Fixing Broken Cables?

[HD]

Hey,

Just got back in as my throttle cable snapped.

I have bought two sets of throttle/clucth cables since I have owned the bike and neither have fitted so dont want to spend £35 again to be told I cant return it.

I must also add I have a quick action throttle (i didnt put it on) so that may be why. There is a throttle tube on ebay atm for my bike but not the exact model and on the genuine site, they aren't the same price (so probably not the same tube).

I would rather try to add the nipple back onto the cable as the cable itself is fine.

Is there anyway to do this? Or somewhere I can get it done?

Or shall I suck it up and buy the throttle cable and throttle tube and hope they fit?

Cheers guys!
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[temeluchus]

You can buy cable repair kits that have lengths of cable and sets of nipples (ooh err) that you can make up new inners, which can help you adapt to various mods with a little cunning.

These guys sell pretty much every cable part available to home brew:
https://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/motorcycle/controlcable.php
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[HD]

How do I go about getting the nipple back on?

Makes me laugh, Im so childish
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[temeluchus]

Teehee!

Well there are ones you solder on and others that have screws in em (called solderless, obviously).
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[stinkwheel]

They solder on.

Trouble is the cable will be oily and the solder doesn't take very well to old cable.

First off get the nipple and heat it with a soldering iron or blowtorch so the solder comes out.

Next tin the end of the cable with solder. This is the tricky bit with an old cable. You used to get stuff called bakers fluid which is a mild corrosive that took any rust or oil off to allow the solder to attach. Use lots of flux. If you can't tin the end of the cable, either give up or use a solderless nipple (these do tend to fail after a time though). Only tin the very end that's going tobe in the nipple or you'll land up with a stiff, brittle portion directly below the nipple.

If you managed to get it tinned, push it through the hole in the nipple and fan out the strands of the cable at the end so they make a sort of funnel shape in the end of the nipple then heat the nipple and fill the end with solder so it can't pull back out.

60:40 Lead-tin plumbers solder with seperate flux is best for this. Electrical solder is tricky, it gets too hard and hardens too quickly to shape well. The plumbers solder has a kind of "soft" stage inbetween being liquid and solid that allows you to shape it using the soldering iron.

I still usually end up filing the end smooth and round but in theory you ought to be able to fill it with just the right amount of solder to make a neat, flush finish with the end of the nipple.

The best way would be to make a new inner using brand new cable.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[HD]

Got it done at a local mechanics. He cut the freyed bit of the cable off and put a new nipple on. It screwed together a bit like the connectors inside a plug

So he screwed it together and put a bit of solder in the end. Had to chop down the throttle adjuster and the throttle housing on the handlebar (is it called that? where the throttle adjuster screws into). Bit of a bodge but I'm sure whoever comes to buy it won't notice

Hopefully it will last me, cos if not, i'll have to buy a new cable and throttle assembly.

Also, when connecting up the oil pump end, the little clip that bends over to secure the cable broke
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[Kickstart]

[Vincent]

I've used "screw together", (solderless) nipples before with some success. If you stick the nipple in a vice while you tighten up the screw, you can get them quite tight. soldered ones, (if done properly) will last longer though.

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/Drewskovitch/312bg9It7nL.jpg
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Space Is Deep

[HD]

Bit of a mixture of those in the photo it was haha. It was the middle one with a flat head bolt through the middle and the hole in the top was only big enough for the cable.

I had to file it down to get it to fit in the throttle tube, though so hopefully it will hold. And he used a vice to tighten it as well. He said he has done it on brake and clutch cables before and it has been fine. So surely it would be okay on the throttle as its just the throttle return spring it has to withstand?
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[Vincent]

[Lone-Wolf]

Wotcha.

Hmm - I had my clutch cable snap this week too.

Most pushbike shops will sell 1mm inner cable seeing as that's the same size as pushbike brake cables. These come in decent lengths, including very long ones for tandems ( ideal for rear engined trike throttle cables ). There's a nipple fitted to one end, which is useful, all you need do is cut to length and solder a nipple on t'other end.

Clutch cables are thicker - at least 2mm. Steel wire rope, 2mm diameter doesn't cost a lot - I paid 28 pence per Metre for the stuff I bought.

I'm of the old school of biking and always have a spare throttle and clutch cable stored somewhere on the bike ( and a spare front brake cable if you ain't got hydraulic disc brakes ).
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Cheers.
^..^
L.W. - www.moonshiners.org.uk