Lighter Throttle Spring-Very Nice Improvement

[frogan207]

I thought my throttle spring was too stiff and was uncomfortable on longer runs. I had a local old school shop here in San Diego make me a -50% as well as a -25% to experiment with and here are my findings:  The 50% spring has plenty of snap back on return and does so with a nice solid thump. In comparison, it is very close to my 501.  Holding it at speed for distances is a non-issue.  The 25% is nice as well, and for comparison is close to a 300 tpi throttle.  Not sure if other people thought similar about the throttle pull.

[JohnnieBoy]

What a great idea. I would be interested in trying these, do you have a couple of spares? Btw, what hauler are you using? Prop's for choosing the best color!

[TiagoCar12]

Good stuff!

[frogan207]

Johnnie Boy, I don't have spares as I had extra made for the local crew.  I would be willing to get a quote for a bulk run at the business however if there was enough interest. 

[frogan207]

The Hauler is a Joe Hauler. He makes them  in San Marcos and can custom make anything needed. 

[brookes.180]

The free option that I did is to unhook the tail end of the throttle spring and reduce the preload by letting it rotate until it catches on the square block as shown in the picture. This relieves a lot of discomfort on those longer rides.

[frogan207]

Nice one!  Your fix gets logged in the "smarter not harder category"  lol. 

[sracer]

4 hours ago, brookes.180 said:

The free option that I did is to unhook the tail end of the throttle spring and reduce the preload by letting it rotate until it catches on the square block as shown in the picture. This relieves a lot of discomfort on those longer rides.

thanks! will be done before next ride.

[Dakota]

This is amazing. I’m gonna try the “free” fix, but I’d love to order one of the 50% springs. In in the LA area!

[Dakota]

On 8/18/2021 at 2:00 PM, brookes.180 said:

The free option that I did is to unhook the tail end of the throttle spring and reduce the preload by letting it rotate until it catches on the square block as shown in the picture. This relieves a lot of discomfort on those longer rides.

Part of me thinks the Tenere was designed specifically to be able to do this. It seems to have made all the difference in the world. 
 

Also, to anyone reading this, if the bolt holding the (I don’t know what it’s called) bit with the two throttle cables is too tight, that’ll also have a big impact on how hard the throttle is to pull. 
 

hope that helps!

[Unimogbert]

Back in the previous century the BMW R100GS was introduced and had pretty stiff throttle springs. One clever owner used music wire and a pencil to wind his own springs then shared the recipe with the rest of us.  My home-made springs are still working 32 years later.

 

The Tenere springs seem to have fairly complex bends at the ends so perhaps music wire won't work but it's cheap at the hobby supplies store for experimenting.

[mpatch]

On 8/18/2021 at 3:00 PM, brookes.180 said:

The free option that I did is to unhook the tail end of the throttle spring and reduce the preload by letting it rotate until it catches on the square block as shown in the picture. This relieves a lot of discomfort on those longer rides.

Makes the throttle almost perfect. If there was a halfway between stock and your mod I’d call it perfect I think. 
Return is not quite as snappy as I’d like vs stock. 

[mcbrien]

I did the free mod but I over tightened the nut . Once I did that I had to tap on the shaft to get it to loosen back up.

I'm not sure that I still don't have some drag. Bottom line don't tighten nut up very tight. When I first removed nut I noticed it was hardly tight at all. Now I know why. I put a drop of wicking lock tight on nut so it won't back off.

[brookes.180]

On 9/12/2021 at 7:51 PM, mcbrien said:

I did the free mod but I over tightened the nut . Once I did that I had to tap on the shaft to get it to loosen back up.

I'm not sure that I still don't have some drag. Bottom line don't tighten nut up very tight. When I first removed nut I noticed it was hardly tight at all. Now I know why. I put a drop of wicking lock tight on nut so it won't back off.

No need to remove anything. This can be done by pulling the tail of the spring sideways without removing anything.

