I ordered in a coupla these to see what they look like. Meiwa is the company name and they trade as MIW Filters. I got these from eBay, a place in the mid-west US called (does Minnesota qualify as mid-west?!) Arrowhead, which is a well-known supplier of durable electrical products for motorcycles. Anywho, these weigh the same as BMW OEM (from Knecht), but are slightly heavier than K&N KN-163 for early K bikes. I'm not cutting one open just yet but will try it and then have a squiz. Delivered, US$7.82 each. They have them for all BMW motorcycles using a spin-on oil filter.

Backstory, in the mid to late '90s I ran a mail order company called Filterwerks of Albuquerque (I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque!)
and sold most major brands of filters for motorbikes only. I'd visit large and regional rallies carrying samples with me when riding, or load the Subaru wagon & trailer with them if going to "The National", Daytona Bikeweek or Sturgis. It was a good biz until my partner/girlfriend decided she wanted to live back in Montana in the snowy mountains where she could more easily hike, rather than sunny ABQ where it's all desert and the mountains are dry. She was nice but not worth following - she took the money with her.

I sold a lot of oil filters and only ever had one come back. A guy at the Missoula Montana BMWMOA National in 1998 spun one on to his Airhead conversion (made by Suburban Machinery) and the cold oil pressure spiked which inflated the canister like a puffer fish. It was an original Knecht. I replaced it with a BMW-marked OEM and he was happy.

Being the frugal bastard I am, I am always looking to find a decent quality part for less than the dealer/traditional shops sell them for. Granted, they need to make their money, keep their lights on, pay their staff, but my dollar, whether US or Aussie, needs to go further and further every day.

I'll report my thoughts on these MIW after first use in a variety of my BMWs.

eBay Seller with MIW

Note: Oilhead (R850/1100/1150) oil filters are the same as early K bike (K75/100/1100/1200) oil filters.

Im the guy with the airhead sidecar rig with the spin on conversion who had the issue @ Missoula in 1998. Since then I have only used oem style filters with the "heavy guage" can such as Mahle OC 91 and have (fortunately) had no further difficulties. This filter looks like it could be a good heavy can substitute at a good price.

partyrider wrote:Im the guy with the airhead sidecar rig with the spin on conversion who had the issue @ Missoula in 1998. Since then I have only used oem style filters with the "heavy guage" can such as Mahle OC 91 and have (fortunately) had no further difficulties.  This filter looks like it could be a good heavy can substitute at a good price.

Blimey! What's the chances?

Strewth! Too funny.

Glad to hear you're still flogging the throttle. 1998 was more than a few well-worn years ago. That was a good rally for catching up with old friends, riding in and around Wyoming & Montana, by my memory.

The reseller must have had a squiz at what replacement oil filters sell for typically on the market and has raised his price to US$12.95 for the Meiwa brand, which is now just more noise in the marketplace. There are plenty of other brands and even unofficial oil filters listed elsewhere for less. Oh, well.

To the initial purchase idea, these filters are holding up well on the models I bought them for and I will slice them up after removal to see what their guts turn up.