Throttle Cable Disconnect (quick fix)

Unsure if this is a common issue, but it happened to me yesterday and it's a very quick and easy issue to diagnose and repair with a bare minimum of tools and mechanical expertise.

I was riding my R3T at a moderate speed on a San Diego freeway when all of a sudden, my throttle no longer responded. My speed rapidly decreased, my throttle provided no response (it just spun 90 degrees) so I coasted to the side of the road in nuetral.

I figured right away that it was a problem with a throttle cable (either broken or disconnected).

All I had with me, tool-wise, was the stock plastic baggie of Triumph tools. Gulp!

That turned out to be fine, as all that was needed were the phillips and flat-bladed (standard) screwdrivers.

I unscrewed the throttle casing, held together with two phillips screws, and sure enough, one of the two throttle cables was hanging loose.

I pried it out with the end of a standard screwdriver and pushed it back into place with my thumb. I tried the tension by testing the throttle--everything felt fine.

I put the throttle case back together, screwed it back in and was back on the road in about 5 minutes total.

I hope this easy fix helps another Rocket Captain one of these days.

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago. But, on mine the plastic housing that retains the cable end had broken. So, it was tow truck time. Nothing like sitting on the side of I10 outside of Phoenix in late June waiting for a rescue.

The part that broke was on a heated grip. Since I'd heard of others having the same thing happen with the Triumph heated grips I elected to put the stock grips back on. So far I've managed to suffer through our brutal Phoenix winters without the benefit of the heated grips.

This sounds fun, I'm about to mount the heated grip kit on my R3T in preparation for a two-week trip. Guess I'd better pack the original throttle grip assembly and the necessary tools. Bad form by Triumph to make it out of cheap plastic, that sort of stuff can kill a guy if the throttle snaps closed at just the wrong time.