New Vista Cruise Issues ?

[elkman57]

Well after reading all the message boards about what people are doing
for cruise control/throttle lock on the ST1300, I decided to give the
Vista Cruise a try. Seemed that most people were having decent luck
with the Yamaha VC , chucking the clips and gluing or taping the plastic tab
to the throttle housing (the square metal thing where the cables meet the
throttle tube). I’ve also tried to do this, but have run into two
problems that I haven’t seen anyone else write about. Both of these
problems make for sticky throttle operation and prevent the throttle from
returning to the OFF position -- even when the VC lock is disengaged.

PROBLEM #1: The rubber throttle grip is too long, or the distance between the
vibration damper and the throttle housing is too short. So when the grip is
rolled back to “normal” position following VC installation, it presses up
against the right side of the VC so tight that the VC becomes kind-of like an
o-ring throttle lock, and it prevents the throttle from operating freely. (See
photo "tight grip"). Does anyone know a way that I fix this issue?
Is there a way to increase the distance between the vibration
damper and the throttle housing? It appears
that the damper is pushed up snug to the bottom (outside) of the rubber grip.
But on the L handlebar, looks like the damper has a good 1/4 inch of between
it and the bottom of that grip. Wondering if there’s a way to gain some
space by loosening the vibe damper, then twisting/squeezing/pulling the
grip futher to the R outside of the bike to get it away from the VC. Before
I adhered the VC, I held it onto the throttle housing to check operation of the
throttle. It looked like the fit would be somewhat tight, but felt I could make
it work, even if it needed occasional lubrication. But because of problem
number 2, the fit was much tighter than my trial run before adhering.

PROBLEM #2: I dremeled the lip off the plastic tab as others have done, but
after adhering with Gorilla glue, it’s very apparent that the VC is not sitting
parallel to the R side of the throttle. It is instead angled from bottom left to
top right (see photo "vc off kilter"). It appears that the cause of this is that the part of
the throttle body to which the tab is glued isn’t level flat with the rest of the
Right side of the throttle housing. Bottom line is that this angle causes the
clamping part of the VC to extend more to the R outside of the bike, and this
even further decreases the distance that the rubber grip has to fill, making
problem #1 worse. One other bad symptom of this problem is that even if
I temporarily peel the rubber grip away from the VC, the trottle still sticks
in the open position. I believe this is because the hole which I sandpapered
wider with a 1-inch dowel , now being slightly skewed relative to the
throttle tube, makes a tighter fit than my test run I made while holding the
VC onto the throttle body at a good angle. Are the rest of you having this
angling of the VC like mine is? If not, how did you get it to adhere parallel
with the R side of the throttle housing?

Anyway, if any of you that have successfully installed this puppy have some
insight on either of these problems individually or as a whole, would
appreciate hearing from you .

[danyn_canyon]

My VC works great and going strong after 16,700miles. Quite a farkle in a true sense.

With the Hondaline heated grips, the clearance between the rubber grip flange and switch housing is too narrow for VC to fit. The VC width dimension needs to be reduced by almost a full MM, sanding the sides of the VC flat on a straight edge (can use Dremel sander wheel also to take material off). The black nylon/plastic or whatever it is machines nicely. Keep sanding until the bugger fits into the width allowed. Take some material off the rivet (pivot point) as well. Basically the whole assembly needs to be narrower.

Other VC owners successfully razor the grip flange to increase the clearance...I could not bring myself to do that (ever try to make a clean razor cut on spongy rubber?). Disregard the plastic washer (who needs it). Use a broom handle with sandpaper or DREMEL wheel to increase the diameter of the VC slightly until it fits properly on the handlebar.

My choice was to mount the VC thumb lever up, this places the attachment flange at the bottom of the switch housing...which if you take the switch housing aprart you can see plenty of room for a screw. Drill and screw the VC plastic flange and let the screw dissapear into the bottom inside of the switch housing. You need a small pan-head screw, preferrably stainless. Engage the throttle lock by depressing the VC thumb-lever down. F

To be honest I spent at least 5 hours on the install but find the operation to be reliable...no problems. No binding. With correct tension, theThrottle locks but can be adjusted or overriden by a slightly stronger twisting force on the throttle grip. Disengaged, the throttle when opened should snap back smartly.

Final test is to swing the handlebars from lock to lock and be sure there is no cable binding and no increase to idle RPM. Next bring the RPM up to 2500-3000 RPM, engage VC locking the RPM, and again swing the handlebars from side to side making sure there is no position which causes an increase to the set RPM. Don't want the engine speed to increase in a turn, after all. :04biker: ;) :( :rolleyes:

[wjbertrand]

Don't have a picture, but the BMW grips fit perfectly between the NEP throttle lock and the HVMP bar end weight. I fabricated a thin plastic friction washer to put between the bar end and the grip rubber similar to that supplied to go between the TL and the grip at the inboard end, just incase. There seems to be several 0.010" of clearance at both ends though.

