[dodgerdad]

Here's an update to my saga. I sent the carbs to ducatiman (while I adjusted the valves) and he found the sync to be a little off and bad fuel float heights. He did a complete cleaning and service and promptly shipped them back.

12/1/2018:
The good: The bike certainly benefited from the valve adjustment and carb tuning, it even sounds much better. I took it for a 10 mile spin on suburban streets and found the throttle response to be very smooth & crisp. Acceleration and overall cruising felt much more responsive.

The bad: It fired up fine but after about a minute I closed the choke and it idled pretty crappy until it was at FULL operating temperature. RPM's would hang a little on deceleration and rev's fluctuated a tiny bit. Once It got up to temp, I adjusted the idle speed to 1700. Riding around town I encountered the exact same issue from before where it would idle at 1700 or 1100, one or the other. The tach needle didn't fluctuate much but I'd be at a stop and SOMETIMES the idle would just drop to 1100. Other times I'd come to a stop and it would be at 1700, whereas other times I'd stop and it would be at 1100. I'd estimate a lower idle was present about 25% of the time, mostly it ran at the desired 1700.

I've only adjusted the idle and haven't touched the mixture or sync screws. It ran without stalling so I might have to learn to live with it though I'm worried about riding it in the local mountains where the altitude may exaggerate the symptoms. Ducatiman suggested a carb sync should help eliminate the ongoing problem.

Update (12/5/2018):
I planned to sync the carbs this afternoon but when I went to fire it up to ride/warm-up it took a good 5 minutes to get it started. It ran horrible. Instead of riding it I "helped" it idle until it reached operating temp. At that point it idled but the tach needle was fluctuating and when I gave the throttle a quick acceleration it either bogged down or it stalled out. Needless to say I I'm in the same boat.

I expect to have time Friday/Saturday to "aid" it to operating temp and attempt to sync the carbs. I must admit I'm almost at the end of the line. If The sync doesn't prove 100% I'll drop it off at a local shop for a diagnosis. If they can't track it down for a reasonable price my ninjette will be making an appearance on craigslist by year end.

To be continued...