How To Adjust Your Motorcycle Throttle Cable | MC Garage

Setting your motorcycle throttle free play is one of those really simple adjustments that can make your bike feel more responsive and make it easier to ride smoothly. In this video from the MC Garage, Ari walks you through the process of checking and adjusting your throttle slack. Don't worry, it's easy!

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Setting your throttle free play is one of those simple adjustments that can make your bike feel more responsive and make it easier to ride smoothly.

Most motorcycle manufacturers recommend about 2 to 3 millimeters of throttle free play, but over time the cables will stretch and settle into their housings and you’ll end up with more slack. When that happens it gets harder to smoothly feed in throttle since there’s a delay between when you twist your wrist and when the carburetors or throttle bodies actually begin to open. Don’t worry, you can change the amount of throttle free play and set the slack to exactly how you like it in these six simple steps.

Check Your Initial Throttle Cable Slack
To check the free play, roll the throttle forward until it stops and take note of the position, then gently open the throttle until you feel the tension on the cable. The distance from the closed position to the tension point is your free play. There are seams on most grips that work well as a reference point so you can eyeball the movement, but, if you want to be really thorough you can cut out masking tape pointers and stick them on the grip and the throttle housing. Then turn the throttle and measure the distance.

Find Your Adjusters
If the free play is out of spec there are two places that the cable slack can be adjusted. There are usually inline barrel adjusters (sometimes one on both the opening and closing cable, but often only on the opening cable) and adjusters down at the carbs or throttle bodies. Ther barrel adjusters on the cables are for fine-tuning the free play, while the adjusters down by the engine are for making larger adjustments. The adjusters lengthen or shorten the cable housing, which effectively changes the length of the inner cable that’s doing the pulling.

Make Small Changes At The Barrel Adjuster
For minor free-play adjustments, use the inline adjusters. Just slide the rubber cover off, loosen the locknut, and turn the barrel adjuster to achieve the desired free play. A dab of silicone lubricant will make reinstalling the boot easier.

Make Larger Changes At The Adjuster In The Engine Bay
Now, if setting the free play put either of the inline adjusters at the end of its range so it’s only holding on with a few threads, or if you can’t get the right free play using the inline adjusters, you’ll need to finagle the adjusters down in the engine bay. It’s the same basic procedure as working with inline adjusters, except the ones down by the engine are harder to access and a little more tedious to adjust.

Verify Throttle Cable Is Not Too Tight
Once you’ve set the slack, swing the steering from lock to lock and verify that the throttle doesn’t tighten up on you. Then start the bike and turn the bars lock to lock again and check that the idle doesn’t change. If it rises, check the cable routing to make sure it isn’t kinked or binding, and recheck and adjust the free play if needed. This is important!

Check If Your Cable Is Kinked Or Pinched
If the idle rises, that could mean you don’t have enough free play, but it’s also worth checking the cable routing to make sure that it isn’t kinked or getting pinched. A happy throttle cable is a precise throttle cable and vice versa.

00:24 What should my throttle free play be?
00:45 How do I check the throttle free play?
01:17 Where do I adjust throttle free play slack?
01:28 What does changing my throttle cable tightness do?
02:10 Adjusting throttle slack with the inline adjusters
02:55 Check the ability to turn the handlebar without pinching the throttle cable

[Anhjje]

This is one of the best series on youtube regarding DIY bike repairs and maintenance. No dubstep intros, 15 min diatribes. Straight to the point, clear and concise explanations. You deserve more viewers, unfortunately genuinely informative content is rarely appreciated on youtube.

[JoeJoeMoto]

So comprehensive in such a short video. Well done.

[t.s.racing]

Ari, as a Master Tech, custom bike builder and drag racer of over 40 years, if I had a dollar for every bike I worked on that had too little or too much free play in their throttle cable/cables, I'd be filthy rich. In fact MORE frightening, are incorrectly adjusted clutch cables. In my humble opinion a much more serious situation, resulting in much more serious consequences and a expensive repair bill.
GREAT VIDEO AGAIN HOPEFULLY PEOPLE ARE WATCHING AND LEARNING. 🏍🇺🇸🏍🇺🇸🏍

[toothpik]

The final tip about lock-to-lock pressure on the throttle cable confirmed a suspision about my bike. RPM climbs on right lock. Now I know what to do to try and fix it. Thanks!

[Fierces]

Probably many people say this: You are really good at explaining, quick and simple. Also you guys have a great way to film the videos which gives you a better view on how to do the procedure. Hope you can continue doing these tutorials. Thank you a lot guys!

[biscuit]

Thank you for being a no bull simple to follow teacher. Your videos are amongst the best I've seen

[deepnamdev]

Best youtuber I can say. No advertising. No hello, just the content viewers actually want to see.

[fusselmusgesicht]

Tank's guy's, as a newbie I thought I was tu dumb to use my throttle. Turns out I had way to much play. Keep up that good videos!

[WillysPerformanceCycleCtr]

Nice job! Excellent point in regard to testing movement at idle.

[amolp]

Pleasant music that doesn't overwhelm the content .. You guys got it all figured out

[TomasUjhelyi]

These videos are amazing. As others have stated they're short, sweet and to the point.
Will be recommending to fellow riders at work - keep it up!

[Lombardiclese]

I just recently bought a '17 FZ-07 so all of this information has been incredibly helpful. Thank you!

[lintraharrington]

Why did it take me so long to find this damn channel!?!?!?!?!?!

[tjardosymens]

This is the best Bike Channel that I have ever came across - Loving it ! This Channel will reach 1M easily

[Dowent]

I eventually started adjusting the throttle free play based on the use-case. I leave 0 for gymkhana, along with really high idle 4000rpm, but get idle down to 900 rpm with considerable free play on the track, to avoid accidentally applying throttle when leaning far (my shoulder is toast, so my hand sometimes twitches on its own :D ).
It´s really great that a new rider these days can just look up a 3 minute video and know right away what to do :) .

[trigerfingr]

Ariel and Zack are top notch. I have read there writing long before On Two Wheels was here. Great job keeping it fun, providing some laughs and delivering awesome information!

[amarjyotsingh]

The best channel i ever seen in you tube...all bikes...thanks man you help so much to learning about the bikes🤘

[GiorgioAresu]

Didn't buy my first bike (will in a couple of months) yet but I'm watching all your videos, they're great! Keep it up, man!

[Squiddles_]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! The throttle on my honda shadow felt a bit sloppy before, but now is in a much better position. Awesome guide!

[QuestionLata]

Seriously you guys have put together the best motorcycle DIY stuff out there. Thanks for taking the time to do it so professionally.