I thought this was worth a topic of its own, as the subject of throttle cables comes up fairly frequently on here.

If like me, you are fairly tall (6'3"/1.94m in my case), and you ride off-tarmac, you'll inevitably need to modify the riding position of your bike by fitting taller handlebars and bar risers. Almost as inevitably, you will find that there isn't really enough length in the original throttle cables to cope with this change.

When I originally changed the front end on the Tenere, I let the professionals take the strain, and sent my original throttle cables off to Venhill, who remade them 120mm longer for me. It cost about �70 and took a couple of weeks. That was all very well until the plastic adjuster (part of the original cable which Venhill reused as they couldn't replicate it) broke, probably in some sort of rallying incident. Didn't stop me riding the bike, but made it awkward to adjust, and could potentially let dirt into the cable.



Possibly not the best situation when you're about to head off to some fairly remote places, but I didn't really fancy having to send cables off to Venhill again, so I decided to make myself another 'pull'/opening cable, and keep the current one as a spare.



The original (lengthened) cable is in the middle. Below it is a pattern replacement from Wemoto - as you can see, considerably shorter. Above (coiled up) is a Venhill universal cable kit. I bought mine from an eBay shop, but you can also get them direct from Venhill for less than �10. The kit contains a wire core, sleeve, and an assortment of end fittings.

Start by cutting one end off the pattern cable, which allows you to pull the inner wire out, and the top end fitting/adjuster (which is the only bit you actually need) off the sleeve.





Moving on to the Venhill kit, the new inner has a little stud on one end. Pick out a suitably sized nipple for the top (twistgrip end) of the cable, and slide it onto the inner wire. You don't strictly need to solder this on, and I didn't, but with hindsight I would have put a bit on just to stop it sliding about while you are trying to assemble the twistgrip.



Next, you need to cut the outer to the right length. Easy for me, as I just copied the previously lengthened one, but if you are extending from stock you'll need to measure carefully on the bike. Cycling-enthusiast friends tell me you can get special devices for cutting cable sleeves. I just use a hacksaw and cut gently enough not to crush or otherwise damage it.

Thread the inner cable through the adjuster and the inner cable.





Then fit a rubber boot to the outer (I found I had to stretch it a bit first), pick out a suitable ferrule and bottom adjuster from the kit. An important note at this point - there ought to be two nuts on the adjuster for the Tenere. I didn't spot this, and of course you can't get one on once the nipple is on the lower end. I got away without remaking it because the length was right so I could get it adjusted properly with just the top adjuster, but that's more luck than judgement.



Now for the important bit. The critical bit of the cable is the difference in length between the inner and outer. If this isn't right, you may not be able to adjust it properly. Measure the original cable by pulling the inner as far as it will go in one direction. Needless to say, if you are dismantling your original cable rather than making another, take this measurement first!


(apologies for the rubbish photo)

You need to make sure the nipple on the new cable ends up in the same place.



At this point, I clamped the inner cable (very gently) in a vice, so that with the nipple sat on top of the vice jaws, it was in the correct place (measure, measure, and measure again).



Having cut the inner off about 15mm beyond the nipple, unravel the cable, and squash the loose strands down into the recess in the nipple. The messier the better, as you are trying to make sure it can't pull back out once soldered.







Get the nipple/cable end nice and hot with a soldering iron, then feed solder in until it fills the recess.



The solder turns that nice tangle of wire strands into a solid ball, preventing it from pulling back out of the nipple. You'll probably need to sand/file down any excess solder to get the nipple to fit into the carb/throttle body, and of course oil the cable before fitting.

I didn't make a closing cable, only the opening one, but the process would be the same. Incidentally, Venhill also do an emergency cable kit which doesn't require solder. Again it costs about a tenner. I'll be carrying one with me in the US, just in case.

__________________
I spent a lot of money on travel and racing motorcycles - the rest I just squandered.

XT660Z - Commuter, Adventurer...Racer?

www.dashmoto.net

Other bikes >> MT-03 / CG125BR-J / ER-6F
Departed >> ZXR400L3 / EC300 / DR-Z400E / DR800S / GPZ500S / GS400