[Wizbang]

On 9/16/2021 at 9:28 AM, brookes.180 said:

No need to remove anything. This can be done by pulling the tail of the spring sideways without removing anything.

@brookes.180 I thought it would be obvious from the picture and your description, but no matter what I try I am unable to "pulling the tail of the spring sideways without removing anything".

Undoing everything is a bigger job as means the crash bars etc.

 

Any tips or extra photos? What side of your mouth do you hold your tongue ?

[brookes.180]

4 hours ago, Wizbang said:

@brookes.180 I thought it would be obvious from the picture and your description, but no matter what I try I am unable to "pulling the tail of the spring sideways without removing anything".

Undoing everything is a bigger job as means the crash bars etc.

 

Any tips or extra photos? What side of your mouth do you hold your tongue ?

Unfortunately it was an experiment at the time and therefore I didn't document it. But it took about 10 seconds with a small hook and a screwdriver. Pull the tail toward you as far as you can and force it past the boss on the throttle body with a screw driver.

[Wizbang]

4 minutes ago, brookes.180 said:

Unfortunately it was an experiment at the time and therefore I didn't document it. But it took about 10 seconds with a small hook and a screwdriver. Pull the tail toward you as far as you can and force it past the boss on the throttle body with a screw driver.

Oky doky I will give it another go.  It wouldn't reach all the way to the boss with pointy nose pliers and screwdriver. Now that you have confirmed I will persevere. 

Thanks.

[jdub53]

@brookes.180 , thanks for this tip.

 

I did this the other day, but wasn't able to get the end of the spring free as it sat either. Although the nut on the end of the throttle body shaft was partially obscured, I was able to remove it without difficulty using an open end 10mm wrench. I then slid the spring off the shaft just enough to get it clear from its normal retaining tab, and let it unwind to contact the other tab. Reinstalled the nut, and can confirm the throttle effort is much lower than before.  

[AZJW]

@frogan207 @brookes.180Great ideas, thanks for sharing.  Moved to Tech Tips so it doesn't get buried. 

[hawaiijohn]

I did the mod by letting the spring unwind to the next boss. Couple of days went by before I rode the bike and I forgot I even did this mod. Works well for me. Big thanks!!!

[Wizbang]

On 10/7/2021 at 8:18 PM, jdub53 said:

@brookes.180 , thanks for this tip.

 

I did this the other day, but wasn't able to get the end of the spring free as it sat either. Although the nut on the end of the throttle body shaft was partially obscured, I was able to remove it without difficulty using an open end 10mm wrench. I then slid the spring off the shaft just enough to get it clear from its normal retaining tab, and let it unwind to contact the other tab. Reinstalled the nut, and can confirm the throttle effort is much lower than before.  

This is exactly what i followed and worked well. Still a little fiddley to work without removing protection etc but doable.

I find the change significant and I like it alot. That along with the new airbox cover and after market exhaust has the bike a lot less snatchy, more smooth when going slower in the single track. These are simple reversable things to do before a remap.

[jdub53]

I put my throttle return spring back to the stock position over the weekend. With it in the lighter position, several times I found when doing slow speed off-throttle maneuvers I accidentally nudged the throttle a tad due to such little resistance there even with the small bit of throttle cable free play I prefer. It was all very subtle, but enough to make me realize the stock spring position really didn't bother me at all, and at least for me is safer than an unexpected throttle bump at the wrong time.   

[AZJW]

@brookes.180 Many thanks for posting this, what a great help to my arthritic hands!  I had to loosen the throttle shaft nut to get the spring to move,  but it was easy to accomplish.   My highly unscientific spring scale measurements were before: 3 lbs, after 1 -1.5 lbs of effort.  Longer rides should be much more pleasant,  thanks again!

[frogan207]

In the end, I liked the 25% reduction better than the 50. 

[Eatfat1961]

Absolutely brilliant idea to release the spring a little. Got a small hook tool from the cabinet, lifted the spring tail to allow it to release as shown in the pic and the throttle is MUCH easier to turn and the "on/off" feel is much v=better. Thanks.