Just go over the nuts and bolts you can access. Brakes, axles, triple trees, engine mounts. I wouldn't bother to retorque everything; just check they are tight.

That sounds like a mistake at the factory. Bikes are shipped with the front wheel off but the front suspension in place. It's been a very long time (30 yrs) since I did set ups (remove bike from box and assemble) but I don't remember ever having 'check steering stem' as part of the checklist. Honda had a very detailed checklist that the mechanic had to sign off on.

 

Awesome advice! Thanks!

 

And check the nut regularly for 1k miles or so. I had a BMW steering stem nut loosen on me after replacing the steering stem bearings.

 

Other common failure points are the swingarm chain adjuster plates shattering, which there are a few theories about, but just replace them or have some spares on hand for peace of mind.

Next is the rear axle nut, has a daft locking nut that likes to jam on completely, so replace for a different locking style nut.

 

Those look like fun projects! Thanks!

 

Zoom in on this image I posted 4 years ago and you can see the steel nut that gets discarded and replaced with the aluminum one that's in the small bag taped to the end of the clutch lever.

 

Yes. This is the answer. ☝

When it's in the crate, there's a flat piece of metal that braces it to the crate cross-member at the top. When you take the bike out, the nut that holds that thing to he stem of the bike comes off and they screw on the nice one that comes with the bike. Maybe they just forgot to tighten it.

Also, that shipping nut has a hole in the center. It might be useful if you ever want to get a stem mounted phone holder or something like that. So if you have it, maybe hang on to it.