emgo , no-name , see through , able to keep small boulders , shrubs and children out of your carbs
vs
K&N if you just have to have the "look" and Uni (flammable) foam filters .
[opinion] largest available filter for the inlet diameter . Well designed inlet from th filter to the carb throat .
Sufficient filtering capability to keep debris out . Durability , longevity , ease of maintenance , wet weather performance . Emgo meets none of these requirements [/opinion]
~kop
I had great luck with the EMGO's on my Yamaha 850, but according to the 850 guys (the 850 is the be all/end all of real bikes) I could have pissed in the tank and it would have run better than most other bikes, but to be honest, I've never had that luck with them on any other bike, so you're probably spot on. I had an older gentleman explain to me that the factories spent millions designing air boxes for bikes and that he doubted EMGO had that same R&D budget. I like the look of the intake area cleaned up, but not at the cost of performance. My Seca 900 won't even fire with the air filter removed from the box, but when everything is tight and solid, it runs really well for 30 y.o. bike. I can honestly say, I've heard literally hundreds of guys have issues with the EMGO's, and very few of us have had any real luck with them. They look cool, but you have to ask... Am I after performance or fashion???
I recently ran into a guy who had a Bandit 1000, he spent tons of $ trying to get the bike to run right, dyno time, K&N's, ecm's etc. and just wasn't happy. I told him to go back where he started, he went back to the stock box and was thrilled with the performance, he actually brought the K&N to Mulholland and tried to give it away..... No takers, nobody wanted it. And this is a guy who track days regularly and rides like he stole it. I think Dennis and others are on to something, it takes a lot of R&D to make something better and most of us hack's want to just bolt something on and go racing. Unfortunately it really isn't that easy...