I just opened my fuel pump to take a look at the filter 'cause I had it out of the tank anyway (adding a fuel cell to the bike); at 85K miles the filter was really pretty clean, easy to see through the mesh and not showing any resistance to fuel passage as far as I could tell. I did push some fuel through it backwards and blow it out with compressed air and while a coating of some really black stuff did show up, there was no debris or grit of any kind at all.
Most auto / motorcycle mfgs. use this same type of mesh 'sock' as a fuel filter and it does not seem to be any kind of problem or require maintenance. I think the only time the filters do clog is when contaminants have been put in with the fuel at some point. Put another way, I do not think it is really a maintenance issue, more like a repair due to abnormally contaminate fuel in the first place. As I remember Davo Jones had to clean his after a very specific tank of fuel that was full of crud, not just the accumulation of anything normally found in gasoline.
Brian
I don't believe that replacing the fuel pump (there is no 'service' for the filter) is in the scheduled maintenance. It's entirely up to you and the possibly trashy fuel you use in the bike. Davo did his fairly early in the bike's lifetime. Others have found trash when they took the pump apart. I've got nearly 50k on mine and haven't given it a thought. If it starts running rough or exhibiting strange symptoms, I might give it go.
