Sprint Filter T12 Air Filter for Off-Road & Extreme – BMW R 1200 GS Adventure (2014–2018) PM142T12

Of the boxers built around this airbox, the Adventure is the only one for which Sprint Filter lists two fine media. It can have the 14-micron mat sold for dusty conditions, or this one at seven microns, drawn for the extreme end. Having both catalogued against a single motorcycle turns an abstract range into a real decision — and it is not made by working out which number is smaller.

Key Features

• Dry special non-woven polyester with a filtration rating of 7 microns
• Airflow rated at 560 l/m²/sec, the lowest figure and the finest medium in the range
• No oil when new and none applied after washing, at any point in its life
• Roughly double the filtering area of other performance elements
• Slots into the unmodified series airbox where the original panel sat, without a remap
• Cleaned and refitted for the life of the motorcycle, covered two years from purchase

Where the line between them falls

The rated flows describe it better than the apertures do. The dust mat passes 1,800 l/m²/sec, this one 560, and the standard weave 5,050 — so the step from the standard element down to the dust mat gives away rather less than the step from the dust mat down to here. That second step is bought for air which does not settle: sustained loose ground, a group riding in company, powder and fine sand held in suspension for a whole day. The first step is bought for the dry fortnight and the unsealed verge. An Adventure whose years hold both kinds of riding is a real case for owning both elements, since swapping them is a lid and five minutes.

Nine parts given away

Measured against the standard weave, this mat keeps roughly one litre in nine: 560 l/m²/sec where the cloth is rated at 5,050, the largest single step in the range and a deliberate one. Retention is bought with flow and no arrangement of materials gets both, so the strict end is not the good end — it is the end for dirty air. The missing flow would be noticed at a wide throttle held high in the range for a long stretch, which is not the state a laden Adventure occupies on a piste. And nothing here is a power part: the PM142T12 leaves a standard R 1200 GS Adventure exactly as strong as it was, breathing through a finer barrier.

Care and cleaning

The compressor does most of it and the sink does the rest. A line held to the clean face and blown outwards sends the day's load back along the path it took getting in; whatever stays behind comes out in hand-warm water with a little mild detergent, rinsed until the water is clean. What follows has no shortcut. The element dries in moving air at its own pace, with no heat of any kind and no flame anywhere near it, and it does not return to the box until it is dry through. The PM142T12 goes back unoiled; the servicing sheet sits under Downloads.

Fitment & Compatibility

Listed for the BMW R 1200 GS Adventure of 2014 to 2018, seated in the series airbox in place of the original panel. Three machines take this element: the two 1200-generation GS models and the R 1250 GS that followed them. All appear with their years in the Fitment tab.