I’m not sure if you have the problem I do, but pretty much every ride that I do: I find my throttle hand cramping a lot, and it’s not like you can constantly keep stopping when you’re touring with a group. I can imagine that racers have this issue even more with the constant changes in throttle position during their events. Many times I’m doing the left hand throttle “reach over,” which can be dangerous in certain conditions. I also have very bad gout (severe arthritis) that has effected my throttle hand tremendously. That is why I was very excited to find the EZ Throttle.
EZ Throttle was invented in Okeechobee, Florida, by Ron Ripple, a PWC enthusiast who encountered this problem and created a solution. The EZ Throttle, according to it’s website, claims to be able to help keep the hand from cramping, allowing us to ride longer and have more fun. The installation is pretty easy and straight forward.
I picked up two, one for the Kawasaki 310LX and one for the Yamaha FX SHO. Although it is the same throttle for all models of PWC’s, the Yamaha has one longer set screw noted on the throttle by a red dot. I installed the EZ Throttle on both skis today in less than 20 minutes with minimal tools. All you need is a small ratcheting (socket) wrench with an adapter and 1/8-inch hex driver (or Allen wrench) and a 5/64” Allen wrench. Just remember that the EZ Throttle logo on the throttle faces in, not out and you will will be golden.
The EZ Throttle basically slips over your existing finger throttle taking it from approximately two inches to about five inches, which just about mirrors the length of your PWC hand grip. After the installation, I already knew it would make a difference even without riding the ski.
There is two distinct differences the EZ Throttle creates, first it now allows the rider to utilize all fingers versus just one or two. Secondly, as we learned about levers and pulleys in science, the longer the lever, the more leverage you have, which translates to less effort to squeeze and hold the original throttle. This just makes me more excited to get on the water!
This past weekend I had the opportunity to ride nearly 180 miles with the Jetski Junkies crew on the Suwannee River in Florida utilizing the new EZ Throttle. The EZ Throttle does take some getting use to, especially if you are a long time rider and extremely use to utilizing your index and middle fingers only. I found myself reverting back to just the two fingers and then when my hand started to hurt, remembering to move all my fingers up on to the EZ Throttle and then the pain subsided.
The only real quirk I encountered was the distance between the new EZ Throttle to the end of hand grip. The distance is quite a lot, so basically you use your original two fingers to squeeze the throttle and then slip your others fingers on the extension making for a much easier throttle squeeze by the outer fingers. I was having a hell of a lot of fun squeezing the EZ Throttle with just my pinky. The quirks are no big deal, and nothing a little self-retraining won’t fix.
The end result is that neither my hand or fingers cramped at all on the 180 miles we rode! I also wish to add that on Saturday the Air Temp averaged about 55 degrees with wind chill. Anyone with arthritic hands knows that cold is the worst, and even in those conditions, I never cramped up. The EZ Throttle has solved a problem for me, one I had been working on personally, and for $20 the value is 100-times over. If you are like me and have cramping and or arthritis in your hands, I highly recommend putting the EZ Throttle on your Christmas list.
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I need several of these asap!