Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Throttle Cable Install Help

Folks:
Al Jones checking in. I'm helping Bill E do some upgrades to his bike which includes a set of braided stainless throttle cables from NewBonneville. I have the return cable running to the left carb, which I believe is the "push" cable. I cannot get the throttle to spring back. The factory cables only have one adjuster, which was turned all the way in. These new cables have adjusters on both ends, which I also have all the way in.

If anyone has installed these cables, I'd appreciate any tips.

The stock cables have adjustment at both ends. If you have the grip pushed too far out it can bind against the bar end. I am assuming you mean snap back on it's own.

Ian, I'm glad to see you are still on the board!

These cables actually have two barrel adjusters, one on each end, plus the mounting adjustment the OEM has.

Here's Bill's OEM cable ends:


And the NewBonneville cables mounted on the carbs. You can see the 10 mm barrell adjuster the OEM's don't have.


The throttle/grip is not at the end of the bar and has plenty of free play. If I twist the throttle then let go of the grip, the spring doesn't return the carbs to the idle position. Something is holding enough friction to overcome the spring, but for the life of me, I don't know what.

I have had this problem as well. All you can do is lube the cable well, and adjust slowly untill it frees up. I open the throttle and let it bind in place then star tightening if I run out of adjustment before she pops loose, I start loosening one or the other will let it go if the cables are the right length.
because I have a single mikuni on mine I have the idle or push cable hooked up to pull and thats the only cable I'm running.

I would start looking at the spring tension and the way the cables are run. Is there a tight bend in the cable anywhere? Can you manually go back to idle by turning the throttle grip? Is there a little play in the cables? (There should be just a little) I see the other adjustment you mean, over kill but shouldn't hurt anything.

The cables run unencumbered to the carbs, nothing is hangin up on the cable itself. The ferrule is firmly in the carb guides. It's almost as if they were just too short, as there isn't any slack. The book says to install the cable snd use the adjustors to take out the slack. The throttle rolls on smoothly, no kinks, etc it just doesn't roll back to idle.

I was wondering if anyone here has run this particular set. They are just a little shorter then the factory cables.

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I would start looking at the spring tension and the way the cables are run. Is there a tight bend in the cable anywhere? Can you manually go back to idle by turning the throttle grip? Is there a little play in the cables? (There should be just a little) I see the other adjustment you mean, over kill but shouldn't hurt anything.

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There should be a little slack, can the bars be fully turned both ways? Does the way the bars are turned effect the way the throttle returns?

We must have cross-replied loco. I'll give that a try. I did lube each end liberally with the grease they provided. Do you have a picture of what the tops of the cables look like at the carbs? I'd like to see now far down you have screwed the top adjusting nut for the mount.

Moving the bar in either opposite lock doesn't change anything.

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I would start looking at the spring tension and the way the cables are run. Is there a tight bend in the cable anywhere? Can you manually go back to idle by turning the throttle grip? Is there a little play in the cables? (There should be just a little) I see the other adjustment you mean, over kill but shouldn't hurt anything.

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Perhaps I should pick up a can of the spray cable lube? I only lubed the 3" or so end of each cable by hand with the grease provided.

I think if it isn't any of what I mentioned then maybe the grease is too thick and needs to be thinned with some standard lube.

Ok - some success - I just started adjusting either way with all four barrels and working the cables. Now it is much loose and returns to idle.

The Barnett instructions say do not use a spray lube, as it may discolor the stainless braid.

Seems like a cheesy way to get some expensive cables to work, but Loco's suggestion seems to have done the trick. It just just take a while to get some lube up into the sleeve.

Had this problem and i know Marty had the same problem even with OEM cables, you really have to play with the carb end a bit, loosen off the nut and you will likley have throttle snap, start to tighten, if it gets worse then loosen and re-adjust by either more or less tention on the cable then tighten down again, eventually you will hit the sweet spot where is moves free both sides, no grease required. Hope that made sense, think i got lost myself :-)

Well, this turned into an interesting saga, just resolved today. Despite all of my tuning efforts, I could never get the Barnett cables to work freely enough to be what I consider safe. Bill talked to NewBonneville and who just passed us over to Barnett. When I called Barnett, the tech there said the America cables should not have two barrel adjusters on either end, just one like the factory. So, off they came and I sent them to Barnett to be evaluated. Barnett turned them around in a few days and rebuilt the cables with a longer length and only one adjuster at the throttle, like the OEM cables.

I installed them this evening, which due to the correct length, took all of 15 minutes. I can't believe I wasted so much time trying to get the wrong ones on/off and adjusted. The throttle is completely free and works well.

I emailed NewBonneville and Barnett and basically told them I wasn't too impressed with their pricey product.

On a postive note, they do look like a million bucks.

Glad ya got it sorted out.