One throttle cable (2017)

Onder, sometimes better to ask than assume..

Look beautifully made and well thought out, a consideration for a potential winter refreshing!
Need to switch it back to twin carbs first!!

https://photos.smugmug.com/One-cable-ki ... 0002-S.jpg
Well testing is looking promising, not just by me but one of our members in Canada. The only difference in fitting between him and me was
he used the upper hole in the pulley wheel for the cable end and I used the lower hole, possibly difference in throttles.
Don

check for sale section if interested
Don

FWIW... having witnessed the hours of faffing around that my mate did trying to create something similar, but far less robust or elegant, these offerings look like an absolute bloody bargain!

hence there is likely to be a price rise in the near future.

Can I just ask, as it's not clear to me from the photos, are we seeing two ferrules there that screw into the carb tops to replace the cable adjusters? It's the only thing I can't make out, cheers!

Mine just arrived , excellent quality, easy and quick to fit.

This is on my race bike and as the head is on the bench , test fitting was easy.
I have a 1/4 turn quick action Motion Pro throttle twist grip on clip ons for the race bike, I had to clip off the nipple off the supplied cable , cut down the outer Bowden cable to give me more free length of inner, then solder on another nipple back on.
Not something others will need to do for a Commando twist grip.
Syncing the carbs will never be easier .

Great stuff
Regards Mike

Got the kit installed yesterday and had a chance to take the bike on a test ride. So far the report is very positive, no matter how meticulous I was with synching the twin cable setup, I would still get a tiny hint of hesitation on acceleration (owing to a slight mis match in the slides) I don’t think you can get around it with the twin cable set up as there’s too many points in the system where the cables can mis-align. Anyway, with Don's kit I got none of that, bike pulled smoothly with no hesitation, idle easy to adjust with the thumb screw, thumbs up all around

Installation is straightforward (just follow Don's instructions), though I did end up using the upper nipple hole on the pulley instead of the lower, I found that using lower (with my twistgrip) didn't allow enough cable slack for the slides to bottom out in the carbs. Once it was all set up with the carbs leveled to the plate, and the carb tops secured down, I synched the slide pull between the carbs using the 7mm adjuster bolts at the top of the slide cables. The preliminary synching is all it needs, after that it's just a matter of fine tuning the idle. I used the two adjuster bolts on the arm where the throttle cable is secured to get it close, then the idle thumb screw for final adjustment, this allowed me to maintain some slop in the twistgrip. Using the upper hole in the pulley did mean that I had to trim about 1/4" off the threaded end of the throttle cable where it secures to the arm, otherwise it would slightly contact the pulley. Also, in my case the main wiring harness interfered with the plate, so I had to spend some time rerouting it around the frame tube.


Kit as supplied


Slides assembled


Leveling loosened carbs with plate


Caps secured, carbs re-tightened to manifolds


Throttle cable attached to pulley, this is where I had to trim the threaded cable end


Synching slides with two 4mm allen keys (using 7mm bolts at cable tops)


Balance tube reinstalled (bends a bit around plate)


Handy tools to have: angle driver for inner cap screws, hook to pull needle into jet when installing slides

Sweet! That does indeed look worth while. Madass140 you're maniac, what else do you have cookin' on the back burner??

well CJ. soon after machining is done I have to start assembling another 100 sets of Lansdownes as there is only about 4 sets left, that will be
late in the year, I want to continue working on my own new bike project which has a lot of one off innovative stuff and will get a lot of you thinking.
Don

They also fit the alcohol Amals I have on the 650 SS.
Regards Mike

I wish there was something like this for monoblocs - hint, hint Don!
Cheers
Rob

Well, I've just ordered a set. Only a few days ago I was seriously thinking of getting a single carb manifold and airbox plate with the single hole.

Dommie Nator said:

Well, I've just ordered a set. Only a few days ago I was seriously thinking of getting a single carb manifold and airbox plate with the single hole.

Click to expand...

When I got my MKIII back in 2010 (barn find- together, not a basket case, but not run in many many years.) I bought a single carb and manifold set up from JSMotorsports. Excellent kit that Jim used to sell and it helped me to get my bike running. However with the new premiers on the market I'm thinking of going this route. Ya gotta admit Amals just look right on a Nort. Now,mine is bone stock mind you and no hot rod, so either will work for me with my state of tune etc...

I have run twin carbs on Triumphs for donkeys years and never understood all the complaints about going out of synch etc, etc.

However, I was taught by Dave Degens to use always use a cable splitter, and to use the shortest possible cable from carb to splitter, and then a single cable from splitter to twist grip routed in the smoothest possible way. Set up like this, twin carbs were always fuss free for me. The downside is that this necessitates making custom cables all of the time. It's not always easy to find space under the tank and close to the carbs for a splitter either.

Then, earlier this year, I got a 68' Bonnie with twin carbs and stock twin cable / twin twist grip set up. NOW I UNDERSTAND THE COMPLAINERS! It's a right faff getting it right, just moving the bars side to side effects carb synchronisation and they definitely require re adjusting fairly frequently, at least until new cables have 'settled down'.

It made me realise that twin cables, along with partially blocked / partially worn old Amals fitted to a partially worn out old Commando must be a f***ing nightmare, and there's no wonder folk get cheesed of with them!

By contrast, my Commando has FCR carbs which are linked together as standard from cNw and, of course, they NEVER go remotely out of synch.

I would venture to suggest that Madass's kit, along with decent Premier carbs, will resolve all such twin carb / worn carb complaints, really making a single carb conversation largely irrelevant IMHO.

Just a note for anyone installing this kit. I was initially finding it impossible to align the carbs with the base plate, until I realized that the carbs were contacting each other. I had to remove material from the carb mounting ears and the unused, inside idle screw casting. The carbs are Amal 932 Premiers.

Also...remember to stuff a rag or such down the carb throats while doing this. Don't be the guy wondering where the little #10 washer sailed to, particularly if it's a stainless steel washer that can't be fished out with a magnet.

Jon in SC

Jon, I never had any issues with the Premiers and no one else so far has had this issue, the touching of the carbs at the idle screws has been an issue
with Amal MK1's since time began .
Don

Yakatak said:

Just a note for anyone installing this kit. I was initially finding it impossible to align the carbs with the base plate, until I realized that the carbs were contacting each other. I had to remove material from the carb mounting ears and the unused, inside idle screw casting. The carbs are Amal 932 Premiers.

Also...remember to stuff a rag or such down the carb throats while doing this. Don't be the guy wondering where the little #10 washer sailed to, particularly if it's a stainless steel washer that can't be fished out with a magnet.

Jon in SC

Click to expand...

You got non-Commando carbs. There are specific ones just for the Commandos with the material removed. Either you didn't order them correctly or someone didn't supply them correctly. It would be not surprising for Amal to send the wrong ones.

I just got my new "one throttle cable" setup from Don and it looks like a proper piece of kit. I'll be putting it on soon but have a surf trip with my son up the coast this weekend (yes some of we 64 year olds still delude ourselves) so it'll have to wait a bit. I just wanted to give Don a "shout out" about the workmanship and design. I also got his Dunstall footpeg and kickstarter rubbers and I am also very impressed with these as well. I have gotten other things from him in the past and am not surprised by the quality, I just wanted to pass my impressions along.
Lance