I got the G2 Ergonomics Throttle Tamer for Yamaha bikes today, along with a pair of the Domino Strada grips. It took only a few days to get here, pretty quick delivery. The cost for everything was a little over $100, with shipping. I wasn't really ready to do any mods to the bike (waiting on new tires) but as the parts were sitting there, I had to dive in and do it.
The throttle tube was very easy to install; I just greased the cable ends and nothing else. G2 says the CNC aluminum tube has its own plastic bushings which never need lubrication so I left them alone. The tube itself, made in USA, is of first-rate manufacture and fit perfectly. It's a big upgrade over the plastic part provided by Yamaha.
One thing to note is that the throttle cable will be quite loose after installation because of the slope of the throttle cam, so that'll need to be adjusted to remove the play. My bike's got just over 8,000 miles and this adjustment used up most all of the cable barrel adjuster's play, so I'll need to pop the tank and readjust the throttle cables at the throttle body to put things right, but that's a job for another slow day.
The grips went on easily. I safety-wired the throttle grip just to be sure it wouldn't slip, but this turned out to be unnecessary. The rubber material used for the grips does not need glue and has a very high coefficient of friction against a clean handlebar. The grips are not quite as thick as the stockers, but proved to be excellent replacements; they look great and provide a lot of traction with a decent amount of comfort.
I put in about 120 miles of riding, mostly tight to medium-speed canyons, and about 40 miles of freeway, with some lane-splitting.
The redesign of the cam very definitely changes the ratio of throttle opening to twistgrip movement. This takes place in about the first third of the rotation. The throttle remains a 1/4-turn design, it's just the first third that is modified.
What G2 has done has basically given the bike a "B" mode through mechanical means rather than through the ECU. I could immediately tell the difference in throttle pickup. It is much easier to modulate the throttle off-idle, which makes it easier to launch the bike from a stop (as in traffic) since the bottom end can be controlled that much better. You get a lot more motion of the grip in order to better fine-tune throttle-to-clutch. This also proved very helpful in shifting, as it was much easier to match RPM for downshifts and upshifts. This was an unexpected benefit but proved itself true over and over again during the ride.
Another unexpected bonus of this upgrade was during steady-state freeway drones. At freeway speed, of say, 65 mph in traffic, the throttle was just about 2/3 of the way into the recammed portion of its travel (that's about 1/4 open on the twistgrip). This recammed area allows much less sensitive control at normal road speeds of 65 mph or so, and bumps in the pavement don't cause the bike to lurch nearly as much as with the stock throttle. This also proved to be a true rideability improvement, making extended hauls on the freeway less fatiguing. A lighter grip was possible on the throttle because of this larger "band" of control for cruising speed.
The main reason most riders want this product is to soften the snap or lurch when picking up the throttle, especially while cranked over in a turn. A sudden lurch at lean can be unsettling at best, and can cause a loss of traction or other handling issue at worst (even a crash), so smoothing out this EFI gremlin is a good thing.
I started riding over 30 years ago, and CV (constant velocity) carbs were the thing. These carbs, when set up right, had almost no driveline snap due to their basic design.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyspAHrMbb8"]CV Carburetor - YouTube[/ame]
The vacuum slide tamed the carb naturally because it was the slide, not the butterfly, that actually controlled air/fuel flow into the engine.
These days, with EFI and emissions concerns, it takes a powerful ECU processor and very good fuel injection design to iron out the lurchiness inherent in EFI motorcycles. Some have superb fueling/throttle response, and most of these tend to cost around $15,000 or more. Even bikes costing this kind of money often have terrible fueling issues, so it's not always about the money. Basically, it IS possible to design a great system, but cost concerns or bad design can ruin a bike's throttle response.
The FZ8 is a midrange bike in terms of cost and it has a decent ECU and average-to-problematic throttle response in terms of smooth pickup. So anything we can do to make it better is a good thing.
I had my ECU reflashed by Guhls, and removing the ignition timing restriction made the bike a lot faster in the first three gears. Guhls also makes the secondary throttles open more aggressively, which can make the lurchiness worse. However they do change the A/F ratio to soften this up a bit, but overall, I'd say that the reflash -- while it made the bike a lot more fun to ride -- only improved the lurchiness of the EFI marginally.
This is where the Throttle Tamer picks up the slack, literally. I found it made a huge difference in cracking the throttle back on, particularly in tight turns (first and second gear). I rode hundreds of turns like this on my test ride, and felt that the Throttle Tamer mimicked a well-tuned CV-carbureted bike (I've owned and built/tuned many of these). The thing worked so well that I was able to ride some roads in first gear with great control; in fact, it was so smooth and controllable that I tried on one occasion to downshift to first for a particular turn, and realized I was already in first gear. It was that smooth.
This thing does exactly what it's supposed to do, and made my bike, at least, a hell of a lot more fun to ride. It's easier to ride fast, especially in the tight stuff, and it's also less fatiguing and easier to control in traffic and on the freeway.
There are actually four areas that benefit equally from installing this thing:
1. Much smoother throttle pickup, similar to a good set of CV carbs.
2. Much easier to control off-idle, whilst leaving a stoplight or maneuvering.
3. Much smoother when downshifting as it's easier to match engine RPM.
4. Far less "bouncing" and inadvertent lurching while riding at steady freeway speeds.
I highly recommend it.
