So in my neck of the woods we have our fair share of flying/jumping bugs that make a wonderful mess of fairings, windscreens and face shields. This got me thinking about the ram air intake and filter maintenance. As I inspect down the intake I see a mesh screen as the only barrier to the filter, and I am envisioning having to vacuum bug corpses out of the plenum often during bug season - which is fine and dandy, but those filters arent cheep to replace nor "easy" to access when needing to remove the desiccated bug body parts, and getting debris down the post filter chamber opening when having to remove that filter to access and clean gives me the willies!

So heres' my thought and question for yall:

Has anyone considered cutting a piece of open cell foam filter material (think wet/dry vac filter material) to fit down the ramair as a easily serviceable medium to catch and trap large items, yet one that allows the free flowing of air?

Am I having a stupid, or does this sound like a reasonable idea?

Oh yeah it's a burial plot ram is. That screen is like using it to patch a pool leak... NOT!

You'll need a vac when pulling the element out. There will be bugs dropping off the screen and into the clean passage when pulling it out.

I had an aprilia with a ram type design, bought a flat air cleaner element to fit over the ram intake. No thought about sealing that air box, but rather a cobby designed execution with leaks at the box cover; so I had to revise that area.

With the 14, I'm not into a fairing type bike so I stripped mine off, ran big cylinder type air filter canisters, using the rubber boot that bolts to the frame intake. I then checked for the first time, having Cody The Meat Puppet help me make a video of how you handle the bug colleting event as opposed to my way of dealing with it.

Good to know i'm on the right track at least.

I may post up picks and results if I employ this corpse catcher.

Great idea, Im surprised no one sells a product like this.

I worried about the same thing with my Gen1. I took Hubs tip when removing the air filter, I used a long tipped vacuum nozzle over the filter guides to suck up any bugs or small stuff that got past the screen on the inlet. That's the best you can do, there might still be some stuff that will fall off when you pull the filter out. It would be worth a try to remove the gas tank and open the bulkhead covers to place a piece of tinfoil under the filter before you remove it. But take heart, I am quite sure the air filter is situated ahead of the intake ducts. It's doubtful anything drops directly off the guides into the ducts. I remember seeing bugs on the floor of the air box directly below the filter. They collected in two small divots in the forward area of the air box and apparently just stayed there. I would vacuum them out once a year. I have pics. Looks to me like the Kaw engineers nailed this one but tinfoil it sometime for peace of mind. I think those bugs are going to stay right in the divots unless you tip the bike over.

Or if you want to be sure without all the fuss, just cut a piece of scouring pad to the exact shape of the steel mesh in the ram air. Velcro it in place and take it off and clean it when necessary. I think it will have some small effect on your hp but only at very high speed. I don't believe the ram air effect does much until you're doing over a hundred mph.

We too have a lot of flying bugs.After an hour of riding, my visor is usually covered in bug remnants and guts, as well as on my shoulders. Occasionally hit something bigger like a grasshopper or bee (type thing). This one I hit something it didn't die and it crawled into my view port...it was yellow and black FORTUNATELY I don't think it was a stinging insect.

I've changed my filter twice now, and blew it out a couple times. I was expecting there to be gobs of bugs and maybe other debris in the intake. But there wasn't. I check the intake screen after rides, and it's extremely rare for me to find any traces of bug goo.

But I like the idea of something of a mesh pad to put over the ram air screen. Nice and soft so if a bug it's it doesn't explode it. I'm gonna look into this, I want something like a scotchbrite pad (but NOT).

Went to big box store. Found what i think I'm most interested in, which is register filters. They are about 1/8" thick and intended for large particles/dust but still to flow air freely.

I looked at the scotch brite like home air filters. And that's close to what I had in mind but I was concerned with filter degradation. Well, I moved the package a little and a small 1" chunk fell about. Which is part of my concern about this whole concept - what happens you come back from a ride and look and laugh because the pre-filter is gone? Only to find out it's not GONE, it disintegrated and got sucked into the intake.

Vic:
Thats exactly what I've been looking at at well. I may either use some velcro tabs to attach it, or a couple of bits of safety wire.

Glad to see my little braincramp actually has traction.

I had a couple ideas for affixing it. One is to 3d print a filter holder that might snap to the grid. But I don't have one myself nor really know anything about them (too much).

Another thought was using the clips (peg locks?) used to stabilize pegboard hooks. Maybe fashioning a small frame out of something, maybe just some scrap plastic tubes (like old RC car antenna tubes) and I don't know, hot gluing them or something. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-8-in-Zinc-Plated-Steel-Pegboard-Hook-Assortment-Kit-32-Piece-18029/202305509 there's one of the clips.

This would be something I'd like to pretty easily on/off so it could be inpsected every ride. A 30 second deal. Remove, brush off, reinstall, done.

When it starts to warm up in a couple weeks, I'll probably go out and look at the intake size and shape and all that. If you come up with any ideas in the mean time, let me know.

Another thought was using the clips (peg locks?) used to stabilize pegboard hooks. Maybe fashioning a small frame out of something,

How about a couple Dzus fasteners. They're made in various lengths that are meant to pass through fairings. If you made two triangular border frames out of aluminum one to fit in front and one behind the pre-filter, that should be thick enough for the fastener to pass through and compress the spring clips that Dzus fasteners mate to. You could JB Weld some washers under the heads of the Dzus fasteners to act as spacers if that's necessary. Or if you don't want to mess with Dzus fasteners, maybe fab up something that holds the pre-filter with small well nuts.

Rook, good idea but probably overkill for the intended purpose.

So since this getting traction...

I got some thin open cell foam filter material used for pre-filtering inhouse air purification systems. the stuff is like 10$ for 15x20x1/16 inch sheet. If my honeydew list is clear this weekend I'll cut it to fit and take photos to share with the class.
As for a hold down system, as much as I appreciate the idea of a 3D printed, snap fit doohicky, or whatnot, I'm just going with the tried and true safety wire, as I don't thing there's going to be much negative pressure that will force this piece out of the sinus cavity. And again with the pictures upon completion.

Real world proof of concept:

Installed for a 1500mi road trip through Wyo, SD, Neb.
MANY bugs killed along the way.
Much Cottonwood fluff too.
All caught prior to ingestion into the ram-air, as is obvious in the pics. What I didnt catch is what it looked like IN the ram-air, as the bigger bug parts fell away on removal.

I was averaging 42MPG @ 90MPH for the open road stretches. I had zero issues with this installed.
The material, without being overly specific, is a pre-filter material for a home HEPA unit (that has since burned out), so its designed specifically for air filtration.

Considering how much the air-filters for our machines run, this looks to me to be a reasonable and inexpensive option to keep the detritus out.

* Last updated by: DTTyson on 6/28/2024 @ 1:05 PM *

That's perfect DTT. I can see that especially useful on trips or night rides or where people have a LOT of bugs, or just want to keep anything substantial from getting to the primary filter. I can't imagine that hurting airflow all that much, if at all.

To your point about primary filter, I'd say that would have to extend it's life too, maybe another 50%. Probably not worth pushing on these bikes, but for someone more on the every dollar counts side that could be a great extender.

Did you have to mount it or does it just push/press fit?

It looks like a merkin with insects already included.

Great idea.

Vic: That was my motivator. Saving $ in one aspect of this rig to go stuff into another. Speaking of stuffing, yes, the filter is a touch larger than the ram intake at the screen, so it just press fits into place and uses the tension between the screen and faring to hold firm, but easily removable to clean.

Rook: You jerkin' my merkin?

Chrly: Thanks! I appreciate the support form those of you who really RIDE.s

No, that's a nice one! Like it!