How long before your first chain tension adjustment.. and routine cable lubrication

[reaubideux]

First, with regard to my question concerning chain tension, I know that everyone's bike is different so I'm not looking to reach a consensus but perhaps to get some affirmation that I'm not crazy or perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

Warning: I'm a newb to both motorcycles and motorcycle maintenance and have a personality disorder where I tend to over think things and be rather paranoid. Both of these things may play into my thoughts in this post.

For those of you who've owned your bike since it was brand new, do you remember roughly how many miles it had when you first needed to adjust the chain tension do to it having too much slack?

I've been using the method of checking chain slack by using a piece of paper w/2 lines on it, 1" apart (the acceptable slack range as noted in the manual being .8" - 1.2" so split the difference). Got the idea from a video I found posted on Ninjette (somewhere, too lazy to find it right now) that demonstrated how to clean/lube/adjust the chain. I adjusted the slack when I did my 600 mile maintenance and in retrospect I know that I didn't need to adjust it b/c I did the tension check incorrectly so it was tightened when it really didn't need to be. Now, I'm at 3324 miles as of this evening, I just got done cleaning/lubing my chain and checking the tension (I do the clean/lube & tension check every 500 miles). Following the manual, I find the tightest point in the chain and measure it and in the 2700 miles I've put on since first (unnecessarily) adjusting it, I've yet to need to tighten the chain. There's a few spots where the chain is looser and it's right on that edge of being out-of-spec, but when I find the tightest point, it's still within the acceptable range of play.

Does going at least 2700 miles w/o needing to adjust the chain tension sound right to anyone else? Obviously, it's still measuring in the acceptable range so I don't feel the need to go out and loosen/tighten anything. I just figured that if the maintenance chart has me checking this every 600 miles that it's bound to be out-of-spec at least every other inspection but I'm on my 5th inspection and it's still fine.

Secondly, I read kkim's thread on lubing the clutch cable and that it really isn't a routine maintenance thing to keep it lubed so much as continually checking the play and lubing it as needed. Does anyone lube their clutch (and/or front brake cable) on any regular intervals? I was thinking about doing it every 5000 miles (or 6 months, whichever comes first) but wanted to get some opinions from those wiser than I as to if this was unnecessary or if my planned intervals were too far apart or too close together.

I appreciate any helpful info and input you guys can give.

[setasai]

I'm new as well and I only have 4700ish miles so far but I've already lubed up both throttle and clutch cable as well as lubed up the chain atleast 5+ times and checked chain slack atleast 3 times.

With that said, it's not because it was an interval thing but it was because once I got the bike I took it further and further and I wanted to make sure everything was running well. It also doesnt hurt to familiarize yourself with how the bike feels when everything is in PERFECT running order so that you know when something is off. On top of that, I've done a few mods at different times that required I check wheel alignment and chain slack and all the other fun stuff.

If you check it and it is in spec then move on. It's not so much that we expect it to go out of spec but we just want to catch it before it goes out of spec for too long just in case it causes other issues. Keep checking it and if it needs adjustment, fine, otherwise keep riding.