No, the K&N air filter is a waste of money. The OE filter is excellent and lasts a long time when not operated in dusty conditions. The snorkel mod is also a joke. There is an accurate formula for calculating overall intake tract length and the snorkel mod does not bear up to scrutiny at all.
In fact, the stock intake tract length, as measured from the centerline of the intake valve to the end of the bell at the snorkel is perfect for something around 12,000 RPM. Honda did their job (as they always do) on the overall design of the engine and they did not overlook the intake tract length when they designed it.
On top of that, removing the snorkel will make a bike quack like a duck. Intake tract length is an easy to predict science, it follows a set formula that works on any engine and the ideal design is a variable length tract that gets shorter as the RPM's increase and longer as the RPM's decrease.
This is why modern higher-end bikes, such as the R1, have a variable length intact tract, controlled by the ECU, that changes length in accordance with the RPM. Because the ratio is linear it's very easy to design a variable length intake tract.
With a fixed length tract you have to pick the RPM you are most likely to run at and set it to that length. This means that at that RPM your tract length will be ideal and at all others it will be a compromise. I forget exactly where Honda put it but I'm quite sure it was 1,000 RPM above the stock ECU's rev limiter which is 11,000 RPM.
With respect to increasing performance, it's quite silly to even bother when so much of it is lost at the clutch. This concept seems to escape most folks so I'll touch on it once more. Given that the stock clutch springs and clutch material make the bike extremely susceptible to clutch slip there's little point in finding ways to create more power when it just gets lost at the clutch. Every increase in power that you create will only make the clutch slip more. This is why I designed the HD clutch springs and this is also why I got a company to develop a new Carbon Fiber clutch for these engines. This was undertaken specifically so that the foundation of the engine design could be shored up as a first step before adding more power.
I realize that this is a hard concept for people to grasp, but it's quite basic.
I realize that this in an entry-level bike, I understand that most riders do not have the experience with performance engines that I do, but at some point people need to shift over from looking for freebies with respect to power and actually following along with tried and true methods that are common amongst all engines/clutch designs.
The ideal pathway to power for this engine is;
- Performance Pack
- Carbon Fiber Clutch Kit
- Camshaft
- Everything else - with everything else being expensive ($$)
To save me from answering the same questions over and over, I developed a custom racing camshaft for this engine, it's fantastic, but it was not cost-feasible to put it into production when realistically, we might sell 10 of them - if that.
When weighed against the average income for a 125 owner this became entirely out of the question. I've seen people with the 125 actually go halfers on a Performance Pack because they could not afford $149.95 Canadian. This is a common occurrence in the CBR 125 world. There are typically 3 types of people that buy these bikes;
1)
A person with income that wants to learn how to ride and get their licenseFor these people making the 125 faster is not important. It's just a means to an end. You can identify these people by their bikes being for sale in the paper when they have less the 1,000 kilometres on them. Once the bike has done it's job they buy the bike that they really wanted
2)
A person that cannot afford anything largerThis tends to be the majority of 125 owners. They simply can't afford to buy anything else and they desperately need it to go faster - for zero dollars if at all possible. The Performance Pack, at $149.95 CDN is a hardship for them. They tend to come to the forum, steal as much free information as they can, and then try to come up with ways of doing the same thing for even less money. When they can't do that they tend to go on other forums and talk trash about the Performance Pack.
They are also the ones that buy just the clutch springs thinking they can buy other bits themselves in an effort to save $1.25 or so.
We see these people all the time. They have no respect for the development costs that go into making these products and then whine that they can't buy a camshaft. These folks then try to find a camshaft somewhere else, and if they find one, they install it never realizing it will last for 50 kilometers and the take out their engine in the process. All to save $30 or $40 from doing it properly in the first place.
