Introduction: Cleaning Your Dirt Bike Air Filter

The lifeblood of any internal combustion engine is a mixture of an accelerant (fuel) and also oxygen as a fire needs air to burn bright, so with a dirty filter your bike simply won’t run right!

Now for an engine working in an environment which is trying to breathe through a constant barrage of flying dirt, mud, dust and for trail riders out there, seeds from plants and whatever else you happen to ride through you have to take a moment to realise there is only one small piece of foam protecting the delicate heart of your engine from all of those nasties!

There are 3 main types of air filters being paper, cotton and foam with the majority of dirt bikes being foam. In this article we will focus on keeping your foam air filter happy and your bike always be breathing clean air!

Foam air filters are a relatively cheap option as they are washable and reusable for a number of times, the life expectancy of an air filter varies on the amount of hours you ride and also the conditions, but keeping track of the condition of the Air Filter will allow you to make the call on replacement as over time the filter foam will degenerate and break down from cleaning.