Cheers chaps,
petrol seems to not have rotted the grip and has got rid of slippyness, and wd-40 in side the cover has done the trick, it obviously just been sitting in the garage to long, but it's been a bit too snowy to go out until yesterday.
On the plus side, not riding for a few weeks makes the SD seem even more awesome than usual, even with a sticky throttle,
thanks for the help
dan