Can you use a direct mount K&N with outerwear if you ride in wet areas sometimes or will it still let water in and hurt the motor?

 

WATER will get in bend valves brake pistons[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

It depends on how wet it is when you ride.

 

A few drops from a splash will shed off the outerwear and not hurt a thing, but submerging it will do what Sam says.
FYI - the waterproof version of outerwears lose the coating after a few washes, and no longer repell water.

If you cross a lot of creeks with water as deep as the tires, I'd stick with the airbox - I ride creeks with air box, no lid, never a splash enters. Leave the drain plug off so any water that does enter can run right out. Almost as good as direct mount, without the worries. the lid of the airbox is only 2 inches lower than the snorkel intakes, so you only lose that tiny bit of submergence depth by running with no lid, and the airflow increase will cause you to jet up where you would with a direct mount filter. If you have a dynojet kit, you'll want to use stage 3 instructions for lidless running, instead of stage 1 instructions.

 

Thanks for all the useful information.
Ron