throttle tamer: installation time? --> DONE!!!

[martin_14]

finally got the throttle tamer. A friend of mine had to travel home (Texas) in a hurry and he kindly offered to help, so I "used" him as a courier to bring me the thing, since I couldn't find it here in Germany, or Europe for that matter. Incidentally, it was a really nice price in Amazon for 63 USD delivered 
Anyway, any of the gentlemen here could give me an estimate of the installation time? I understood the procedure, I just need a heads up regarding any possible trick to make things easier, or what to look out for.
I have an '08 model but I added the heating pads under the grip, which should come out easy. I also have a can of compressed air to remove the grips. Anything else?

PS: it's nice to pay a not so cheap price but getting a quality product. It looks well made in the US of A, and I feel better not sending my hard earned to China.

[B.D.F.]

Nope. The changing of the actual throttle tube is really easy and only take the removal of the two screws on the retainer cap and loosening the throttle cable adjusters. By the way, they must be loosened all the way to provide enough slack in the cable to lift the cable and rotate it so the end can be slid out. Otherwise the only thing is removing the grip and re-installing it on the new tube; as you mentioned, compressed air makes that effortless but I don't know if a can of compressed air will provide enough volume. I have always used an air compressor and copious amounts of air.

Brian

finally got the throttle tamer. A friend of mine had to travel home (Texas) in a hurry so I "used" him as a courier to bring me the thing, since I couldn't find it here in Germany, or Europe for that matter. Incidentally, it was a really nice price in Amazon for 63 USD delivered 
Anyway, any of the gentlemen here could give me an estimate of the installation time? I understood the procedure, I just need a heads up regarding any possible trick to make things easier, or what to look out for.
I have an '08 model but I added the heating pads under the grip, which should come out easy. I also have a can of compressed air to remove the grips. Anything else?

[Conrad]

What Brian said, it's very easy and doesn't take much time at all.

If you have a cable lubber now would be a good time to do those throttle cables while you have them accessible.

[maxtog]

I think it will be harder on gen2 (which none of you have).

I have had my new Throttle Tamer sitting in a box for several weeks now, waiting for the day I am brave enough to try it, which probably means also getting assistance from my friend who is a mechanic.  I am quite sure if I try it myself, I will destroy the heated grips or screw up the cables or something horrible

Just putting on the Grip Puppies was a major undertaking for me, so I am very wary.

[B.D.F.]

Cable lubber? CABLE LUBBER?

Cap'n, I'm givin' her all she's got an' we're barely pullin' away from this one....

 

Did you mean whale blubber by chance? Can you use whale blubber with a cable lubber? More power Scotty, more power....

Brian

What Brian said, it's very easy and doesn't take much time at all.

If you have a cable lubber now would be a good time to do those throttle cables while you have them accessible.

[B.D.F.]

If I remember right, someone, somewhere said that a Gen. 2 C-14 throttle grip comes off the same way the earlier, non- heated ones do. ?? If that is correct, the heating element is just buried in the rubber grip and the whole thing will 'blow off' faster than you can say 'Hey, did anybody see where that grip went?' Seriously, a shot of compressed air and the early ones just fly off. I would give it a shot (OK, pun intended) on a Gen. 2 model as well before resorting to more difficult things like thinking about it....

Brian

I think it will be harder on gen2 (which none of you have).

I have had my new Throttle Tamer sitting in a box for several weeks now, waiting for the day I am brave enough to try it, which probably means also getting assistance from my friend who is a mechanic.  I am quite sure if I try it myself, I will destroy the heated grips or screw up the cables or something horrible

Just putting on the Grip Puppies was a major undertaking for me, so I am very wary.

[Conrad]

Cable lubber? CABLE LUBBER?

Cap'n, I'm givin' her all she's got an' we're barely pullin' away from this one....

 

Did you mean whale blubber by chance? Can you use whale blubber with a cable lubber? More power Scotty, more power....

