aarghh! Fraying cables! Broken throttle! what a piece of...!

[Bigfoot]

I can tell this thing is probably going to spend more time broken, gathering dust than it is going to be on the road.

The cheap plastic throttle broke, so I had to rig up a brake-lever throttle w/brake cable-building up ball ends made of solder so the cable stays where it shouldI soldered it to the brake lever! It's not going anywear!.It works fine now, but not until the plastic housing broke off, & I rigged it up on my own.I'm a little worried that the ball ends will wear out & break off when I'm 30 miles from home.

Now, the clutch cable frayed horribly when I tried to install the clutch lever & spring & all that stuff.It got so bad that I couldn't get that screw thing on the end again.I also filed a slot on the cable adjuster thing on the lever, because I couldn't find one that fit correctly.There's no way to adjust the cable w/out one.

I tried to apply a thin layer of solder over the cable so it wouldn't fray.It didn't work-it just broke off in little pieces when I tried to cut off the frayed end.I tore off the clutch cable & threw it against the wall.It kinda made a snapping noise.

 

[fetor56]

Generally speaking price is proportional to quality with these kits,but ALL of your problems can be overcome with time/patience/money.Take one problem at a time a do a search here to see if it's been covered before......VERY few topics havn't been covered before atleast in some form or other.
Don't get mad,get even.

PS..please get back to us with problems u can't solve or require assistance with.

 

[h3ch4]

I know how you feel, bigfoot. After the second time I took off the clutch cable, it had frayed so badly that I did exactly the same thing-- I chucked it across the room. However, it landed next to the front deraileur cable and shifter lever that I had taken off to get the motor to mount. I decided to give it a try.

Incredibly, the rusty old cable holds together much better than the new-ish looking ones that are included with the kit! Toss out the pot-metal clutch lever, too; that broke on my first run. I used the shifter lever instead. The shifter is much more responsive than the stock clutch lever, which was kind of difficult to pull in.

Let us know what you do!

 

[Large Filipino]

Here's what I do when threading a frayed cable to that tiny tiny hole.

Get a good cable cutter and cut the cable at an extreme angle.

Then when you thread it in that tiny hole,thread it one little wire at a time starting with the longest wire.

Take your time,step back,breathe in breath out,wax on wax off then try again.

If your stuck on one or three little wires that won't go in,then cut each little wire back in different lenghts. then as your wiggling that wire clamp down thread the wire one at a time.

You'll get it.

Focus power.

Master the Kung Fu.

 

[azbill]

I use a teflon coated brake cable from my LBS
try this trick...it works great...no more threading the cable thru the stop
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=6249&highlight=clutch+cable

thanks again Augi, this is a cool trick

 

[Bigfoot]

Ok.A good nights sleep made a difference.I'm ready to try again
I know that price is proportionate to quality & all that stuff- I'm fine w/that-it's a really cool little engine. It's just that I'm just learning about the mechanical aspects of things, & sometimes I lack patience I'll probably end up getting this fizzer running, or I'll completely destroy it in the process.I consider myself "mechanically declined" rather than mechanically inclined (there's a Far Side or Herman joke about that somewhere).

Here's what I did:

1)I bought an inner brake cable for a regular ol' mountain bike.
2)I found the origional clutch cable that I threw across the room, & took off the outer sheathing, which was just the right length.(The throttle cable however, is way too long-maybe I can loop it around something).
3)I took the end of the brake cable, & filed off the thingy on the end of the brake cable where it goes through the thingy on the engine, by running the cable back & forth along the edge of a large file, right near the ball end I need cut off, carefully-not too much pressure as to avoid the fraying again.I took my time & let the file do the work.It frayed slightly, but it was workable as long as I was careful.
4) I carefully fed the adjustment screw,sheathing, & bigger spring from the origional clutch cable over the new brake cable.
5) I fed this through the thingy on the engine, then fed the extra cable through the clutch arm, followed by the little spring, then the brass end thingamajig w/the screw to keep the clutch arm in the right spot.I didn't tighten it yet however.
6) I pulled out all the slack from the lever end & simultaniously held the clutch lever in the straight back position so that when I pull the clutch lever,the clutch arm moves as well, & doesn't just pull cable slack).
7) I tightly screwed in the brass thingy that keeps the clutch arm in the right place.

Now it works! When I pull the clutch lever, I can feel it catching something in the shaft area of the engine.It seems that screwing things up, taking it all apart & then putting it together again is an important part of the learning process.

I still don't understand how it all works though, as far as pedalling/engaging the engine-I don't have the chain on yet, & the engine sprocket for the chain doesn't turn-clutch or no clutch, so I'm kinda confused

Thanks for the tips so far everyone.I would NEVER be able to do this w/out this place.I find so many cool little tips by reading all the threads.I am however a little concerned about adding more threads that push back the good ones, but I couldn't find a single one about the simple, yet frustrating problem of frayed cables.
How about moving the really great threads to a permanent-thread engine tech area, or weeding out the ancient ones that aren't contributing any good info?

 

[fetor56]

Glad u got it done...amazing what a good night sleep and a different attitude can bring.
Personally i find it's not the best idea for me to work on something when i'm tired or in a bad mood...Grrr.......things tend to break.
This may help for the next time u have it disassembled.
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=6249

 

[h3ch4]

To get the engine sprocket to turn, use the included wrench tool to turn the sprocket. Remember to take the spark plug out first, else you'll be struggling against the compression. It should turn fairly easily.

 

[mickey]

It seems that screwing things up, taking it all apart & then putting it together again is an important part of the learning process.

Word. Alas, truer word were never spoken.

 

[Alaskavan]

When the cheap ill conceived stuff breaks, replace it with high quality stuff. Eventually, you'll have it all together. (That's not how I do it, but I am mechanically inclined, so I get away with using baling wire.)