Important Safety Tips On Stuck Throttles

[rickyd]

Originally posted by kciH
Jasle,
The thumb throttles used on quads, snowmobiles and jet skis are on there becase you have to turn the handle bars on these machines to drive them, which causes some people to increase/decrease the throttle when turning in either direction, where on a motorcycle you lean to turn instead of actually turning the bars very much.]

I turn my bars....
Rick

 

[Jasle]

Originally posted by kciH
Jasle,
The thumb throttles used on quads, snowmobiles and jet skis are on there becase you have to turn the handle bars on these machines to drive them, which causes some people to increase/decrease the throttle when turning in either direction, where on a motorcycle you lean to turn instead of actually turning the bars very much.

Zoom...You missed my point. All I was trying to get across was that you should cover both your clutch and front brake at all times. So if you get thrown back your finger covering the clutch and brake also go back and you could pull the clutch in stopping you from zooming away at WOT that is stuck.

I fully agree with the last half of your statement. We have too many laws and crap brought on by frivolus lawsuits.
I was in an accident last year. My wife was 9 months preggo. It was clearly the other ladies fault. You should have heard her insurance agency when all I wanted them to pay was our hospital visit and fix the car. No one was really hurt. You'de think they never had anyone say naw no one was hurt we aren't planning on suing....come to think of it they probably never have.

 

[tri-mx'er]

Originally posted by bwalker
Eric, Funny you mentioned the kill switch not working ina stuck throttle situation. I was going to call you about it this week. My af's throttle stuck wide open last weekend. Kill switch did not have any effect so I had to use the choke to shut it down. I traced the cause of the sticking back to dirt between the throttle tube and the handle bar. The dirt was probaly a result of one of my dimounts. ;) BTW a 5 hunny screamiong wide open is avery scarry proposition.

I have to wonder about this being the cause of your stuck throttle. I am in no way trying to insult you, I only hope that you cover all possibilities. The reason I question the "dirt under the throttle tube" thing is that if this was the cause, you would have physically not been able to let off the throttle. You would certainly know this situation, and wouldn't have do any tracing back to see what went wrong. If you could twist the throttle tube on the bars back to idle position, then this was not you problem. Now if dirt got jammed into the end of the cable somehow this would be different. You would be able to twist the throttle but the cable would remain in the wide open position. But this isn't caused from dirt under the throttle tube. I suggest that you do some retracing, making sure that your cable is in top shape. A cable that is in "okay" shape is crap in my opinion, it had better be perfect. I think that dirt getting passed the filter and wedged between the slide and carb bore is pretty common, and this is probably the most logical cause when you can not find anything wrong after a good searching for the cause of the stuck throttle.
Rich DaVico

 

[tri-mx'er]

I made a post a while back in the mini bike forum about teaching kids what to do in case they experience a stuck throttle. My 6 year old had one a few months ago. We were out trail riding and I was bringing up the rear. I thought I faintly heard a voice, listened for a second, then somehow thought my boys' throttle may be stuck (I am very thankful for this and think somebody was looking out for my boy because I have no idea what made me come to this conclusion) and rode up beside him. Luckily we were on a jeep trail wide enough for the both of us. He was in a panic, and I was too. I could see that he was trying the throttle, and he was working the brake some. He was trying the kill button, it was working but he wouldn't hold it down till the motor fully quit, and when he released it would rev again. I hollered at him, and then reached down and tried to grab his kill button, and had it slowed down some before we crashed. No one was hurt, but looking back I probably could have remained calmer and told him to press his rear brake very hard and bog the engine down. We definitely went through a drill of what to do in case of a stuck throttle, and I question both kids regularly so that it is drilled into their little heads. Probably not a bad idea for an adult to really think a bit of what they should do in case this happens.
Rich DaVico

 

[EricGorr]

Thanks Rich,
Thats a good story for adults too because you make the point that even though you've practised what to do theoretically, the automatic reaction to stomp on the rear brake when a bike becomes uncontrollable, needs to be mentally-wired from a brain to a right foot.

Another guy was telling today on the phone, about a tether switch on a retractable dog leash, for training his kid on a pee wee bike.
If this stuck throttle topic becomes an issue, maybe we'll see new products like radio remote control kill switches for beginner bikes.

Thanks for the excellent post tri-mx'er

 

[bwalker]

tri-mxer, On a honda the stock plastic throttle trube has a hole on the end. Once you pierce the end of the grip(in a crash) the hole allows dirt to enter the area between the pipe and bar. This intern will also allow dirt to enter into the cable housing as it not sealed by the rubber cover as the outside is. I am certain this is what happened in my case. The bar area was full of dirt as well as the cable had grit present on it. I have since cleaned the whole works and lubed the cable which has taken care of the issue.

 

[tri-mx'er]

Originally posted by bwalker
tri-mxer, On a honda the stock plastic throttle trube has a hole on the end. Once you pierce the end of the grip(in a crash) the hole allows dirt to enter the area between the pipe and bar. This intern will also allow dirt to enter into the cable housing as it not sealed by the rubber cover as the outside is. I am certain this is what happened in my case. The bar area was full of dirt as well as the cable had grit present on it. I have since cleaned the whole works and lubed the cable which has taken care of the issue.

I guess we misunderstood each other. I agree that dirt from under the tube could possibly cause the cable to jam. I thought you actually were convinced it was the dirt under the tube doing the sticking.
Rich

 

[KYHU]

Marcus : it helps to always have one finger on the clutch lever. But sometimes hanging on the bike makes you so tired that you can't react.


david

 

[whyzee]

Originally posted by KYHU
But sometimes hanging on the bike makes you so tired that you can't react.
david

If that is the case, then you have not prepared yourself physically before the ride. If you are too exhausted to operate the controls, then you should rest, hydrate, and then finish your ride. Nutrition, proper hydration and strength training are most important and beneficial to a successful ride.

