Saturday, July 16, 2011

S90: Stop and Go

Decided to take a look at the throttle and brake controls.  The brake lever seemed frozen stiff and the throttle had very limited movement.

First I popped open the clamp that houses the light switch and holds the throttle tube in place.  There's wiring that runs up through the handlebars and into the switch.  Pretty dirty inside, a lot of caked mud mixed with grease.  Had to scrape out big chunks of it with a small screwdriver.  After a thorough cleaning, the light switch had a full range of motion again, but I somehow doubt it'll work without getting into the wiring.



Discovered another modification: looks like the last active owner had setup the front brake lever to actuate both the front and rear brakes simultaneously.  There's a small custom piece that is screwed into the brake lever that operates a cable down to the rear brake (with another modification down there to link everything up).

The mods I've found on this bike so far: toggle switch (battery cut-off?) mounted next to battery compartment, skid plate mounted (of yet unknown origin), knobby tires, plus this brake modification.

 


The throttle cable is gripped by a piece of metal that can travel up and down the length of the handlebar.  The throttle handle itself has an internal thread that mates to the diagonal slot in the metal piece such that twisting the handle back and forth will pull or release the cable.

There didn't seem to be anything mechanically wrong with the assembly, it just seemed very gunked up with either old grease or anti-seize.  After a very thorough cleaning with WD40, it ran very smoothly and with good positive feel.

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