Sprint Filter P08 F1-85 Air Filter for Racing – Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC / XE (2019–2026) PM218S F1-85

Racing media look strange on a paper spec sheet until you notice which calendar they were written against. A competition engine is opened on a schedule measured in hours, and everything upstream of it is specified with that schedule in mind: what matters is the air supply between rebuilds, not the state of the bores in six years' time. That is the reasoning behind the F1-85, and it is also the reason the medium is coarser rather than finer. The rebuild interval chooses the filter.

Key Features

• Dry polyester racing medium: 85 µm rating at 15,000 l/m²/sec
• About three times the rated flow of the standard P08, on a coarser weave
• Never oiled — nothing to apply, nothing to migrate into the intake tract
• Around twice the working surface of a typical performance element
• Fits the standard airbox in the original position, with no modification to the housing
• Cleaned with compressed air between sessions; two years' warranty from purchase

The service schedule behind the specification

By Sprint Filter's own account this is the most widely used class of air filter in MotoGP, Moto3, World Superbike, Supersport and Superstock — a manufacturer's statement, not an independent survey, but one that fits the logic. Where an engine is stripped regularly, a small amount of extra fine dust is a cost accounted for at the next rebuild. Where an engine is expected to run for a decade untouched, that same dust is a bill nobody itemises. A road-ridden Scrambler 1200 belongs firmly in the second group, which is why the PM218S F1-85 is listed here as a specification rather than pressed as a recommendation.

The trade, and which way it runs here

Moving from the P08 to the F1-85 buys flow and gives up retention: 15,000 l/m²/sec instead of 5,050, at 85 microns instead of 80. Neither element adds power to a standard machine, so the flow is only worth having if something upstream has been changed to ask for it. On a machine built around riding where the air is dirty, giving ground on retention is the trade running against the bike's own purpose. If the engine has been worked on and the machine sees clean, hard surfaces, the calculation changes — and if it has not, the P08 or the fine P14 is the more sensible page to be reading.

Care and cleaning

Compressed air from the clean face outwards, so the dust leaves by the way it came in. Lukewarm water with a little mild detergent when air is not enough, rinsed until clear. Never dry it with heat, a hot air gun or a flame, and never refit it damp or treated with anything at all. Cleaned between sessions it returns to the same starting restriction each time. The maintenance sheet for the PM218S F1-85 is in the Downloads tab of this page.

Fitment & Compatibility

The F1-85 element for the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC and XE, model years 2019 to 2026. Both variants use the same airbox, and the same housing takes the P08, the P14 and the T12, so nothing about a later change of medium involves changing anything else.