Seems he was trying to shove everything all together all at once: boots, carbs, airbox. That's going to make things shift around unnecessarily regardless if it's pre-gen or new-gen.
On the new-gen bikes, removing battery-tray is easier, but not necessary at all. I've found unbolting airbox and sliding back 10mm is all that's needed. This allows you to pull carbs off boots. Then pull out left carb-boot from between head and carbs. This frees up enough space to slide carbs out left side (after removing cables and fairing/idle-speed-cable bracket).
Actually did this procedure 5x this last weekend when tracking down finicky carbs. Turned out I had a blade of grass in my float-bowls!!!