Improving the Look of Your Throttle Lock

Reprinted by Permission of Mr Tidy's Tech Tips

The standard throttle lock many of us use comes with a plastic bracket that holds the throttle lock in place. To make this work with the Roadstar the plastic arm connecting the lock to the bracket runs in front of the starter/kill-switch housing. I thought it was a really ugly solution, see below

I replaced the entire plastic bracket and arm with a little aluminum piece securing the throttle lock almost invisibly to the starter/kill-switch housing. One end of the aluminum piece is screwed to the throttle lock, the other end to the start switch housing. So that requires a hole and threat in the housing, but that's easy to do. Eventually, it looks like the photo shows below:

To make this work you need to drill a hole into the starter-swith housing at the location you can see in the photo above. You may want to open the housing first and see for yourself where and how deep you want to drill. In my case I chose a chrome-plated 4mm screw ("'M4") which was 10mm long ("M4 x 10"). So, a 10mm deep hole would do the job. If you drill too deep you eventually drill into the starter switch - not a good idea. When you look at the inside of the open housing, you'll easily see what I mean.
To make an M4 thread you should use a ~3.3mm drill.

Once the hole is drilled you're ready to cut a thread into it. It's an easy task since the housing is aluminum and the thread cutter ("tap" as they call it) cuts through it like butter - just put a little bit of oil on the tool before you start. Then carefully and under a little pressure and back-and-forth (actually left-and-right) motion gradually cut the thread into the housing. Since you're guided by the 3.3mm hole, it's really easy. 
Finally, connect the aluminum piece with the M4 screrw to the housing and to the throttle lock at the other end. I used the original Allen screw (which was non-metric) and secured it with a self-locking nut (i.e., the kind that has a nylon liner). Very easy to assemble - and to take off should that be necessary. If you have everything you need, it's just a half-hour job. The end result is shown below - a nice and clean throttle lock, hardly notceable.

Now hop on the bike and test it out. See you on the road!
Hans

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DISCLAIMER: This information and procedure is provided as a courtesy and is for informational purposes only.  Neither the publishers nor the authors accept any responsibility for the accuracy, applicability, or suitability of this procedure.  You assume all risks associated with the use of this information.  NEITHER THE PUBLISHERs NOR THE AUTHORs SHALL IN ANY EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OF ANY NATURE ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OR MISUSE OF THIS INFORMATION OR LACK OF INFORMATION.  Any type of modification or service work on your motorcycle should always be performed by a professional mechanic. If performed incorrectly, this procedure may endanger the safety of you and others on your motorcycle and possibly invalidate your manufacturer’s warranty.

Comments (3)

Re: Improving the look of your throttle Written by CPORetired, on 09-04-2009 07:45 I never liked the look of the lock, always seemed to take away from the chrome. Thanks for the terrific idea. This really cleaned up my bars with such a simple fix.

Improving the look of your throttle lock Written by dryriver, on 04-14-2007 14:36 Great idea, and excellent article and description. I had the Vista throttle lock on my Vstar 650, and ordered it before I got my Roadstar home.  Installed on the Roadie using your message. It works just as good, and looks much, much better. Thanks for your time and effort to let us all know about this.

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