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I'm going to skip the backstory of why I have tried three different throttles on my 06 Sporty and get right to the meat and potatoes: how do they compare?
WHISKEY
First I tried the Biltwell Whiskey throttle. I had reservations about spending $100 on something I usually pull from my spare parts pile, but this time I didn't have any vintage spares, so I took the plunge.
Here's what I like about the Whiskey:
- The ferrules - Any cable works! This is a great concept. Literally any year Harley throttle cable will work with this. And there are a lot of differences over the years: Early style single cable, 1/4" screw in for butterfly carbs, later style 5/16 screw in for CV carbs, even later style clip in for CV carbs, and probably some that I'm missing. This throttle will work with any of them.
- The throttle stop pin - There is a lateral pin across the front of the throttle housing that acts as a stop. The throttle tube stops/rests against it when in its forwardmost position. You've heard that the Whisky Throttle is "snappy?" This is why. It sounds and feels great when the throttle snaps forward against that pin.
- It's made by Biltwell - USA, California based company. I've always had good luck with the company and their products.
Here's what I don't like about the Whisky:
- It's manufactured in China. - I wish this was actually made in America, especially with the $100 price tag.
- The housing is cast - I wish this was billet. When I got it in my hand for the first time, I couldn't help but feel like it was a little cheap... or something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't think "holy shit, this is an amazing piece!"
How does it perform?
It's very easy to get on the bars. Pop in the correct ferrule, install it like you would any other throttle. If you're not an idiot, you know how to do this. I popped it on, finger tightened everything, and it felt great. Whoo, that snap! But that's where the fun ended. Once I made everything wrist-tight, the throttle wouldn't move. WTF? I went through the installation process about 5 times, and tried it on three different bars, same thing. Bullshit, I returned it through Amazon, sent Biltwell an email, and ordered the Joker Machine throttle. Honestly, at this point I was pissed off, and very let down.
A week later, I got a response from Biltwell, apologizing for their delay in response, apologizing for the faulty product (confirming they had other people having the same problem, lately), and that a replacement was already in the mail, and that the replacement was tested in-house to ensure that it worked smoothly.
A day or two later (it was fast) the new throttle was on my doorstep. I was really excited to get this one on. Unfortunately, I had the same problem. It was NOT as bad as the first one. I could go half wrist tight and it was still pretty snappy. But wrist tight caused binding again. Not as bad. It only caught towards the rear of the throttle, but it still did, and I don't like that. Not on my throttle. This time, however, I was determined to figure out why. And I did:
See that gap? When the throttle is tightened down, the gap becomes more pronounced. This misaligns the interior of the housing, in which the tube rides, and causes the tube to rub against the housing. I can only surmise that the casting is bad... that the hole in which the bar rests is not straight.
I tried everything a shade-tree mechanic could do to alleviate this: honing the inside of the throttle housing, sanding down the powder coating on the bars, not tightening it as much... all of which HELPED, but did not complete fix the issue. It's worth noting that I am not tightening the throttle with an iron fist, only enough so that I cannot grab the housing and rotate it around my bar. If I tried really hard, I could set it to just spot so that it would just BARELY bind, but I wasn't comfortable with that. With vibrations, etc, that perfect set could change, and my shit could bind up while lane-splitting CA traffic. It's also worth noting that I did not have this problem at ALL with the other two throttles.
JOKER MACHINE
Next up, the JM JK throttle. Right out of the box, I loved this piece. Here's why:
- Made in the USA-
- Excellent Billet Machining - The piece felt great in my hand. Top and bottom matched perfectly, it felt heavier than the Whiskey throttle, the powder coating was thick and strong... it just felt good.
- Option for cruise control - A nice option if you are ever going to hit the open roads.
What I don't like about it:
- Cruise control costs extra - At $75 for the housing alone, the cruise control should be included; not an extra $25.
How did it perform?
Unfortunately, this was another non-starter. My brand new, correct size throttle cable had way too much travel, but only when using this throttle housing. (Two others are fine, and in comparison to my original OEM cable, this is the right size). Kinda weird, right? Even adjusted all thew way out, there was still about a half inch of free-play in the throttle. It wasn't hard to figure out why: Remember that awesome throttle stop pin I mentioned in discussion of the biltwell throttle? That pin stops the tube from rotating all the way forward the throttle, so that when the Whiskey is in its forwardmost position, it's still taking up about an inch of cable slack. This has nothing like that. As a result, the housing can rotate forward to the point that the ferrule is almost completely retracted to the cable. Hard to explain, I hope that made sense?
