Throttle play and difficulty finding neutral?

K5N

Hi

1) How much throttle play is normal/acceptable? I have maybe 1/5 of a turn of the throttle before it engages. How is this adjusted please?

2) Bike (or me) struggles to find neutral from first. I usually have to go down into neutral from second instead. Again, how is this adjusted please? It may be more of a job than the nuisance merits, I guess?

Thanks, as always.

[Sid Squid]

What bike do you have?

The least amount of free play that doesn't cause the idle speed to change as you move the handlebars from lock to lock is the right amount.

Difficulty finding neutral is a common symptom of a clutch that isn't lifting cleanly, adjust it first and see if that solves the problem.

SV 05 pointy, naked.

1) It doesn't do that. Maybe I used the wrong term. I mean turning the throttle. It turns a bit before actually engaging the throttle Don't know how to adjust.
2) Adjust clutch lever, or something else?

Cheers

[Red Herring]

There should be some "free play" in the throttle cables as SS said so that when you turn the bars lock to lock the stretch in the cables doesn't alter the throttle setting. The cables have adjusters about 6" along from the twist grip. You need two spanners so that you can unlock the adjuster,(may need to roll back the rubber sleeve first) then turn one part to lengthen, or shorten depending on need, that cable. Make sure you adjust the right cable, generally it is the one that opens the throttle that stretches with use and needs shortening.

With regard to the clutch how much "slop" is there in the clutch lever, ie: how far back does it go before you get tension and resistance in the cable. There should be very little, but it is important to have some. Adjustment is where the cable joins the lever, I'm sure you work that one out.

As Sid said as little play as possible before the throttle engage (which would cause the revs to rise hence affecting idle) my SV has literally a mm of play before the revs change, this is correctly adjusted. The cables are adjusted at the carbs or about 6" down the cable there is also an adjuster, you will need to lift the tank and take the air box off to get to the carb ones, you will then see 2 adjusters, one for the push cable and one for the pull cable (this is the one you are talking about)

Clutch lever adjustment onlt adjusts the slack in the cable, it does not adjust the clutch itself. Clutch adjustment is carried out on the engine end behind the front sprocket cover.

[Red Herring]

Originally Posted by daveyrach

..... The cables are adjusted at the carbs,

He said it was a K5 Pointy mate, fuel injection.

Can still be adjusted here
Capture.jpg

[Red ones]

I wonder why the throttle cables are poorly adjusted in the first place - not something that usually stretches. I would pop the cables out of the bars and run some PTFE down the cables and inside the casings while about it - often helps free the movement.

Clutch - if you search this forum for clutch adjustment you should find some really helpful threads. But is the lever also really heavy to squeeze? I would go through a full adjustment - ie slacken the top end off at the lever, open up the cover plate by the gear lever (remember to pull the lever down in below first to get enough room to get the cover off) - do all the jiggery pokery of 1/8th to 1/4 screw turns blah, blah (other threads are better at explaining). If the gears still don't like changing (and the chain is correctly adjusted) I would suspect the clutch adjuster mechanism on a bike that age. How many miles?

Clutch adjuster mechs are about £45 often on next day delivery and take about 20 minutes to fit - did mine 2 weeks ago.

[aesmith]

Originally Posted by Red ones

I wonder why the throttle cables are poorly adjusted in the first place - not something that usually stretches.

Mine were wrong when I first got the bike. I couldn't work out exactly what was out of kilter, but the idle speed was inconsistent - it would reduce if I held the throttle hard closed. The best process I found was to slacken both right off, then retighten the "opening "cable as far as it would go before moving the handlebars caused the idle to change. Once that was set I tightened the "closing" cable until it was just snug.

Tony S

Thanks for all the input. I was still confused, so took it to the garage today and they fixed for £30.