Sprint Filter P08 F1-85 Air Filter for Racing – Honda CB500X (2019–2026) CM220S F1-85

This is the racing element for the airbox the Honda CB500X shares with the rest of Honda's 400 and 500 twin family, and it is worth saying plainly that most CB500X owners want a different one. The X is the travel-shaped machine of the group — luggage, distance, unsealed detours, long service intervals. The P08 F1-85 is built for the opposite duty cycle: it flows 15,000 l/m²/sec instead of the standard P08's 5,050, and it pays for that with a wider 85 micron aperture instead of 80. On a circuit that is a good bargain. On a dusty road two days from home it is the wrong way round, and the P14 at 14 microns exists precisely for that case.

Key Features

• From the P08 F1-85 racing medium: 85 microns of filtration, 15,000 l/m²/sec of flow
• Nothing can migrate onto throttle bodies or sensors, because dry polyester carries no oil
• Other performance elements offer roughly half this much filtering area
• A direct replacement for the standard element; the airbox needs no modification and the engine no remap
• Washed, reused, and serviced with compressed air applied from the clean side
• Made to last the life of the motorcycle, with two years of warranty

When it is the right element for a CB500X

There is a real case, and it is a narrow one. A number of these bikes end up as track machines, supermoto-style builds or rally-styled projects whose engines have been opened up beyond standard, and they get serviced on a schedule that has nothing to do with the owner's manual. A CB500X used that way, with the intake path already freed and the maintenance to match, can use what the F1-85 delivers. A CB500X used as Honda intended cannot, and buying the racing medium for it means paying more to filter slightly less well.

Choosing across the range instead of up it

Sprint Filter builds the same CM220S element in several fabrics because the choice is about the air the machine breathes, not about a hierarchy of quality. The F1-85 sits at one end: maximum flow, widest aperture, racing. The P08 is the road and track medium at 80 microns and 5,050 l/m²/sec. The P14 goes the other way at 14 microns and 1,800, for dust and long endurance stages. None of them is the best one. On a bike as broadly used as the CB500X, the honest recommendation is to pick by where it is ridden, and the racing medium answers only one of those questions.

Care and cleaning

Compressed air from the clean side, worked outwards, and the CM220S F1-85 back into the airbox dry — that is the whole of the routine. When it wants more, wash it in lukewarm water with a mild detergent, rinse until the water runs clear, and give it time in open air to dry completely; heat and flames are out, always. It is never oiled at any stage of its life. The Sprint Filter maintenance sheet is in the Downloads tab.

Fitment & Compatibility

Made for the Honda CB500X from 2019 to 2026. The same CM220S F1-85 element covers six machines across Honda's 400 and 500 twin range; the complete list is in the Fitment tab.