Any tips on how to get the throttle twisting smoothly?

[duc996]

I've noticed on my s4r that the throttle seems to be a little heavy to twist,unlike the rest of the monsters i've tried twisting.Any tips on how to make it a little lighter to twist? TIA

[ScottRNelson]

I had a similar issue with my ST2.  I disassembled the throttle and followed all connections from the throttle to the throttle bodies on the engine.  I lubricated the throttle cable while I was in there, but it was in pretty good shape.  It turned out that a previous owner had installed a poor man's cruise control throttle lock that was making things a bit stiff.  I disabled that completely, which helped a bit.  In my case, the throttle return springs are a bit stiff and it's something that I just live with.  It's not bad currently.

I have the opposite problem with my 888.  The throttle springs are too light so that holding small throttle openings on bumpy surfaces can become tricky.  It takes me about ten minutes to adjust to that bike if I've just ridden my other one.

So I would suggest that you go through everything from one end to the other to see if any one component is not working quite like it should.

[scott_araujo]

+1.  Check for frayed cables and any binding, lube the cables.

Scott

[duc996]

Great! i'm on it, ASAP thanks!

[g-force]

While you're at it, make sure the trottle grip turns freely and easily on the handlebar without the cable attatched.

[El Matador]

It might sound stupid, but do you have bar ends?

It happened to me that when installing my clip ons I left just a tiny bit of the grip sticking out and when I put the bar ends on, they would impede smooth throttle action. I felt like an idiot after I had completely disassembled and lubed the entire throttle assy. 

[Jarvicious]

I couldn't find the thread, but Capo posted up a pretty good method a while back.  It involves taking the whole throttle assembly off the bar as well as removing it from the throttle body, but anyone with half a mecahnicel mind could do it in 10 minutes.  The first step is basically cleaning out any excess gunk/grit/slime that's built up on the inside of the housing and cable.  While you're holding the throttle housing up with the lead end drooping down.  You just run whatever cleaner you want (I haven't researched this yet) through there and do it until everything coming out the bottom was the same color it went in on top.

As far as lubrication goes, you're going to need something really thin.  Since the lube gets distributed through the housing via capilary action, anything too thick will actually create more friction than nothing at all.  I tried Tri-flow (bad idea) but I'd imagine graphite would work, but YMMV

[dlearl476]

AFAIK, most modern cables are made with anti-corrosive cable and teflon linings and lubricating them is probably counter-productive.  Cleaning the throttle handlebar interface and making sure there are no sharp bends anywhere in the cable are really all you need to do, provided they're not frayed anywhere.

[ScottRNelson]

Let me restate my post above, since we're edging all around the same points in this thread.

I took apart all of the pieces and checked the resistance of each one independently to see what might be holding things up.  In my case, the worst offender was the bar end "cruise control".  Since I had no reason to ever use it, I disabled that.  But taking things apart and checking each thing independently can also show you a tight throttle housing or problems with the cables.

If you don't find any particular thing hindering smooth throttle operation, you need to check as you put it back together, during each step, to make sure it's not caused by tightening some bolt too much or by some misalignment of parts.  If you check everything all the way through, you're bound to find the problem and be able to fix it.

[Jarvicious]

AFAIK, most modern cables are made with anti-corrosive cable and teflon linings and lubricating them is probably counter-productive.  Cleaning the throttle handlebar interface and making sure there are no sharp bends anywhere in the cable are really all you need to do, provided they're not frayed anywhere.

True, but it's not those things that will cause a problem with stiction.  Think about how bad a non stick pan would fair if you used it exclusively with metal utensils, it's the same principle with a teflon lining/coating.  The constant friction from inside the housing wears it quicker than you would think.  Same goes for the non-corrosive cable.  I have no doubt that there is no corrosion on the cable itself, but rather many many miles of road grime and saturated lubrication.  I agree, the OP should defintely check all possible binds/kinks/wear points before going further, but "self lubing" cables are only good for so many thousands of miles.  I used to buy Jagwire cables for all my bicycles and they'd wear down to a standard steel cable after a while, and I doubt they got as much abuse as a throttle cable.  

[dlearl476]

but rather many many miles of road grime and saturated lubrication.   

Exactly why you don't want to lube them, the lube attracts road grime.

but "self lubing" cables are only good for so many thousands of miles.

I replaced the OEM cables on my '71 BMW with teflon coated cables in '98.  I replaced the OEM teflon throttle cable on my '79 Alfa Romeo (it actually snapped, at the swedge) earlier this year.  I don't know what kind of longevity you're looking for, 20-30 years works for me.

[duc996]

Hey you all! thanks for the replies ,and yes i did check the whole throttle assembly and followed it all the way down,no restrictions of any kind.I don't have a bar end.What i did was i took out the cable ,and lubed it lightly.It seemed to lighten up a lot,of course i'll find out more when i ride it.Keep you all updated.

[corndog67]

Check the routing.  My bike came from the dealer with the routing buggered up, turn the bars to the right and the idle went up.  A little re-routing, and everything was smooth as Ex-Lax.