

Seems like a solution for a problem that already has a solution, a spare clean filter in everyday use. Long trip, different problem. .Just my opinion, others will vary.
alex69
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396
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8/7/2013
Location
NL
5/22/2020 5:16am
I have using hairnets for years.
On the 2T 1x riding with the hairnet 1x without the hairnet after that clean filter and hairnet.
On 4T clean filter 3x clean hairnet after that clean filter and again clean hairnet.
You can also oil the hairnets I done it on the 4t not on the 2t.
It's a very cheap method to keep your filters cleaner and ride more with one filter.
zeikei
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Location
FI
5/22/2020 5:43am
If you have ever ridden a sand track with twin air skin setup used as instructed you will understand why people use them. The point is that the skin is not oiled, nor is the layer that is next to it. So first you have the normal filter oiled as usual. Then you have the dry thin coarse filter I think they call it dust cover and then as the third layer you put the dry nylon skin. With that setup you can run all day at a sand track because the sand does not stick to the filter at all. It just falls off the dry nylon layer. It may restrict air flow a little bit but I bet you will have worse restriction just after couple of laps when the filter gets covered in sand.

On same track where with this setup our inner filter looks almost new after full day I have witnessed another bike to start sucking dirt thru the filter after just couple of sets. And the problem was not a badly oiled filter, once it is completely covered in sand the bike will not stall it will just suck the dirt thru the filter from the weakest spot.
2
5/22/2020 5:53am
I'd win Vegas money if I placed a bet that most of you knock more dirt (and filter oil) into your air intake changing the filter than you ever do riding.
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HondaMan66
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Atlanta, GA US
5/22/2020 6:02am
HondaMan66 wrote:
The last time I used one at a fast track, when I took the seat off to remove it, it looked like my CR250R was trying...
The last time I used one at a fast track, when I took the seat off to remove it, it looked like my CR250R was trying to suck the whole filter into the air boot.
TooOld4WFO wrote:
Honda man.. I am trying to get hold of you regarding a Honda letter you posted in another thread. I sent you a PM but you...
Honda man.. I am trying to get hold of you regarding a Honda letter you posted in another thread. I sent you a PM but you must not have seen it.
I sent you a pm.
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don'tknowwhy
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North Las Vegas, NV US
5/22/2020 7:20am
Thanks for the replies.....for my kind of riding the Notoil system seems like a no brainer to me. Dont why I didn't look into it sooner than this. At any rate I've got a Notoil kit with their grease and 4 new Twin Air filters already enrote.

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