Make sure your rubber grip isn't all stretched out lengthwise along the throttle barrel.

[stuey]

with regards your problem of the grip being too long.

1 Remove your bar end
2 You will see the inner wieght, which is threaded down the centre. Around this is a stainless clip which locates into a small hole in the end of the bar.
3 with a small flat bladed screwdriver pop out this small clip.
4 if you now replace the bar end weight bolt with a large washer, you will be able to pull out the inner weight, although it will be tight. Don't worry about damaging it, its only a peice if steel with two pieces of rubber around it.
5 replace bar end and if needed push back in until desired clearance is gained. You may find that because you have removed the clip that the bar end will turn slightly even when the bolt is tight, although mine have never come loose or moved.

Job done. The above technique means you can fit any length of heated or normal grip and any throttle lock, without having to trim or shorten the grip.

Stu

[clmixon]

Elk-man,

The VC will fit fine, agressive dremel adjustment is requird so slow small steps are recommended. I simply pulled the rubber grip outboard a small amount and did not use the clear plastic washer. You do need to get it flat against the throttle housing, just take your time. The biggest challenge was opening up the inner diameter of the V/C to fit the throttle tube.

Mine is mounted upside down as a matter of preference and I have the symtech heated grips installed. Works fine....no trimming of the grip at all and it still fits behind the bar end weight.

Chris

[STeve1300]

I removed the grip, got frustrated and cut the flange off. Fits great.(I put grip puppies over the grip anyway) I ruined one VC by dremeling the center hole too much - It went quickly. On the next VC I took my time and tested the fit often. To fasten, I tried marine 2 sided tape, glue etc, all looked like your pics. I ended up drilling a small pilot hole (and countersinking) and screwing it to the bottom side of the throttle housing w/ one small stainless screw. Its still a bit cocked, but works perfectly. In all, I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it.

[elkman57]

Got lots of good ideas from this and other st1300 board, thanks all that contributed. I didn't want to cut my grips. Stuey, I wasn't real comfortable with removing a clip , but your post got me thinking, so I came up with another idea that isn't as flexible as yours, but works great and requires that nothing on the bike be removed. I decided to try a spacer between the bar and the bar end weight, to move the bar end weight just a little further out -- out far enough to allow the VC to fit without binding, but not so far as to prevent the bar end weight from being long enough to catch into the threads in the handlebar and give a good tightening to the bar end weight. I went to Home Depot and Bought a standard nylon spacer, 3/8" long, 5/8" OD and 1/4" ID. 55 cents I believe this cost. Since the bar end weight and the receiving piece in the handlebar both have a "half moon" protrusion machined into their metal, the spacer as purchased will not fit well and installed as-is will cause the bar end weight to be loose and cockeyed. But I took 10 minutes and machined a half moon depression on each face of the spacer with my Dremel. And...BINGO! This solution moves the bar end weight outward about the thickness of the VC, and allows the bar end weight to be tight and secure. My machining skills are poor, but a perfect fit with the metal half moons is by no means required to have the bar end weight fit tight and straight. Even with the spacer, the bar end weight bolt still can make about a half-inch of travel into the receiving threads.

[stuey]

Yep I'll give you that one, a good solution. I once tried spacing out the bar ends on my Blackbird, with the same result as your first attempt (loose and cockeyed) but I never thought of getting a spacer and altering it.
It has to be said though, that not having the clip in place has never been a problem, the inner rubbers hold everything in place any way.

Stu

[Moto.Geek]

Cripes, you'd think Honda sold enough ST1300s that VC and NEP would make one just for our model. I have a NEP, tried to install it, but could see it is going to require "modification" with my Dremel, which I just get rather sick of. I had a VC on my FJR, and I believe it went right on. No, I'm not going to sell my ST13 for a Feejer! I like the ST13 more better! Anyway, I'll prolly look for a Throttlemeister instead. Anyone have one for sale?

- MG

[HankFJRer]

elkman,

check this thread:

http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10739&highlight=flawless


I've installed one and it works great, the thread explains it, and has pics :)

I would not recommand pulling the inner weight out or modifying it. I did that because I had installed a throttlemeister. You'll discover when looking at the repair manual they recommend you replace certain items when re inserting this weight. Hated the throttlemeister btw.

Far better is just cutting the grip. Grips are extremely easy and inexpensive to replace. Sure it may not look great, if you notice it, but I would much rather that then be concerned about the bar end unexpectedly loosening and falling off because the pin isn't in the hole it's suppose to be inside the throttle mechanism housing.

The bracket I made for the VC wasn't hard, the pics show it very clearly. And the great thing about it is that if the VC wears to the point it no longer works well, easy peasy, just get another one and file / sand it to fit the bracket. done.

Good Luck with it,