Sprint Filter P08 F1-85 Air Filter for Racing – Kawasaki Z650RS (2022–2026) PM163S F1-85

There is usually a reason people ask about air filters for a retro bike, and it is rarely lap times. The Z650RS is bought to be looked at and listened to, and a freer-flowing element is one of the few changes that stays invisible. Worth being straight about it: the Sprint Filter P08 F1-85 is a racing medium, 85 microns and 15,000 l/m²/sec where the standard P08 is 80 microns and 5,050 — and most of what you hear on the intake side is shaped by the airbox and its inlet, not by the element sitting inside it. The filter is not the loud part.

Key Features

• Racing specification: a dry polyester weave at 85 microns, rated at 15,000 l/m²/sec
• The standard P08 is the reference point at 80 microns and 5,050 l/m²/sec
• Never oiled, so no film can be drawn onto the sensor or the throttle bodies
• About twice the filtering surface that other performance filters carry
• Inside the standard airbox, with no modification, no remap and nothing visible from outside
• Washable and reusable for the life of the bike; two years of warranty from purchase

The spoken reason and the unspoken one

If the intake note is what you are after, it is a fair thing to want from a motorcycle designed around how it looks and sounds. It is also the reason to keep the expectation in the right place. The element sits inside a sealed airbox whose volume, inlet and resonance do the shaping, and changing the medium inside it does not rebuild any of that. Anything that changed it substantially would be a change to the box, and the box is part of what the bike was homologated with. What it does change is measured on a flow bench rather than by ear.

And what you give up for it

Five microns sounds like nothing, and taken in isolation it is: the gap between the two media is a narrow band of particles, and both weaves stop the coarse material that would be obvious on inspection. But the trade runs the wrong way for how a Z650RS is used. This is a road motorcycle from 2022 onwards, in most cases with a long life ahead of it and no scheduled engine overhaul anywhere in the plan. Flow that will never be called for is being bought with retention that is in service every kilometre. For road riding, the standard P08 version of this filter is the sensible one; for commuting in city air or a dusty summer, the P14 at 14 microns and 1,800 l/m²/sec is a deliberate move the other way along the same line.

Care and cleaning

Nothing in this routine involves oil. Blow the PM163S F1-85 through from the clean side outwards with compressed air; wash it in lukewarm water with a mild detergent when it needs it, rinsing until the water runs clear; let it dry fully in open air — never with heat, never over a flame — and refit it dry. The Sprint Filter maintenance sheet is in the Downloads tab.

Fitment & Compatibility

Made for the Kawasaki Z650RS, 2022 to 2026. The same element covers five machines built around this airbox, across the Z650RS, Z650, Ninja, Versys and Vulcan families; the complete list is in the Fitment tab.