Weird, what have I done wrong ?

[west coast traveller]

Well, I've done the clearances again and taken my time with it.
The bike starts ok, and I can balance the throttle bodies up for idle until they're pretty much identical.
However they won't balance as nicely as it used to be whilst applying throttle (if that makes sense) One side, the left, always seeming to want to "open" first.
Once at a fixed RPM, say 3000 it will balance out spot on again.
But, it still still doesn't feel, or sound as smooth or nice as it did. It's driving me nuts.
The only thing I can think of (and I hardly dare ask) is, I had a young lad from down the road wanted to help, so with precise instructions I let him turn the engine with a spanner on the front. He had strict instructions on clockwise looking from the front, but still managed to get it wrong, and turned the engine the wrong way briefly.
Any chance that this has messed up the valve timing or anything? Is it something that happens on these ?
Or am I getting Paranoid.

Assuming your valve clearances are now ok, might be worth checking that both throttle body butterflies are both seating correctly i.e both cable wheels are seating against the stop screws at closed throttle. If not, could be worn/ sticking cables.

 

[Spud]

Right throttle body has a very sticky butterfly...
Freed it off a little tonight and it's like a different bike.
Tomorrow I'll take it off, clean it up and lube it.
Suggestions for type of lube to use ???

(Thanks for all the help so far, spot on advice......)

 

[Flipfly]

Wind the big brass screws out, blow some carb cleaner down their living space, little bit of red grease on the o rings on the big brass screws and try again to balance. Some times shit builds up it the airway making low speed balancing a pain. Make sure there is play at the cable end, this free play is what helps take out the difference in the throttle cables and ensures the throttle butterflies are all the way home at tick over.
Only other thing it to check the throttle tubes aren't leaking.

 

[Myke Rocks]

I never suffer problems like this

My bike has over 50,000 miles on it.
In that time I have never touched anything on it except annual engine oil & oil filter changes. Nothing. Nada.
Except occasional tyres and back brake pads with each rear tyre.
Saves the grief of shit like this.
Myke

 

[Riceburner]

One thing that can be worth checking is the threads on the throttle cable adjustment fittings. On my bike (Rockster with 110k+ miles) I found that the threads on the cable adjuster were worn almost off, so any adjustments made didn't stay put.

I ended up replacing the cables but prior to that I bodged it by slipping a small spacer* into the knurled cable adjust fitting, between the outer cable sheath and the fitting, so the adjustment had to be moved along the thread on the fitting to a decent patch.




* IIRC this was a small piece of plastic. Obviously it was small enough that the outer cable was still captured by the adjustment fitting 'cup'.