Sprint Filter P08 Air Filter for Road & Track – Yamaha FZ-09 (2014–2026) PM149S

Few motorcycles are taken apart as often as this one. The 850 cc class triple is a favourite starting point for a different exhaust, a flash of the ECU and a fresh set of bars, and somewhere on that list a pair of open cone filters usually appears. The Sprint Filter P08 PM149S takes the other route. It is a dry woven polyester element that drops straight into the standard airbox and leaves the box doing its job: nothing is cut, nothing is relocated, and the intake tract the engine was calibrated around stays exactly as Yamaha built it.

Key Features

• Woven P08 polyester used dry — with no oil in the element, nothing can travel downstream to the intake sensors
• The weave holds particles at 80 microns and still passes 5,050 litres per square metre per second
• Around double the filtering area of other performance filters
• Nothing is cut and nothing is reprogrammed: the standard airbox takes it as it is, homologation included
• Cleaning is a job for an air line; the element is washable and goes back in, not into the bin
• Two years of cover from the day of purchase

What the airbox is actually for

An airbox is not simply a box that holds a filter. It sets the length and volume of the intake tract, it takes the edge off induction noise for the homologation the bike was sold under, and it keeps the spray thrown up by the front wheel away from the throttle bodies. The fuelling map was written with all of that in place. Open pods trade every one of those functions for induction noise and an untidy set of new variables, most of which end up being solved with another flash of the ECU. A filter element that fits inside the standard box changes none of it — which is exactly the point.

An honest account of what changes

A drop-in element does not make a standard motorcycle noticeably faster, and any description that promises otherwise is selling something else. What it changes is the shape of the restriction over time. A paper cartridge starts clean and closes up gradually as it loads, and the loss is invisible because it never happens on a particular day. The P08 keeps a low, stable intake restriction across the whole service interval, and when it does load you blow it through and put the same part back. Over the life of an FZ-09 that is the difference between a consumable you re-order and a component you own.

Care and cleaning

There is no oiling stage at any point: the polyester has never been oiled, so nothing is re-applied after a clean. The normal service is compressed air, directed from the clean side outwards. Anything heavier calls for lukewarm water with a mild detergent, rinsed until the water runs clear. Then let the element dry right through in open air, never with heat and never over a flame, and refit it dry. The Sprint Filter maintenance sheet is in the Downloads tab.

Fitment & Compatibility

Made for the Yamaha FZ-09, 2014 to 2026. The same PM149S element serves six machines built around this airbox, including the FJ-09, the MT-09, the Niken 850/GT and the XSR 900; the full list is in the Fitment tab.