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I have recently purchased a Yamaha XSR900. I love pretty much everything about the bike, but I am planning a bunch of customizations to make it my own. Mostly cosmetic. Some not so much.

One of the more drastic changes I’m considering is making the fuel tank bigger. Most fillups are only 11 or 12 litres. Under the fake gas tank panels we have the actual tank, and a giant air box. So my idea is to take out the air box, replace with small pod air filters, and build a new, much bigger fuel tank to fill the extra space.

Now I do know that a motorcycle air box does a lot of very magical things and it is generally considered better to keep it. Typically the only serious reasons to replace it with pod filters is for looks, or for power (if your lucky) because your racing the bike, both come with the cost of poor driveability (flat spots in your power curve, no low end torque, whatever).

So here is my question. If I put pod filters on, I loose my air box magic. But if I bring my bike to get tuned and tell them I’m not looking for absolute power. I just want to keep driveability, and don’t even care if I LOOSE a little power (since the XSR has power to spare). Will it work? They should be able to tune the bike to have torque in all the right places right? I might be loosing some of my top end performance, but my bike can still run nice can’t it?

It’s been hard to find much info on this, mainly people talking about pod filters want the look or want to race, neither care about driveability. Thanks for the help!

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  • You may want to consider that a larger gas tank is going to change the center of gravity of the bike, which will change the handling and could possibly be a safety issue.
    – GdD
    Apr 2, 2020 at 15:14
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    Yes, if your mechanic knows what he's doing, he should be able to tune the engine to maintain drivability with the modified intake filters. You'll probably need an aftermarket tuner, such as Power Commander. The fuel weight addition won't affect the bike noticeably, unless you're a pro and plan to race on a track. Even then, it would be incredibly minor. Motorcycles can maintain good handling even with very large loads in unstable locations, such as a passenger, so the additional weight in the center will be negligible (similar to adding a tank bag, or you if you gained 10 kilos.)
    – the_storyteller
    Apr 2, 2020 at 15:25
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    Yes, I’ll be carrying an extra few pounds (10 maybe) well above my center of gravity. It’s 2% more weight at most, I’ve never heard people making these sorts of complaints when talking about tank mounted luggage (positioned higher), or saddle bags in general (much heavier). Heck, I can gain more than 10lbs in a week if I’m motivated enough.
    – tyler mackenzie
    Apr 2, 2020 at 15:27
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    Thank you @the_storyteller! It really annoys me when people talk about the danger of adding a couple pounds to the bike like I’m anywhere NEAR skilled enough to notice a difference. Best example, like you said. 140lbs of meat on the back seat!
    – tyler mackenzie
    Apr 2, 2020 at 15:30
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    I am a motorcyclist @the_storyteller, and have experience with loads. I've also seen plenty of people make modifications that they wish they hadn't. The OP seems to be aware of these factors, which is cool by me.
    – GdD
    Apr 2, 2020 at 16:30

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