Ridus Interuptus

[kidsmoke]

Well, I feel like I'm officially in the group, although that's probably not my call to make.

Yesterday morning, I set out for a 20 mile ride to brunch with a young lady on the pillion. 4.5 miles in, the throttle cable snapped. Motor purring like a kitten, and I'm on a country highway, muggy mosquito infested central Indiana air weighing heavily, sweat quickly dripping from my nose, trying to be cool as can be so as not to insight unpleasant anxiety in my inexperienced passenger.

Fortunately, I had my tool roll in the saddlebags. Opened up the handlebar control and the cable had snapped right at the metal plug (what do you call that thing, anyway?)

There's wasn't enough exposed cable to do anything with so I removed the elbow guide, exposing an extra 1 1/2" of cable, threaded it through the throttle handgrip sleeve where the plug should go, tied it off, reassemble the control, and rode it home, seriously relieved that I was able to figure something out.

This isn't a case of the the bike letting me down, this is a case of me letting the bike down. A while back I asked the assembled about replacement controls for my Jackal because in the course of installing handgrips and bar end signals, the ridge which acts as a hard stop when releasing the the throttle was rounded off and the throttle was able to "return" past that point. Other than the initial odd feeling of NOT having a hard stop, everything worked fine, so I didn't feel the urgency I should have in getting it replaced. Now it's clear what happened. The repeated strain of the cable bending at a point it was never intended to allowed it to kink, fray and eventually fail. In the words of Robert Plant...nobody's fault but mine.

so this brings me back to a request, If anyone has a set of controls for 7/8" bars, particularly off a Jackal/EV/Bassa/Aluminum etc....I'm in the market. A link to a good source would work as well. I've had a difficult time locating a decent set. My next step is an email to Curtis in Missouri....

[Chuck in Indiana]

Good save.  Wouldn't want the young lady to be anxious..
Since you're new to the area.. try Cycle Recycle in the hood in Indy if you don't care about original. It's a good resource for all kinds of (mostly Japanese) parts.
That said, Joe Eish has all kinds of NOS parts.

[twhitaker]

I carry a small package of 'pin savers' that I've used once or twice as temporary cable ends.

[jovato]

I carry a small package of 'pin savers' that I've used once or twice as temporary cable ends.

Brilliant!  I wouldn't have thought that they had an opening big enough to thread a cable through.

[kidsmoke]

Well, it's July fer cryin' out loud, got to get this rollin' ASAP, so I'm gonna do the unthinkable and just buy new replacement parts from Curtis. Should have tried culling the nether regions of the interwebs and forums for creative solutions while my bike was giving me a grace period, but being the irrationally exuberant person I can be, I misplace my round tuit and didn't worry about it. Now I'll literally pay the price. (to be fair, it's not terrible)

[Triple Jim]

I'm glad you created a temporary fix.  I did something similar for my H2 a couple years ago when I found myself 45 minutes from home with a broken cable.

You just reminded me that I wanted to order a spare set of throttle cables and a spare splitter to carry in the tailpiece of my Mille.  Thanks... they're now ordered.

[kidsmoke]

I'm glad you created a temporary fix.  I did something similar for my H2 a couple years ago when I found myself 45 minutes from home with a broken cable.

You just reminded me that I wanted to order a spare set of throttle cables and a spare splitter to carry in the tailpiece of my Mille.  Thanks... they're now ordered.

Glad to be of service, TJ.

In the end it worked out ok. I'll get the repair done, I actually came off looking pretty good to the little lady (she needn't know I should have pre-empitvely fixed the issue two months ago), and TJ gets his travel bags packed...Oh, and I called Eish....couldn't help me on this one but were very helpful, even recommended other entities (that we know well here) but I didn't share that, they just wanted to set me on the right path since they couldn't sell me anything. Thanks Chuck.

Parts are on order.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Fortunately, I had my tool roll in the saddlebags. Opened up the handlebar control and the cable had snapped right at the metal plug (what do you call that thing, anyway?)

The nipple. just don't get ideas

[pete mcgee]

Been there done that.
Which is why I carry a spare clutch and throttle cable.
They dont break often but they choose the hottest, wettest, most inconvenient moment to fail.
You didnt get accused of pulling the old "oops we've run out of fuel" routine did you ;)
Cheers

[charlie b]

I carry an extra throttle cable already in the frame ready to 'string up'.  An extra clutch cable.

But, I also carry a couple of these.
http://www.flanderscables.com/action.lasso?-search&-database=_Flan_Levers.fp5&-layout=Cables1&-Format=FlanCableResults.html&-Error=FlanCableError.html&-Operator=Contains&Type=Fitting&Catagory=CablePart

Get size to fit throttle and clutch side.

PS  I had to drill out the cable hole just a little.  Do that when you get the fitting, not when on side of road :)

[rodekyll]

I take the spare cable thing a step farther and have my spare routed and zip-tied to the operational unit.  Minimizes downtime in that thunderstorm.