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Five minute fix – Throttle tubes

Bertie Simmonds
April 26, 2017

Little spoils a bike like a graunching throttle. Cables are obvious and easy to lubricate but throttle tubes regularly get ignored. Whether it’s the conventional barrel type or early Japanese straight pull/scroll type the same ground rules apply. Carefully remove the twist grip, cleaning both the handlebar and the inside of the throttle tube firstly with clean cloth then with brake cleaner or similar removing old grease and grit. Avoiding sticky spray greases apply light grease liberally; it’s handy to load it into the tube rather than on the bar. Carefully reassemble making sure everything works, then luxuriate in the slickest throttle action on the block. Nothing this side of a nefarious act feels this good, this quickly, this cheaply.

Clean it, we say!

Lubricate it, we say!

Words/pics: Steve Cooper

About the Author

Bertie Simmonds

As a child Bertie (well, Robert back then… blame his sister for the nickname) was exposed to motorcycles thanks to his uncles. They would show up at his house with a lovely lady as pillion throughout the 1970s and 1980s. After a naughty time on field bikes (it’s what we did back then) Bertie passed his test in the early 1990s and became a reporter for MCN in 1995, moving to the sports desk and covering World Superbikes in 1996. With a change to Bike Magazine in 1997, he stayed until 2000 as news, features and road test editor. Moving into PR with Cosworth, Bert was bored with cars and returned to bikes in 2001 with Two Wheels Only, becoming editor in 2002 and leaving to be freelance at the end of 2004. With almost a decade freelancing, Bertie joined Mortons in 2013 and became editor of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, a post he’s desperately clung to, to this day. And no, he’s never had a pretty girl on the back of his bike. BSimmonds@mortons.co.uk

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