Sprint Filter T12 Air Filter for Off-Road & Extreme – Ducati Hypermotard 939 (2016–2018) CM61T12

Every published flow figure describes a new element, and no motorcycle is ridden on a new element for long. That is the term missing from the comparison people make when they see 560 litres per square metre per second beside the standard weave's 5,050 and stop reading there. A disposable panel is at its most open on the day it is fitted and closes from that day on without ever saying so; a washable one is returned to its own datum whenever its owner decides. The CM61T12 does not win that comparison on a Hypermotard 939 — it starts a long way behind — but the comparison is the wrong one to make in isolation.

Key Features

• Special non-woven polyester, used dry, rated at 7 microns — the finest medium in the range
• Rated throughput of 560 litres per square metre per second
• Never oiled, so nothing from the medium can be carried onto the sensors
• Roughly twice the filtering surface of other performance filters
• Direct replacement in the series airbox: nothing cut, no remap
• Washable and reusable, with two years of warranty from the date of purchase

New against new, and the life in between

The T12 remains the most restrictive medium Sprint Filter makes at every point in its life, and nothing here is meant to suggest otherwise. What changes with a washable element is the character of that restriction: it is known, it is stated on the specification, and it comes back to the same value after every cleaning. A loading paper panel offers none of those three. It is a restriction that grows, that is not published anywhere, and that only ever moves in one direction until the part is thrown away.

Where 7 microns is worth 560 litres

Only where the air genuinely warrants it. On a 939 used on surfaced roads the standard weave is the sensible specification, and the fine medium is a charge paid for a benefit that never arrives. On unsurfaced roads, in convoy, or through a summer of harvest dust, the arithmetic inverts: the retention works in every second of running while the flow is only missed where the engine is asking for everything, which is a smaller part of most rides than it feels like. Neither medium adds power. An element in an unaltered airbox does not make a standard Hypermotard faster, and this one asks for a share of the airflow rather than offering more of it.

Care and cleaning

Compressed air on the clean face of the CM61T12, worked outward and from a short distance rather than pressed into the material, is the service. Water with a mild detergent handles what air leaves behind, rinsed until it runs clear. Drying is done in circulating air until the element is dry right through, never with a heat gun, a radiator or a flame, and it is refitted dry with nothing applied to it. The Sprint Filter maintenance sheet is in the Downloads tab.

Fitment & Compatibility

Listed for the Ducati Hypermotard 939 of 2016 to 2018. Two machines carry this number, the other being the Hypermotard 950 and 950 SP of 2019 to 2025; both appear in the Fitment tab.