I’d been riding the bike for a year with whatever pod filters were on the bike when I bought it. They fell apart, and I lost one while the bike was off the road.

So I bought some new ones on eBay (of course). When they arrived, they were too small. Cheap, but one size too small. And they had a 45 degree bend, so they would bump into the frame anyway. I tossed them in the back of a drawer.

When I got the bike running again, it started OK, but under any load the engine stalled.

My immediate reaction was that the carbies needed cleaning. I poked about with fine copper strands. And I attacked everything with petrol and brushes. I did unearth a whole bunch of gunk.

When that didn’t make any difference to the stalling, I took the carbies to a local bike shop where they “officially” cleaned them. No difference.

In a last-ditch flurry of inspiration, I wondered if the “too small” filters could be attached in some way.

I toured the plumbing section of the local Bunnings warehouse, and came home with a couple of these :

Not exactly this, but close. Little plumbing  pieces that join different size pipes.

As it turns out, it reduced EXACTLY from the small pod air cleaners to the manifold.

And what’s more, as soon as I fitted them, the carbies started behaving – and I could ride the bike without stalling.

Sheer magic.

The pipe seems to calm the turbulent airflow (which is the downside of CV carbies like these Mikuni BS 30 SS) and the 45 degree bend allows the filters to clear the frame.

Despite claims to the contrary, the GSX250 does NOT need the original still-air filter box to calm the airflow – these plumbing fixtures do the job.