Hitchcocks Forum

Hello everyone,
Three times now I've managed to snag my throttle cable when starting my bike and had the engine running at almost maximum rev's for a few seconds. Will this kill my Bullet if I continue? (I think it will) but seriously will it have done any permanent damage?
Flingers flossed!
Alan

Let me put it this way: the time to relocate your throttle cable in order not to be snagged anymore is most likely very well invested.
Seriously: you just described a method to speed up wear. Other similar methods are: neglecting oil level, no oil changes, or - quite popular - permanent full throttle on the autobahn. No engine will go bang after having done any of the above once, but better leave all of it. Cheers Maturin

Hi Guys----------why not try one of those twist grip bodies that has the cable exiting at 90 degrees along the horizontal ??? I believe the trials boys use them ? Gives a much neater run ( and appearance) than 5 feet of Bowden cable dangling in mid air !!

I would be also concerned that the throttle could stick while you are riding. The Enfield can have a smooth and reliable cable run, it just needs a bit of planning. Perhaps your cable could also do with renewing? maybe it has a kink or broken strand somewhere.

I'm not sure how you are managing to do this but you need sort the cable so this doesn't happen. Will it kill your Bullet? - not in the short term but it's not good for it.

I'm with PeteF here - to be of use, before we make suggestions to fix this odd problem we need to know what's causing it. Obviously it's no good for an engine to go suddenly from inactivity to max revs. Will it do permanent damage? There is a high risk that it may - but permanent damage may not be acute damage.

At the risk of repeating what others have said.........how have you managed to "snag" the cable? What have you snagged it on? How have you managed to do it 3 times? The cable if fitted anywhere near correctly should be secured to the cycle parts along its length with only slack occuring at the Handlebar end to allow you to turn the bars without causing the throttle to open. If you have re-roted the cable then you should refit it correctly. A sticking slide must be cured as this could cause sticking when riding. In answer to the second part of your question regarding a mortal injury to your Enfield....the answer is yes if you continue without solving the problem. Revving like this repeatedly on a cold start will put your lubricated surfaces at risk, particularly the bores. You may even one day cause it to over rev and then drop a valve.

Rado53, Do you mean that before starting you have fully opened the throttle and the cable has stuck? Sticking throttle slide was quite common on my Micarb, due to a slight scuff on the slide caused by the end of the slow running screw fouling, also the spring is not very strong. After dressing the scuff, the cure was to reroute the throttle cable without going through the nacelle, using the natural curve of the cable. At the carb end it was necessary to let the cable run up into gap in the tank above or to the side of the top frame tube. With mono block, the same cable run worked well and it was good to give the throttle a twist and listen for the slide dropping back. As others have said, there is also a safety issue, if it jams at an inappropriate moment and you could loose control of the bike. Get it fixed for peace of mind. TrevorCH

Apart from all of the above, running any engine at high revs before the oil pump has had a chance to do its thing will undoughtably kill the engine quite quickly, not a good idea..

Hello again,
My error is having too much slack in the throttle cable. I have a 900 series Amal fitted along with a Doherty throttle. Where the throttle cable enters the twist grip unit there is a small metal ferrule with a slot in it that lets the cable pass through so one does not have to thread the ferrule along the whole lenght of the cable. The feral has a few times come away from twist grip body, jammed against the twist grip body and effectively pulled the throttle "Up" and hence the carb' slide is raised too. Does this make sense?
Anyhow the reason why it is like this is because I am playing around with throttle stop screw and the mid-cable throttle adjuster until I get a nice tick-over. It's a school boy error on my part I know. I think I need to take as much throttle cable slack out as I can then lower the slide with the slide stop screw until my tick over is nice. Is that a good way of doing the job?
My cable is brand new and a nylon lined job and routed in a proper manner. Thanks for all the replies so far.
Thanks,
Alan