Brian

Cable lubber  http://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-08-0182-Cable-Lubber/dp/B0012TYX9W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383824339&sr=8-1&keywords=cable+lubber



Forget more power we need some of that transparent aluminum!

hello computer

[martin_14]

Well, after 20 minutes fighting to get the grip off the throttle sleeve, 2 minutes to change it, and 20 minutes fighting again to put the grip back on... job done 

Thanks Brian for the tip regarding loosening the cables before. I would have gotten there, just half an hour later.

In the picture you can see the old sleeve. Rest in peace, you served me well (kind of), I'll miss you (not).

[Rhino]

I think it will be harder on gen2 (which none of you have).

I have had my new Throttle Tamer sitting in a box for several weeks now, waiting for the day I am brave enough to try it, which probably means also getting assistance from my friend who is a mechanic.  I am quite sure if I try it myself, I will destroy the heated grips or screw up the cables or something horrible

Just putting on the Grip Puppies was a major undertaking for me, so I am very wary.

I just did it on my 2010. No problem at all. The only difference is removing the guard and retainer clips for the grip heater wire. I did the whole thing is about 15 min.

[Conrad]

Well, after 20 minutes fighting to get the grip off the throttle sleeve, 2 minutes to change it, and 20 minutes fighting again to put the grip back on... job done 

Thanks Brian for the tip regarding loosening the cables before. I would have gotten there, just half an hour later.

In the picture you can see the old sleeve. Rest in peace, you served me well (kind of), I'll miss you (not).

Did you get a chance to take her for a spin?

[maxtog]

Did you get a chance to take her for a spin?

Yeah really, I am excited to hear what you think about it!

[martin_14]

yeap, I just came back. I tried both in the Autobahn (up to 140 mph) and in city traffic. Verdict: great improvement. The snatch is gone, just like it says on the webpage. I closed and open the gas in many conditions (speed and load) and it's a lot, lot better. After a while you just forget about the issue, which is the way it should be. Before I always had to be careful when opening up the throttle, now I just do it and no hesitation. It's like the injection has been "repaired".
I also noticed (or at least I think it makes sense) that in order to make up for the slower opening at the beginning, the new cam profile must have a slighter bigger radius at the end, because the bike is like more reactive, say, with 75% open throttle. Nice feeling.
After a while I started trying to provoke the injection snatch to no avail.
Good product, but I can't help thinking why Kawasaki doesn't supply this bike like this from the box... 

[B.D.F.]

Nice report- thanks for that.

And yes, the throttle tube has to open the throttle in 90 degrees of rotation so the eased motion at the beginning has to be made up at the end. But the change from, say, 0 to 10% open is a lot more critical than the change from 90% to 100% so it is a good trade off IMO.

Brian

yeap, I just came back. I tried both in the Autobahn (up to 140 mph) and in city traffic. Verdict: great improvement. The snatch is gone, just like it says on the webpage. I closed and open the gas in many conditions (speed and load) and it's a lot, lot better. After a while you just forget about the issue, which is the way it should be. Before I always had to be careful when opening up the throttle, now I just do it and no hesitation. It's like the injection has been "repaired".
I also noticed (or at least I think it makes sense) that in order to make up for the slower opening at the beginning, the new cam profile must have a slighter bigger radius at the end, because the bike is like more reactive, say, with 75% open throttle. Nice feeling.
After a while I started trying to provoke the injection snatch to no avail.
Good product, but I can't help thinking why Kawasaki doesn't supply this bike like this from the box... 

[Aegir]

...removing the grip and re-installing it on the new tube; as you mentioned, compressed air makes that effortless but I don't know if a can of compressed air will provide enough volume. I have always used an air compressor and copious amounts of air.

Brian

Brian, can you please describe how used the compressed air to remove the grip?  I'm using a small harbor freight gun like device with small 3 inch tube like attachment you'd  use to clear a work bench off and not having much success. I have a gen 2 with the heated grips. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.