Thanks whoever you were

[9cents]

Hamilton. Thursday 15th June, probably about 3am : Bored shitless.
So I jumped on my bike and went to grab something to eat. It was a clear night and there was a break in the rain so I kept on riding. I have never seen SH1 so deserted so I kept going all the way to Auckland. Was an eiree and fun ride as I pretty much had the road to myself except for the odd truck doing the overnight deliveries.
Cruised down Queen st and turned around to make my way home again when the cable on the throttle snapped. Much to my dismay I couldn't see any way to remedy the situation so ended up pushing it all the way up Queen st and then to Colemans Suzuki. Along the way I had three different bikers offer me help (and a street bum who gave me a bit of a push too haha), one of whom gave me a ride to a friends place. Although there was nothing they could do to fix the bike, it was kinda cool to know there are a few decent people out there still.
I guess it's all those karma points I've been saving up :) and on the way home I even managed to avoid getting sideswiped by some lady in her car.
I could see her so she could have seen me if she had bothered to look. :nono:
They sure do shit themselves when the realize you're there though haha.

[Pathos]

When My throttle snapped I screwed the idle up to 6000 rpm and rode home... i hit 50k in fourth gear and a 1 km run up:)

[SwanTiger]

I love hearing shit like this.

The few times I've had to stop for whatever reason while on the bike someone has stopped within 5 minutes of me doing so. Each and every time it is another biker on a bike or in their car.

With so many up themselve egotistical "look at me" arseholes on motorcycles, its amazing that the string of "good" motorcyclist seems to be limitless.

[Quartida]

That's the great thing about being a biker.

After all, how many cars stop for other cars? Not nearly as many as bikers. We look out for our own, and I think that's awesome.

[wybmadiity]

Always good to hear the positive stories not just the negitive! Cheers.

[Squeak the Rat]

Pushed the bike up Queen Street? The advantage of 250's eh :yes:

PS - I'm not a street bum, just had a hard night that's all....

[DemonWolf]

Yeah I've done the old wind the idle right up trick.. outside taupo (bout 10km's) on the GS550.. had to keep to the shoulder though.. it didn't like hills (even slight hills) nor the head wind. bahaha.. I was just lucky I had money for the cable and petrol back to Ohakune

[Ixion]

There are lots of ways to cope with a broken throttle. Depends on how far you have to go. Short distances, just wind the idle up and stay in low gear.

Often you can clamp the inner between the faces of the twist grip body and tape the outer along the twist grip.

For long distances using the rear brake pedal works well on most bikes. Remove the outer cable completely. Run the inner over the frame top tube.Disconnect the rear brake from the lever, and twist the inner throttle cable round the foot bit of the pedal, and secure with duct tape (you DO always carry duct tape don't you? And wire? ). Remember to secure the loose brake cable or rod carefully. Then use the brake pedal as a foot accelerator. This works well, and almost any distance can be managed thus.

Or , do the sensible thing. Carry spare throttle and clutch cables (routed alongside the active ones if you want a quick switch over. ) A condom over each end will keep weather out and oil in.

Oh, and on many bikes which have to modern twin cable pushmipullu system, you can switch the "off" cable for a broken "on" one.

[Sniper]

Good to see we still have decent folk out there.

Ixion, you sure you are not related to Burt Monroe?

[Paul in NZ]

Good to see we still have decent folk out there.

Ixion, you sure you are not related to Burt Monroe?

No but he comes from a generation that valued self reliance and one that didn't expect the lowly bowden cable to last forever, infact, cable failure was a pretty regular thing. Partly due to engineering practises and poor materials.

Paul N