Stick with the OEM air filter.
By "exhaust" do you mean just a muffler or a full system?
You can't mess with the OEM ECU.
You can run a piggyback fuel controller like the Power Commander, but you don't have to.
Does the bike have any fueling problems?
Be sure to check the fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose is dry when the pump is running.

 

It looks like its just a slip on by micron aluminum canister. The pipe leading to the muffler is the same color but it is clamped on. I can't ride it yet got over a foot of snow left on the ground. It runs great in neutral idles perfect and revs up smooth and real quick. Why do you recommend sticking to OEM air filter? All of my older bikes I always had to mess with the jetting when changing exhaust.

 

The OEM filter provides better filtering and more power than the K&N.
You _might_ want to alter the fueling if it isn't optimal, but you don't _have_ to.

 

Without putting the bike on a dyno and tuning the fueling the power commander will only be guess work. With just a slip on the stock computer will probably be fine as these bikes normally run a little on the rich (safe) side from the factory. The K&N's have not shown to be any benefit on many of the newer bikes so no need to spend/waste the money. BMC filters are the way to go.

 

Personally I feel you get a better result by tuning on the road or track rather than on a dyno.

 

If the dyno is load control you can duplicate the road. If it doesn't have a load control/eddy brake then the only thing they are realy good for is HP numbers, not tuning. If tuning on the road or track it is best to have a wideband hooked up to get accurate reading instead of seat of the pants feel. You can get more power running lean and it will feel great on the road/track until you start melting pistons.

 

You don't tune to an air/fuel ratio, you tune for best performance. A wideband logger is a useful tool, but don't deny your "seat of the pants" feel in preference to an arbitrary air/fuel measurement. You need to be very lean before you start melting pistons in a four-stroke engine, lean enough to be noticeable.

 

Melted a piston on my boosted 929. It felt great that run!

 

With a turbo you really should be running thermocouples - very cheap insurance.

 

They help for sure. Live and learn! Either way if you have an optimum AFR you should have great performance.

 

I did some work on my 09 R1, and I changed the air filter to the race BMC, put a full exhaust system, and flashed my ECU. I bought a power commander to put it all together. I initially used the PC5 recommendations which added 9 hp and after the bike was custom dyno tuned, I produced another 7 hp. The thing with the pc5 recommendations, based on my part, it met all my needs. The additional 7 hp cost me $450 and riding hard my MPG went to about 60-70 miles per tank. Since I have the pc5, I can switch between maps so I keep it on the pc5 recommendation and when I need that extra little power I flip a switch to the more aggressive custom mapping. The point I'm making here is that unless you're trying to squeeze out as much power as possible, the PC5 maps works great. Also I've used K&N for years with no problem, with filtration, you have to consider where you live. If you live some place with desert sand then maybe more filtration on your filter is good but if you do not, I do not see the point of worrying about the K&N not having enough filtration.

 

I did some work on my 09 R1, and I changed the air filter to the race BMC, put a full exhaust system, and flashed my ECU. I bought a power commander to put it all together. I initially used the PC5 recommendations which added 9 hp and after the bike was custom dyno tuned, I produced another 7 hp. The thing with the pc5 recommendations, based on my part, it met all my needs. The additional 7 hp cost me $450 and riding hard my MPG went to about 60-70 miles per tank. Since I have the pc5, I can switch between maps so I keep it on the pc5 recommendation and when I need that extra little power I flip a switch to the more aggressive custom mapping. The point I'm making here is that unless you're trying to squeeze out as much power as possible, the PC5 maps works great. Also I've used K&N for years with no problem, with filtration, you have to consider where you live. If you live some place with desert sand then maybe more filtration on your filter is good but if you do not, I do not see the point of worrying about the K&N not having enough filtration.

Absolutely, if you want to make optimal power then you would _need_ a fuel controller to tune it. Most people can happily ride with no jetting changes even after installing a full exhaust system though.

Sure, but why would you want to make less power on top of poorer filtering?

Most American sports bike riders can do all sorts of things and be fine for "years", simply because "years of riding" in the US often means just a few thousand miles. You could remove the filter entirely and not have any problems for years, if you're only doing 1000 miles per year, or less ;-)

 

In most of the articles I've seen, you don't need a fuel mgmt system with only a slip on and air filter swap, only when you go to the full system does it become necessary. ECU remaps are not that common on bikes yet, and I doubt that you could do it on an 04 without sending it out.