Baja Designs Side Panel Fuel Tank
Baja Designs Side Panel Fuel Tank
EVALUATIONS
Stashing the Gas
ONE OF THE BIG PROBLEMS WITH MANY off-road bikes is their limited fuel capacity. This is especially true on slim-and-thin KTMs, which come standard with 2-gallon gas tanks. To address this issue, Baja Designs revived an older idea to fit newer bikes. Adding a 1.5-gallon auxiliary fuel tank where the left side-panel ordinarily goes is a clever way to ride farther. Mounting took about 1.5 hours courtesy of Baja Designs’ always-sano instructions. There are two methods of fuel-line routing: 1) combined, where the main and sidepanel tanks are connected; and 2) independent, where each tank is connected to the carburetor. We chose the latter because with the lines combined, there are some venting issues due to the rear
tank’s lower filler cap. This also let us control the amount of fuel in each tank instead of draining them in unison. In use, we ran the sidepanel tank out of fuel first and then reverted to the stock tank as a bike handles better with less weight high and back. Neatly integrating the auxiliary tank’s on/off valve into the lower portion of the airbox made it easy to reach down and switch tanks on the fly. On a 2002 400 E/XC, we were able to extend fuel range nearly 60 miles, as our sidepanel tank actually measured 1.7 gallons-bonus! The downside is having the extra 9 pounds hanging out back there, but gas weighs what gas weighs and the weight goes away; you adapt to it relatively quickly anyway. The nice
thing is that when the auxiliary tank is empty you can hardly tell it’s there while riding, which means you can leave it in place even when you don’t need it. After a few hard rides, our tank never loosened and the extra weight didn’t seem to strain the subframe. The plastic tank also survived a few small crashes with only slight scratching. Baja Designs currently offers 1.5-gallon sidepanel tanks for most KTMs from 1999-2003 in black or orange, and 1.2gallon tanks for 1998-2001 Yamaha YZs and 2002 WRs in white. This is the slickest way to increase fuel capacity without going to an oversize main gas tank (if one is even available), or to maximize range for you hardcore off-road explorers out there.
Baja Designs, 185 Bosstick Blvd. San Marcos, CA 92069 760/560-2242 www.bajadesigns.com Price...$155
A Adds fuel capacity without girth between the legs A Great fit and instructions `owns
Be careful in the bumps when she's full! If you forget to turn off the main tank, gas leaks out the rear tank cap
