I finally tried taking some of the annoying slack out of my throttle cable (I don't like that wobbly dead zone at the start of pedal travel). According to these instructions, there should be a small amount of slack in a properly adjusted cable; the slightly different instructions given here for reinstalling the cable will also give a slightly slack cable. Is there anything wrong with adjusting it a little tighter, so that there's no play in the pedal but the throttle still closes and opens fully at the extremes of pedal movement? I much prefer the feel with a hint of pre-load, but I could imagine that the constant tension (i.e. even when not being driven) could cause the cable to stretch a bit faster.