These are the same people that we see coming into this forum, reading our experiences, and then posting them up on other sites acting as if they discovered them. The crankshaft bearings are a good example of this. Because they can't afford to buy a Performance Pack in the same breath they will take the time to publicly state something stupid such as the clutch springs are not necessary or that the clutch doesn't slip or some other horse shit. Why? Because they can't afford to buy anything that they actually, deep inside, want to buy.
3)
People that really enjoy the bike and are appreciative of our efforts.These are the people that we really like. They enjoy the bike, they see it as the marvel that it really is, 6 speed transmission, fuel injection, and a great one at that, and liquid cooled. All for $1995 or whatever they paid for it. They love it because they understand that even though it's an entry-level bike it represents decades of Honda engineering at it's finest. They marvel at the fuel economy, the incredibly low insurance rates, the remarkable appearance, the joy it is to ride, the fact that you can damn near put it your back pocket etc.
They understand the value of the Performance Pack, that it does not detract from the bike, that it only enhances the over-all bike and they see a lot of value in that. These people just buy it and are grateful. They send me emails mentioning how happy they are, when they need help we're happy to give it, they're ecstatic that they have someone 'in the know' on their side etc.
They also appreciate the path to performance that we've laid out for them. That it's logical, incremental and that they can stop at any time and not detract from the wonderous job that Honda did on the bike. They understand that they are improving it and they enjoy learning new things from it.
These folks are not in the least jealous or envious of us - to the contrary, they are ecstatic that someone is out there making things better for the 125. They are the type of people that check with me first before buying something questionable from overseas to find out what the real scoop is.
Unfortunately, these folks are much rarer then most 125 riders. They are the exception and not the rule. What we tend to see more then anything else is very poor people trying their best to scam us out of whatever they can. We get questions all the time, how many teeth does the sprocket have in the Performance Pack (always cloaked with the preface of, I want to buy one, I just need more information). It's very easy to see through these pin-heads, what they think is that if they just buy the same sprocket they will have the same thing for much less money. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We even had one fella in the UK come in and ask us about the Carbon Fiber clutch kit. He created an account on the site and then went and bought it off of e-bay for money. What kind of pinhead buys the same thing, from us, for more money off of e-bay when they can buy it here cheaper? (we charge more on e-bay to cover the e-bay fees - when a person buys from e-bay that extra money goes in trash - straight to e-bay - we see none of it).
So why would they register on our site and then buy it for more money from e-bay? That set a flag right away. So I send out their brand new Carbon Fiber clutch with springs and then, one month later I get an email from the buyer saying that he took his bike to a shop, they determined that the Carbon FIber clutch was used, that the springs were also used and he wanted to return it to get his money back.
Now how can that be? I personally designed and manufactured the clutch springs. I know damn well that I sent him brand new springs from my batch that were custom made according to my design. I also had the new Carbon Fiber clutches made to my specification. I have no other clutches to mail out.
You know what this person was doing? That's right. He was trying to send back to me his used OE clutch and springs that were just replaced in an effort to get his money back and keep the Carbon Fiber clutch and springs. In short, he was trying to defraud me and literally, get me to pay for his new Carbon Fiber clutch and springs.
I prosecuted the bastard to the extent that he immediately dropped the matter and disappeared. I mean, this guy was scared shitless after I got done with him. I smacked him hard.
But, unfortunately, this is some of what we have to deal with in the 125 market. All three of the above types of riders. I'll leave it to you to determine which one of these categories you fall into
In the meantime, I'm sure I'll start seeing posts from other 125 riders, that have never bought anything from me, showing up on other sites containing some of the 'meat' from my work on intake tract length on other sites complete with their making it look like they 'discovered' all of this stuff themselves in an effort to make them look like they are something special, when really, all they are is a thief.
That paragraph above might help people understand why I restrict sections of this forum to people that have actually bought products from me. You would not believe how many people come in here and think that they are entitled to free information from me and that they do not have to buy anything. They think they are
entitled. Those folks need to get a paper route, head down to the welfare office, or start picking up bottles and cans on the side of the road.