Here's another illustration. This throttle does the same thing:
When the throttle rotated forward, the ferrule is still retracted a bit, taking up about 3/4" of free play.
JM was super nice on the phone about this. They didn't have any advice, except to order a custom cable. I don't want to do that. Next.
Cheap $12 Chinese Throttle
If you've ever seen a chopped bike, you've seen this throttle. It's $12, made in China, and on half the chops you see. It even has an OEM replacement part number.
What I like about it:
- Price - $12? You can't beat it.
- Cruise Control - At no extra cost!
- General Appearance - It' a classic. Shape and size are fine.
What I don't like about it
- Looks and Quality - It's cheap casting, chrome is shitty, included hardware is crappy philips screws, cruise control knob is huge and ugly
- Made in China -
How did it perform?
Here's the best part: It works fine. Scratch that - it works GREAT. It bolted on without any problems. None. It's snappy. It feels great. Fuck everything, when you consider the price difference, I LOVE this throttle. Sure, the chrome blows, and the philips screws are shit, but I can replace the screws with SS socket heads and scotch brite the chrome. That's an extra $1 and 5 minutes of work, far cheaper and less time consuming than the time I spent trying to install either of the high-dollar throttles. And honestly, I really like the way it looks on my scoot. More than I thought I would.
The winner is: China. I wish it was made in the USA, and I wish I was supporting the chopper community by purchasing it, but fuck it man, I tried. This piece is cheap and works great.
If anyone wants the whiskey throttle ALMOST FOR FREE, it's theirs. I'm not going to use it, and I'm not going to sell it, because I kinda got it for free. Maybe it will work for you? Everyone else seems to love it. PM me if you want it, but you have to give me something in return to make my trip to the post office and shipping costs worth it. Maybe you'll send me some tequila, or some dope stickers, a chopper mag, or whatever.
I also want to note that I think that JM and Biltwell are great companies. I will continue to support them and buy their products.
Hope you enjoyed reading, and that the info helps some people out.
WHISKEY
First I tried the Biltwell Whiskey throttle. I had reservations about spending $100 on something I usually pull from my spare parts pile, but this time I didn't have any vintage spares, so I took the plunge.
Here's what I like about the Whiskey:
- The ferrules - Any cable works! This is a great concept. Literally any year Harley throttle cable will work with this. And there are a lot of differences over the years: Early style single cable, 1/4" screw in for butterfly carbs, later style 5/16 screw in for CV carbs, even later style clip in for CV carbs, and probably some that I'm missing. This throttle will work with any of them.
- The throttle stop pin - There is a lateral pin across the front of the throttle housing that acts as a stop. The throttle tube stops/rests against it when in its forwardmost position. You've heard that the Whisky Throttle is "snappy?" This is why. It sounds and feels great when the throttle snaps forward against that pin.
- It's made by Biltwell - USA, California based company. I've always had good luck with the company and their products.
Here's what I don't like about the Whisky:
- It's manufactured in China. - I wish this was actually made in America, especially with the $100 price tag.
- The housing is cast - I wish this was billet. When I got it in my hand for the first time, I couldn't help but feel like it was a little cheap... or something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't think "holy shit, this is an amazing piece!"
How does it perform?
It's very easy to get on the bars. Pop in the correct ferrule, install it like you would any other throttle. If you're not an idiot, you know how to do this. I popped it on, finger tightened everything, and it felt great. Whoo, that snap! But that's where the fun ended. Once I made everything wrist-tight, the throttle wouldn't move. WTF? I went through the installation process about 5 times, and tried it on three different bars, same thing. Bullshit, I returned it through Amazon, sent Biltwell an email, and ordered the Joker Machine throttle. Honestly, at this point I was pissed off, and very let down.
A week later, I got a response from Biltwell, apologizing for their delay in response, apologizing for the faulty product (confirming they had other people having the same problem, lately), and that a replacement was already in the mail, and that the replacement was tested in-house to ensure that it worked smoothly.
