Bust throttle cable....

Fired her up, bimbled down on tickover down the hill. Got to the junction at the bottom, went to go.... no throttle. Bugger. On tickover she pulled herself back up the hill, which is about 10%, for 200 yards, then continued up into out yard without missing a beat. The torque in these motors is just unbelievable.

Now I need to source and work out how to fit a new piece of string from the twist grip to the wibble that is hidden in the inner depths that have yet to be explored.... as in I have no idea what is at the other end because I have never needed to see it before.

It's quite an easy job. TT tank will need to come off. Keep the old one in situe whilst you thread the new one alongside. You may then need to remove a small plastic cover on the throttle body (I can't remember whether it's got one or not) to swap the cables out, then do the handlebar grip.

Couple of cables on ebay, but may need to check the length first

GFJ said:

It's quite an easy job. TT tank will need to come off. Keep the old one in situe whilst you thread the new one alongside. You may then need to remove a small plastic cover on the throttle body (I can't remember whether it's got one or not) to swap the cables out, then do the handlebar grip.

Couple of cables on ebay, but may need to check the length first

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for that confidence booster. There is a spare cable routed alongside already, I wondered what it was and left it in place! It has a kind of cone over the throttle grip end, hopefully a protective cover. I shall have a decko under the tank tomorrow, I expect I will have to take the airbox off too.

I don't know how you do it Simon .... never heard of a cable, any cable, breaking in the last sixty years

GFJ said:

It's quite an easy job. TT tank will need to come off. Keep the old one in situe whilst you thread the new one alongside. You may then need to remove a small plastic cover on the throttle body (I can't remember whether it's got one or not) to swap the cables out, then do the handlebar grip.

Couple of cables on ebay, but may need to check the length first

Click to expand...

Only one cable and no plastic cover

BMW part number 32 73 7 696 788

Motorworks stock them :

https://www.motorworks.co.uk/vlive/Shop/Parts.php?T=4&NU=15&M=75&Ct=OA


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King Rat said:

Thank you very much for that confidence booster. There is a spare cable routed alongside already, I wondered what it was and left it in place! It has a kind of cone over the throttle grip end, hopefully a protective cover. I shall have a decko under the tank tomorrow, I expect I will have to take the airbox off too.

Click to expand...

Simon

At the throttle body end there are two positions the cable can be attached , make sure you reconnect to same location it is currently fitted as the other position is used when fitted with a restrictor bracket for reduced power output (limits throttle opening)


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Micky said:

I don't know how you do it Simon .... never heard of a cable, any cable, breaking in the last sixty years

Click to expand...

I think the OP should maybe check that there isn't a problem with one of the cable ends becoming disconnected before assuming the cable is broken.

Micky said:

I don't know how you do it Simon .... never heard of a cable, any cable, breaking in the last sixty years

Click to expand...

Well, it was working perfectly when I rode up to park it the night before.... then it wasn't the following morning. Maybe PaulG's suggestion of it getting slacked off and falling out of the catch might be worth exploring... I actually have a spare cable routed already and the end cable tied out of the way by the brake reservoir, so no need to buy a new one! I also have plenty of Venhill inner cable and some nipples, but the twist grip cable end is very small and looks to be swaged on, rather than soldered. I shall get the twist grip top off first and have a decko, because that is easiest to get at. I don't want to have to take the tank and airbox off!

On my Morini I had the clutch cable break on me on my way to Le Mans for Superbike (remember Russ Benny's Phase One team?) I had the 300 f2.8 over the exhaust on the right hand side, it was carried on a frame I had made up to take the trunk upright, on the left hand side the 500 f4. again in its trunk, upright on a similar frame and square bracket, both made out of angle that the trunks sat in and were then strapped firmly in place. It did mean that I couldn't easily kick start the bike, the kick was on the left. I would have had to unstrap the trunk, start her, then strap the trunk back on, so I jst did run and jump starts! Going down the hill into Newbury the cable broke, that caused fun and games but I found a spot to stop, hitched up my spare cable that was already routed beside the one in use.... off I go within about 10 minutes. I was a bit pushed for the ferry. The spare cable lasted about 5 miles..... the bloody soldered nipple came off the end. I carried on and got to the ferry by simply judging my run at junctions so I didn't have to stop, that included traffic lights. Fuelling was fun, I had so much gear on the bike I had to be pushed because of attacking the bike like Basil Fawlty with one leg raised to slot it between tank bag and gear strapped on the rear of the seat.... I had no trouble getting people to give me a shove in petrol stations, or off the ferry. I rode it all the way to Le Mans and all the way home again like that.

Micky said:

I don't know how you do it Simon .... never heard of a cable, any cable, breaking in the last sixty years

Click to expand...

Hmm, I think I may be number 2 on that list. Was just pulling off so little loading on it at the time. Will get the tank off and check tomorrow.

Yes, confirmed, snapped. No prior warning unfortunately.

Not found a cheap replacement yet, but used one off another bike for the mo.

Poor maintenance .... a drop of oil at the twist grip, pulling the outer cable down and oiling the inner, then at t'other end greasing or oiling the nipple and cable every month or so ... never had a cable break in sixty years