 

[Shawn Mc]

96yzGUY you trying to tell me youve never ridden till the throttle is an idea instead of a function? In other words, youve never ridden until the controls become vague? Just plain ole fatigue, everybody gets it, except maybe Carmichael. That kid doesnt seem to tire.

 

[whyzee]

At 41, I stopped taking chances that could affect more than just my life. If I am tired or fatigued, I rest! I ride as hard as the bike and my abilities will let me but I have a wife and two kids, one I am getting ready to put through college. The kind of work I do can't be done with casts on my arms or with a broken collarbone or worse. At 15, 16 I lived without that fear, I also did not know and understand the benefits of proper diet and training back then. The other members that I communicate with here know that I end a lot of my communication with "Be careful" ... you be careful too.

 

[FoxRacing023]

i've made myself learn to have 2 fingers on the clutch and 1 finger on the brake, it has saved my butt many times. just my 2¢

 

[Zenith]

Just thought I'd mention on the 96 CR125 I owned before my 00 I regularily had throttle stick, I only wrecked one from it - WFO in 6th off a drop off into a corner. Fortunately I locked up the front brake as I went over the drop off so when I landed I got hurled off the bike, otherwise I would've hit the berm and ploughed into a cliff face at over 60MPH :scream:. Anyway it turned out I was getting the stick when my filter was getting wet from the rain or puddles on the track. Dirty water was getting onto the slide and needle and making it stick. It was driving me mad so was a determining factor in me selling it. Never had a hint of stick on the 00, although I have a cover for the filter in the rain so that helps...
It's very difficult to stall a bike with the rear brake when it is WFO, or at least it was with my 96 brakes!

 

[2stroke]

I learned about air leaks long ago, when I was 15, on a 1970 F5 350. I was riding about half the day, when all of a sudden it revved outta control. I mashed the rear brakes, and layed it down. This is going to sound corny as all hell, but it worked then, and it would work now. I did not have a kill switch. (it was an early attempt of mine at a enduro turned MX bike) For safety's sake, I had a heavy duty zip tie zipped around the plug boot, and the end of the tie just sort of dangled up in the frame area. So, as I had any other time I needed to shut it down after wrecking, I simply grabbed the end of the tie and yanked. Sure, the spark could jump a little thru the air, but holding it more than 4 inches away always killed it. THen I got to checking over the bike. The slide wasnt stuck, wasnt dirty. COuldnt figure it out. Tried starting it up, and right away it wanted to take off. After I got home and washed it, I kept hearing a hissing sound when kicking it over. Found out a rock (I guess) had puched a small hole in the bottom of my case. I didnt know if that was it or not, but I plugged it up with some sort of putty crap, and problem solved. (learned also to always use a skid plate!)

As far as liability goes...we all know (or should) that what we do is dangerous. Now, in case of a GROSS negligence, ok, sure, like if you bought a new 250, and second time out, the brakes fail, and you smack a tree...I know a guy who was riding a kaw street bike, (2 weeks old) and the steering lock mechanism cought up in the middle of a turn, and he wrecked and lost an arm. He got about 4 million out of that one, like 15 years ago. That I can see.

But you got to be able to take responsability for your acitons. I broke my leg,a nd tore me knee out about 2 years ago on some property owned by the local utility company. Even though I shouldnt of been riding htere, I could have sued them Im sure for not doing enough to keep me out of there, but I didnt. I missed 3 weeks of work and took it on the chin.

 

[70 marlin]

Good to hear from you eric, busy summer? I've always said maintenance, maintenance, maintenance!

 

[jaypro55]

Again just wanna say thanks for giving a great informative post. I had a friend who broke his arm pretty badly a few years ago when the throttle on his ATV stuck. He panicked and ended up running himself straight into a deep ditch, I didn't see it but it must have been terrible. Thanks again just for helping us all out.

 

[jeffw]

I read this whole thread and nobody has suggested that maybe, just maybe, this COULD be a case of gross negligence on the part of the manufacturers.

It seems like anybody who's spent any time on a dirt bike has experienced a stuck slide and the terror that follows. It happened to me during a Hare Scramble on a six month old bike a month ago, fortunately I wasn't hurt.

A tear down of my carb showed a float bowl full of dirt with more oozing in from the vent tube inlets. This carb was clean before the race. Could the manufacturer have routed the tubes differently? Maybe run them into the air box into their own mini filter, which is a system offered by aftermarket companies. I've seen homemade systems like this also.

Sure, many stuck slide cases can be linked to poor maintenance. But when a new, well maintained bike displays a possibly life threatening problem from which even an experienced rider can't always revover, then we have a problem that the manufacturers have a DUTY to fix.

When a manufacturer markets a bike as a race bike then they are charged with KNOWING that it will be used in extreme conditions and the RESPONSIBILITY of having it perform only in response to input from the rider and not the elements, that is dirt, dust, mud, etc... If this can't be done, then I don't want to see slick ads that show the bike used this way.

A carb that doesn't allow mud to enter through vent tubes and an air filter system that keeps out dust and water, and slide coating material and a slide body constructed of slick, durable material isn't too much to ask.

The only reason you don't see more lawsuits resulting from stuck slides is that the situation is so hard to reproduce, as opposed to the dramatic evidence you could present if your triple clamps failed. The manufacturers know this, just look at how quickly KTM is re-calling its 03 and some 02 bikes for free new clamps.

How about carburetors? I've got a nearly new Keihin I'd like to swap out for one that doesn't keep me up at night.