A day or two later (it was fast) the new throttle was on my doorstep. I was really excited to get this one on. Unfortunately, I had the same problem. It was NOT as bad as the first one. I could go half wrist tight and it was still pretty snappy. But wrist tight caused binding again. Not as bad. It only caught towards the rear of the throttle, but it still did, and I don't like that. Not on my throttle. This time, however, I was determined to figure out why. And I did:
See that gap? When the throttle is tightened down, the gap becomes more pronounced. This misaligns the interior of the housing, in which the tube rides, and causes the tube to rub against the housing. I can only surmise that the casting is bad... that the hole in which the bar rests is not straight.
I tried everything a shade-tree mechanic could do to alleviate this: honing the inside of the throttle housing, sanding down the powder coating on the bars, not tightening it as much... all of which HELPED, but did not complete fix the issue. It's worth noting that I am not tightening the throttle with an iron fist, only enough so that I cannot grab the housing and rotate it around my bar. If I tried really hard, I could set it to just spot so that it would just BARELY bind, but I wasn't comfortable with that. With vibrations, etc, that perfect set could change, and my shit could bind up while lane-splitting CA traffic. It's also worth noting that I did not have this problem at ALL with the other two throttles.
JOKER MACHINE
Next up, the JM JK throttle. Right out of the box, I loved this piece. Here's why:
- Made in the USA-
- Excellent Billet Machining - The piece felt great in my hand. Top and bottom matched perfectly, it felt heavier than the Whiskey throttle, the powder coating was thick and strong... it just felt good.
- Option for cruise control - A nice option if you are ever going to hit the open roads.
What I don't like about it:
- Cruise control costs extra - At $75 for the housing alone, the cruise control should be included; not an extra $25.
How did it perform?
Unfortunately, this was another non-starter. My brand new, correct size throttle cable had way too much travel, but only when using this throttle housing. (Two others are fine, and in comparison to my original OEM cable, this is the right size). Kinda weird, right? Even adjusted all thew way out, there was still about a half inch of free-play in the throttle. It wasn't hard to figure out why: Remember that awesome throttle stop pin I mentioned in discussion of the biltwell throttle? That pin stops the tube from rotating all the way forward the throttle, so that when the Whiskey is in its forwardmost position, it's still taking up about an inch of cable slack. This has nothing like that. As a result, the housing can rotate forward to the point that the ferrule is almost completely retracted to the cable. Hard to explain, I hope that made sense?
Here's another illustration. This throttle does the same thing:
When the throttle rotated forward, the ferrule is still retracted a bit, taking up about 3/4" of free play.
JM was super nice on the phone about this. They didn't have any advice, except to order a custom cable. I don't want to do that. Next.
Cheap $12 Chinese Throttle
If you've ever seen a chopped bike, you've seen this throttle. It's $12, made in China, and on half the chops you see. It even has an OEM replacement part number.
What I like about it:
- Price - $12? You can't beat it.
- Cruise Control - At no extra cost!
- General Appearance - It' a classic. Shape and size are fine.
What I don't like about it
- Looks and Quality - It's cheap casting, chrome is shitty, included hardware is crappy philips screws, cruise control knob is huge and ugly
- Made in China -
How did it perform?
Here's the best part: It works fine. Scratch that - it works GREAT. It bolted on without any problems. None. It's snappy. It feels great. Fuck everything, when you consider the price difference, I LOVE this throttle. Sure, the chrome blows, and the philips screws are shit, but I can replace the screws with SS socket heads and scotch brite the chrome. That's an extra $1 and 5 minutes of work, far cheaper and less time consuming than the time I spent trying to install either of the high-dollar throttles. And honestly, I really like the way it looks on my scoot. More than I thought I would.
The winner is: China. I wish it was made in the USA, and I wish I was supporting the chopper community by purchasing it, but fuck it man, I tried. This piece is cheap and works great.
If anyone wants the whiskey throttle ALMOST FOR FREE, it's theirs. I'm not going to use it, and I'm not going to sell it, because I kinda got it for free. Maybe it will work for you? Everyone else seems to love it. PM me if you want it, but you have to give me something in return to make my trip to the post office and shipping costs worth it. Maybe you'll send me some tequila, or some dope stickers, a chopper mag, or whatever.
I also want to note that I think that JM and Biltwell are great companies. I will continue to support them and buy their products.
Hope you enjoyed reading, and that the info helps some people out.
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