First Post 2006 Bad Idle and Throttle Reponse

[blacknight]

I'm having some issues working out the air/fuel mixture. I just bought the bike used, the guy I bought it from said it he didn't drive it that often and that the choke was touchy. It didn't have the best idle but it ran and sounded pretty good. I figured draining the gas and cleaning the carbs would have fixed the problem, but since I've started tinkering, it has only gotten worse. The issue is still a bad idle and touchy choke. I've included a video as to what exactly is going on here: http://youtu.be/9dcBb493n1w

So far I have:

-Gave it about a half can of seafoam
-New Battery
-Checked the spark plugs, which are clean
-Changed the oil
-Changed the oil filter
-Cleaned the air filter
-Carburetor overhaul following the (ninja wiki) page
-Readjusted the float bowls to 17mm
-Replaced float bowl gaskets
-Drilled out the mixture screws and reset them to the factory 2.5 turns.
-Put one #4 washer on the needle to shim it up a bit.
-Tried to do a carb sync using the 2 bottle method (ninja wiki) seemed stable, but bike was not fully warmed.

Another problem I have been seeing in the bike is the battery dying quickly. The new battery was charged fully and installed properly. I've been draining the float bowls, to get to the carbs a lot lately. Starting the engine with empty floats takes a long time with the starter. After doing this, the battery begins to die. It will get to the point where it cant start. I have to let it sit for a few minutes than the battery will seem recharged for the next few tries, and the pattern repeats. You can see in the video the headlight flickers on startup, is that normal?

[nrninja]

Have you checked/adjusted the valves? It could be effecting the idle, and it's never a bad idea to do after buying a used bike.

[blacknight]

Originally Posted by nrninja

Have you checked/adjusted the valves? It could be effecting the idle, and it's never a bad idea to do after buying a used bike.

This is what I was going to try next. I dont have the measuring tools so I was going to wait, I guess its time to get in there and find out. Although the bike only has 3k miles on it, and I've been reading you shouldnt adjust them till about 6-8k. Can you buy the measuring shims at autozone?

[nrninja]

This is what I was going to try next. I dont have the measuring tools so I was going to wait, I guess its time to get in there and find out. Although the bike only has 3k miles on it, and I've been reading you shouldnt adjust them till about 6-8k. Can you buy the measuring shims at autozone?

You should be able to and they're likely not more than $10. Make sure you get the right size (mm not inches!) feeler gauges.