The throttle tube was very easy to install; I just greased the cable ends and nothing else. G2 says the CNC aluminum tube has its own plastic bushings which never need lubrication so I left them alone. The tube itself, made in USA, is of first-rate manufacture and fit perfectly. It's a big upgrade over the plastic part provided by Yamaha.
One thing to note is that the throttle cable will be quite loose after installation because of the slope of the throttle cam, so that'll need to be adjusted to remove the play. My bike's got just over 8,000 miles and this adjustment used up most all of the cable barrel adjuster's play, so I'll need to pop the tank and readjust the throttle cables at the throttle body to put things right, but that's a job for another slow day.
The grips went on easily. I safety-wired the throttle grip just to be sure it wouldn't slip, but this turned out to be unnecessary. The rubber material used for the grips does not need glue and has a very high coefficient of friction against a clean handlebar. The grips are not quite as thick as the stockers, but proved to be excellent replacements; they look great and provide a lot of traction with a decent amount of comfort.
I put in about 120 miles of riding, mostly tight to medium-speed canyons, and about 40 miles of freeway, with some lane-splitting.
The redesign of the cam very definitely changes the ratio of throttle opening to twistgrip movement. This takes place in about the first third of the rotation. The throttle remains a 1/4-turn design, it's just the first third that is modified.
What G2 has done has basically given the bike a "B" mode through mechanical means rather than through the ECU. I could immediately tell the difference in throttle pickup. It is much easier to modulate the throttle off-idle, which makes it easier to launch the bike from a stop (as in traffic) since the bottom end can be controlled that much better. You get a lot more motion of the grip in order to better fine-tune throttle-to-clutch. This also proved very helpful in shifting, as it was much easier to match RPM for downshifts and upshifts. This was an unexpected benefit but proved itself true over and over again during the ride.
Another unexpected bonus of this upgrade was during steady-state freeway drones. At freeway speed, of say, 65 mph in traffic, the throttle was just about 2/3 of the way into the recammed portion of its travel (that's about 1/4 open on the twistgrip). This recammed area allows much less sensitive control at normal road speeds of 65 mph or so, and bumps in the pavement don't cause the bike to lurch nearly as much as with the stock throttle. This also proved to be a true rideability improvement, making extended hauls on the freeway less fatiguing. A lighter grip was possible on the throttle because of this larger "band" of control for cruising speed.
The main reason most riders want this product is to soften the snap or lurch when picking up the throttle, especially while cranked over in a turn. A sudden lurch at lean can be unsettling at best, and can cause a loss of traction or other handling issue at worst (even a crash), so smoothing out this EFI gremlin is a good thing.
I started riding over 30 years ago, and CV (constant velocity) carbs were the thing. These carbs, when set up right, had almost no driveline snap due to their basic design.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyspAHrMbb8"]CV Carburetor - YouTube[/ame]
The vacuum slide tamed the carb naturally because it was the slide, not the butterfly, that actually controlled air/fuel flow into the engine.
These days, with EFI and emissions concerns, it takes a powerful ECU processor and very good fuel injection design to iron out the lurchiness inherent in EFI motorcycles. Some have superb fueling/throttle response, and most of these tend to cost around $15,000 or more. Even bikes costing this kind of money often have terrible fueling issues, so it's not always about the money. Basically, it IS possible to design a great system, but cost concerns or bad design can ruin a bike's throttle response.
The FZ8 is a midrange bike in terms of cost and it has a decent ECU and average-to-problematic throttle response in terms of smooth pickup. So anything we can do to make it better is a good thing.
I had my ECU reflashed by Guhls, and removing the ignition timing restriction made the bike a lot faster in the first three gears. Guhls also makes the secondary throttles open more aggressively, which can make the lurchiness worse. However they do change the A/F ratio to soften this up a bit, but overall, I'd say that the reflash -- while it made the bike a lot more fun to ride -- only improved the lurchiness of the EFI marginally.
This is where the Throttle Tamer picks up the slack, literally. I found it made a huge difference in cracking the throttle back on, particularly in tight turns (first and second gear). I rode hundreds of turns like this on my test ride, and felt that the Throttle Tamer mimicked a well-tuned CV-carbureted bike (I've owned and built/tuned many of these). The thing worked so well that I was able to ride some roads in first gear with great control; in fact, it was so smooth and controllable that I tried on one occasion to downshift to first for a particular turn, and realized I was already in first gear. It was that smooth.
This thing does exactly what it's supposed to do, and made my bike, at least, a hell of a lot more fun to ride. It's easier to ride fast, especially in the tight stuff, and it's also less fatiguing and easier to control in traffic and on the freeway.
There are actually four areas that benefit equally from installing this thing:
1. Much smoother throttle pickup, similar to a good set of CV carbs.
2. Much easier to control off-idle, whilst leaving a stoplight or maneuvering.
3. Much smoother when downshifting as it's easier to match engine RPM.
4. Far less "bouncing" and inadvertent lurching while riding at steady freeway speeds.
I highly recommend it.
