No chain yanking here, I haven't been using the cage (never had one?!).
And you're gonna think I'm yanking your chain again...but I've been using a stock airfilter for a DRZ400! I got the bike for free, missing an air filter so I threw in a spare one I had laying around. Believe it or not, it fits pretty good and with some marine grease on the base, it seals up decent. I checked it to make sure by lightly greasing the inside of the intake boot (between carb and airbox) and even after pretty dusty rides, the grease came off clean with a white rag.
And remember, I have the "cross bars" that press down on the filter for now, so I haven't ridden without a decent seal.
I don't think the lack of a cage had anything to do with the seizing, there were no scores on the bore except for the transfused alum. from the piston, and that was more of a scuff.
And as an update on the failed piston, its still doing great! I didn't buy new rings or nuthin after the seizure. All I did was file down rough spots on the piston, and used some 240 grit on it. I added some cross-hatch back to the bore (25 degrees to the cylinder, before you ask) with 240 agian, and sanded down especially where the plating flaked to prevent any "snagging" of the rings.
I pulled the cylinder again today, still looks relatively the same. No grooves on the bore, ring end gap is good. I've got about 10-12 hours on it since the siezure, plus about 4 hours before that. :laugh: