1984 GL1200a Throttle cable issue

[daryooshers]

My throttle grip was basically acting like cruise control - would stay wherever you put it - now i’m looking into what was causing the problem.

there was a bunch of length pushed up in the front fairing area, and when i pulled the slack towards the rear of the bike, the throttle started working perfectly compared to before, only problem is now i have practically 12 inches of extra cable length. i believe the stock cables are supposed to be 47 or so inches, and to the best of my abilities mine measures the same.

from the grip to carbs, the cables follow the bars to the center of the frame just behind the steering neck, where they dive under the square black box (cdi i think) and come out on the left side of the air box area. however, from there the cables continue outwards and loop back to the carbs with lots of excess cable. what is going on???

[Shadowjack]

Standard throttle cable routing on most Hondas, at least, is to go around the front of the steering stem and down the left side. Gives a big loop in front so it doesn't tighten up when the bars are moved. Yours are wrong.

[daryooshers]

So the cable should not go into the frame under the black box? are there clip-type things in the front of the forks to hold the cable?

I circled the current routing in yellow and I drew in green what i take away from your description. do i have it right, the cables go all the way up front?

[Shadowjack]

Green is proper for a bike without cruise control. They enter the left triangular opening by the steering stem, then just run along the top tube and make the bend down to the carb end. You have to make the bend radii as few and as large as possible, or they bind.
I looked in my FSM for a routing drawing, because Honda has been putting one in most manuals, but there isn't one. The only reference to throttle cables is in the cruise control section, where they show them diving under the ignition box, but that was because there are two sets of short cables, with the servo in the middle. You have the "standard" too-long cables which is all we can get now, without making them ourselves.

[WingAdmin]

Green is proper for a bike without cruise control. They enter the left triangular opening by the steering stem, then just run along the top tube and make the bend down to the carb end. You have to make the bend radii as few and as large as possible, or they bind.
I looked in my FSM for a routing drawing, because Honda has been putting one in most manuals, but there isn't one. The only reference to throttle cables is in the cruise control section, where they show them diving under the ignition box, but that was because there are two sets of short cables, with the servo in the middle. You have the "standard" too-long cables which is all we can get now, without making them ourselves.

Shortening cables is definitely possible, and it's probably what I would do in your situation. First you heat up the slug at the end of the cable with a torch until the solder inside melts and it slips off the end of the cable. Then pull the cable out of the jacket. Next, I carefully uncrimp and pull the bushing from the end of the cable jacket. Then trim the exact same amount from the end of the cable jacket and the cable itself (very important!). Trim the cut end of the jacket so there are no sharp bits, and reinstall/recrimp the bushing end.

Then you slide the cable back into the jacket, put the slug on the newly cut end of the cable (I use a bit of rosin flux as well), and heat/solder it back in place.