Sprint Filter P08 F1-85 Air Filter for Racing – Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 (2018–2023) PM200S F1-85

Most changes to a motorcycle move several things at once, which is what makes them hard to judge. This one moves exactly one. The three elements listed for the Svartpilen 401's airbox share a frame, a sealing face and fixings; the paper panel lifts out and any of them drops in, with no bracket to make and no map to rewrite. The single variable in the whole decision is the cloth — which makes this an unusually clean choice, and sets a firm ceiling on what the dearest of the three can be buying.

Key Features

• Racing weave in dry polyester: 85 µm of filtration at 15,000 l/m²/sec
• Same frame and sealing face as the other elements for this box; only the medium differs
• The standard P08 for comparison: 80 µm and 5,050 l/m²/sec
• No oil anywhere in the specification: nothing is added, nothing migrates
• Cleaned with compressed air and refitted; specified for the life of the motorcycle
• Two-year warranty from purchase — for road use on a 401 the P08 remains our pick

One variable, and two numbers that do not line up

You would expect a wider mesh to hold less back, and Sprint Filter's own comparison does not say that: the F1-85 is credited with 95.22 per cent retention against the P08's 93.13, both measured on 100-micron particles. The mesh is five microns more open all the same, and the rated passage is three times higher. The lesson is not that one cloth beats the other but that no single figure describes a weave — and none of these figures were taken in the air a 373 cc road single rides through. Where the material is the only thing you can change, the useful question is which one suits your roads, not which one leads a table.

What the largest Husqvarna on this list still is

The 401 carries the biggest engine of the five Husqvarnas covered by this code, and it is still a road-going single with a standard airbox and standard ports around it. A replacement element does not make such a machine measurably quicker, which is worth stating on a page that sells one. The real benefit is an intake resistance that starts lower than a disposable panel's and, because the medium is washed rather than binned, need not climb away from there. You can have it for the price of the P08 or for a little over two and a half times as much, and what separates them is five microns of cloth.

Care and cleaning

Hold an air line to the clean face of the PM200S F1-85 and work outward until the weave shows light; the dirt leaves by the face that caught it. When air alone no longer clears it, wash it in lukewarm water with a mild detergent, rinsing until the water is clear. Drying happens in open air, as long as it takes — never over a heater, never beside a flame — and it goes back only once no dampness is left. Sprint Filter's maintenance sheet is in the Downloads tab.

Fitment & Compatibility

Made for the Husqvarna Svartpilen 401, 2018 to 2023, in the standard airbox. The same code is listed against thirteen Husqvarna and KTM machines; the 401 redesigned for 2024 takes a different element, so the model year settles the order. The list is in the Fitment tab.