Sorry about the thread-jack, karate..
Hey man, I understand entirely.
OK you have two cables, one is the throttle return cable. The problem with running a crappy RETURN cable is that you do not have smooth throttle operation. Rather than the springs doing the work, your wrist is.
This is what I needed to hear. It sounds like the B cable is only worth having if it is in good condition.
I could buy some NOS OEM parts I found, but I don't know that it would fit the bars that came with my bike, as it looks to have been modded at some point for taller bars. Anyone know where is best to go for OEM or OEM-style bars? Have an ebay search out but no luck so far.
Also, unless I'm mistaken about this, it looks like the original owner was using a lighter return spring in a weird place (was attached under a bolt on the frame), so I'll have to replace the return spring as well. What a weird dude.
This is definitely taking more effort than I expected, but I won't pretend that it's not rewarding. Plus, I'm getting to know this bike better than I know my own friends.