Throttle Cable

[oldgoat01_imp]

Man, it's been over three years since I've been on here, so you can guess why...I gotta problem. I stil recognize some of those grizzled veterans, so I'm confident y'all can help. My sad story

Awhile ago, I'm taking her out of my garage (straddling and paddling a three point turn to get headed properly). Get pointed in the right direction, hit the starter and nada. Darn! dead battery. Oh well, so I have to paddle back. As I am, my foot slips and the bike does a slow motion drop. FIRST time I've dropped it! Actually, more of a set down so no damage was done. Given the slippery nature of the garage floor, it was a bit of a struggle getting her back up. I hook up the tender and she sits for a couple of weeks until I try to take her out again. Starts up fine; however there is about an inch of slop in the throttle. I adjust as much as I can at the throttle but still have 3/8"+ of play. Far too much. I know you can adjust at the engine, but it looks like a painful process requiring specialized tools. More importantly, I wonder if in my dropping and wrestling to right her, the cable was pulled from it's proper path. So, 1) is my guess of the cable no longer being routed properly correct? If so, any pics or thoughts on where it may have gone awry? or 2) do I need to adjust at the engine and, of so, any pics and help on how to accomplish that or 3) is the cable just strestched ot the point it needs to be replaced?
Thanks

[Lord Popgun]

Oldgoat,

You can see the cables easily. Look from the left side of the bike, across the tops of the throttle bodies and you will see the cables. Now, go to the right side of the bike and you can see how the fit into some slots on a fitting and you can see the adjuster and nuts. Make sure they are both in the slots. One may have come out. I’d do that first.

[Cormanus]

Oldgoat, back in January I twisted the throttle forward trying to push the rubber grip further inwards. I did it so enthusiastically that I broke the lug off the engine end of the push cable. It left a ridiculous amount of free play in the the throttle. It also required a new cable and a dealer repair as getting at the engine end of the cable is ridiculously difficult. Particularly if you’re a mechanical klutz like me. In my defense I was a long way from home; I’d have had more of a go had the bike been home.

The good news is that, if Lord Popgun’s remedy does not find the problem, you’ll easily work out if the cable’s broken from the handlebar end. Open up the right switch block and you’ll find them both.

Good luck.

[max]

Dear Mr Goat, in addition to the great advice here is a picture taken from the right side of the bike, when you rotate the grip it shows the rear cable pulls the throttle open and the forward cable closes it in case the spring on the throttle body fails to close it ( i have not heard of such a case ), depending on the cost/difficulty it could be that the closing cable can be omitted, but the inside cable should be removed from the throttle handle by unscrewing the two philips screws, then carefully splitting the housing and taking the cable out to prevent a possible jam malfunction from the broken cable, just a thought.



And to find out which cable has broken just pull on the outside of the cables on the right side grip, the top one with the adjusting nuts is the open cable, the lower one is the closing cable, no need to open anything up to check which one is defective.

[oldgoat01_imp]

Thanks for the suggestions...I'll see what I can discover

[Cormanus]

I should add that I rode the bike several hundred kilometres with no close cable. Other than a lots of of free play (which I quickly got used to), it worked fine.

[Jfro5687_imp]

The close cable is a safety feature. Just in case somehow the throttle gets stuck open. It’s not a good idea to run without one routinely.

[Cormanus]

That's what I decided, out of an abundance of caution. It was 2,500 kms home.