I was doing a seasonal intimate inspection of the bike motor when I noticed the routing of the clutch cable.
there is a plastic clip which secures it to a metal pipe but nevertheless with the turn of the handle bar, this moves up and down. I noticed the clutch cable resting against what I think is the an oil metal hose and has melted where the two tough.
wondering if this is a common occurrence and how resilient the cable is to this?

From what you say my understanding is the PVC coating of the couch cable is melted. This is not a problem for the cable itself although on a long run will let water in and will eventually corrode the cable itself causing difficult operation and at the end failure. But this is rather long prices. Just be vigilant for "hardening" in operation. If moving becomes difficult -replace

__________________
that is how i feel about my XTR
Mods so far:
Hyperpro front springs; Hyperpro rear shock spring; modified air box; LED tail light; LED indicators + new relay; YZ pegs; Lucas aluminum bar; brisk spark plug; snorkel removed; DNA stage 1; second hand DynoJet O2 mod; crash bars; front and rear steel braided brake lines; soft EBC brake pads; mitas 07 tyres, 2in1 Metal Mule exhaust, Blocked AIS, tall OEM screen, OTR bash plate

yes assen you got it right.
just been a a dealer to check their new xtr and it is the same.
long term the clutch cable outer melts in two spots and also there is quite a bit of rubbing of the actual plastic clip against the metal oil pipe made worse by the bikes vibey nature.
the only i can think f now is to put a rubber hose on the outside of the clutch cable (of the right lenght and in the correct position and then put the clip on.
the result is the cable moves about a lot less and the new outer rubber hose stop direct contact between the cable and the oil pipes as well as reducing the rubbing

Yes, that would do the job and the rubber does not melt like the vinyl

__________________
that is how i feel about my XTR
Mods so far:
Hyperpro front springs; Hyperpro rear shock spring; modified air box; LED tail light; LED indicators + new relay; YZ pegs; Lucas aluminum bar; brisk spark plug; snorkel removed; DNA stage 1; second hand DynoJet O2 mod; crash bars; front and rear steel braided brake lines; soft EBC brake pads; mitas 07 tyres, 2in1 Metal Mule exhaust, Blocked AIS, tall OEM screen, OTR bash plate

after the rubber hose experiment, I managed to source black silicon tube 10mm diam and 1mm thich which I cut to length and slid over the clutch cable.
This now looks like a proper "yamaha original" sleeve!

Now let's see how much long term protection it gives