Wanna hear something really stupid? Read the following explaination of the throttle by wire system on the new Vulcan 1700 Voyager.
So lemme get this straight. You connect the throttle cables to the throttle body, but instead of having them open and close the throttle blades, you instead connect them to a sensor that the ECU reads, and then let the ECU control a stepper motor to open and close them electronically. :-[
I suppose this might make it easier to implement a cruise control on the bike, but it sure seems like it would introduce many more potential failure points in the system.
Fully electronic throttle actuation system enables the ECU to control the volume of intake air (via throttle valve angle) and fuel (via fuel injector timing) delivered to the engine
• Optimized fuel injector timing and throttle valve position result in accurate, powerful engine response
• Control of both fuel injection and airflow provides easy starting and precise cold-engine idle speed control
• From the rider’s perspective, the ETV works like a standard cable-operated throttle; the throttle grip is still connected to cables, so the feel at the grip is the same
• Twisting the throttle turns a pulley on the throttle body which triggers the Accelerator Position Sensor (APS) to send a signal to the ECU, which then modulates the throttle valves via a DC motor
• Accurate throttle position is relayed to the ECU by a Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)
• APS and TPS send two sets of signals to the ECU for system redundancy in the unlikely event of a sensor failure
So lemme get this straight. You connect the throttle cables to the throttle body, but instead of having them open and close the throttle blades, you instead connect them to a sensor that the ECU reads, and then let the ECU control a stepper motor to open and close them electronically. :-[
I suppose this might make it easier to implement a cruise control on the bike, but it sure seems like it would introduce many more potential failure points in the system.