Busted a throttle cable this morning!

[still_on2_wheels]

Right at the light. It just would not go. Ha! Fortunately it was only a mile from the office and I idled in. At lunch I was able to pull the inside cable from the housing and am sporting a manual throttle now.

Pull up with the right hand....clutch with the left.

I should make it home when the holiday shopping traffic dissipates.

Argh!

Jeff

[CraigArizona85248]

Jeff,

Another option that I've used in the past is to disconnect the idle cable and move it to the throttle side of the linkage (at the carb or throttle body).  You can keep both hands on the handle bars... but the throttle is backwards.  Roll forward to accelerate, roll back to idle.

-Craig

[4DWUDS]

Craig, I can't think of how many times per second I would have to remind my self that this is gonna hurt if I forget on is off and go means stop.

[CraigArizona85248]

You can fix that by swapping the cable up at the throttle end too.  A little more work, but then everything will operate normally. 

-Craig

[Sonny S.]

One more reason not to have a FBW bike.
Doubt you can rig them to get ya home

[Ratfade]

I actually did the cable swap on the side of I-95 in Wisconsin 500 miles from home. That was one of my proudest, cleverest emergency wrenching moments.

[still_on2_wheels]

Thanks for all the tips. Made it home safe, just in time for the in-laws. Dang...can't use the bike ride excuse now!

Merry Christmas!

Jeff

[aquaman]

Glad you made it home, always good when you can improvise yourself out of a jam.  Just out of curiosity - how many miles on the cable and how many times did you lube it.  Did you disassemble it for grip,lever, or switch housing changes or when working on your motor?  Trying to get a feel for the life expectancy.
thanks.

[CraigArizona85248]

Jeff,

Now you have the "I need to go out in the garage and fix the broken cable" excuse.  That one works too 

aquaman, on my bike I replace the throttle cable about every two years.  That's probably more often then needed but I run a single cable setup and I don't want any fraying inside the housing the might cause the cable to bind and throttle to stick open.  I use an OEM sportster throttle cable on my bike and it only costs about $20 to replace.  During the two years I will lube the cable about every 4 to 6 months.

-Craig

[aquaman]

Thanks Craig for the good info.  Instead of a single cable pan that you're running, I like to think of mine as a dual single cable setup for my twin cam ; )  It has been over two years so I will add that to my winter maintenance program this year.  Merry Christmas.

[Ratfade]

Glad you made it home, always good when you can improvise yourself out of a jam.  Just out of curiosity - how many miles on the cable and how many times did you lube it.  Did you disassemble it for grip,lever, or switch housing changes or when working on your motor?  Trying to get a feel for the life expectancy.
thanks.

I'm not the OP, but I don't think there's a specific life expentency. Both the original and replacement cables were on and off my bike for various reasons. I always lubed both of them. The replacement has lasted longer than the original. Now I always keep a spare in my saddlebag.