Rain Sock
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,898
From: Bedford UK
How good at doing what?! They have to admit air to the engine while it is running, so probably also let water through in all circumstances. I'm puzzled why they are made! A metal cover will keep the worst rain off the filter while parked.
Road Master
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,238
Likes: 389
From: georgia
The socks are quite good at shedding light rain from the filter media. Heavy rain— some will penetrate. The sock media is very non restrictive when it comes to airflow. I’ve always been amazed at how well they flow.
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,898
From: Bedford UK
All the high performance air cleaners I've bought go with a chrome cover of some sort, sometimes the stock one. Unless you have a drastically tuned engine our bikes don't need much extra air to give their best. But if you must have an open one......!
Last edited by grbrown; Mar 7, 2019 at 01:16 PM.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 3,118
Likes: 1,146
From: Directly above the center of the Earth
Rode my '09 FXD from Atwood, TN to Clarcksville, TN on a PGR mission, 90+ miles. It was an absolute downpour every inch of the way. Most of the time I could barely see the second bike up in front of me it was coming down so hard. The roads could barely drain the water and in much of the ride too it was at least a half inch deep and I kept worrying about hydroplaning since the lead bike never went below 45 mph.
The bike was still stock then, so no fancy filter, no rain sock. The bike never missed a beat (I'd do it with a/my carb'd bike any day also and not worry a moment). Since I got the '09 and since I sold it and have my '98, I've ridden in more than my share, your share and two or three others' share of heavy, downpour rains combined and not batted an eyelash about it and the bike(s) always run just fine. By the way, I've run both bikes with aftermarket breather systems on them in the same heavy rains and still no problems - the '09 was a DK Customs, the '98 with an S&S. So it's not like no rain is getting to the filter, in the conditions I'm describing, it wouldn't matter if it was an 'iopen' filter or one of the ones I had on my bikes...plenty of water getting to the filter.
IMHO, rain socks are just a feel-good item and a waste of money, even on an 'open' filter system.
The bike was still stock then, so no fancy filter, no rain sock. The bike never missed a beat (I'd do it with a/my carb'd bike any day also and not worry a moment). Since I got the '09 and since I sold it and have my '98, I've ridden in more than my share, your share and two or three others' share of heavy, downpour rains combined and not batted an eyelash about it and the bike(s) always run just fine. By the way, I've run both bikes with aftermarket breather systems on them in the same heavy rains and still no problems - the '09 was a DK Customs, the '98 with an S&S. So it's not like no rain is getting to the filter, in the conditions I'm describing, it wouldn't matter if it was an 'iopen' filter or one of the ones I had on my bikes...plenty of water getting to the filter.
IMHO, rain socks are just a feel-good item and a waste of money, even on an 'open' filter system.
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