Motorcycle Repair: Honda wont start, sync tool, water in the fuel

Question
QUESTION: 1985 honda shadow 500. I bought it cheap, tuned it up, bought some missing peices and it was running great.
I was riding it one day and it stalled out of nowhere and didn't start again.
I got it started the next day but it would only idle, any gas and it would stall. It runs fine if I spray carb cleaner right into the carbs. Stuff I did so far:

Cleaned carbs from inside out OK
checked timing on both cyl. OK
Checked petcock OK

the spark plugs have carbon on them, I cleaned them.
Tonight I picked up a carb sync tool and I was going to use it, but now the bike won't even keep an idle. I need help!


ANSWER: Jesse,
Still sounds like some plugged jets in the carb,
probably the main jet, usually near the centre of
the carb. If it is plugged hard you may need
to use a small object to clear it out, like a needle.
Is the gas fresh? Could be some water in the fuel.
If it runs when you spray carb cleaner in, that is a clue that you are not getting enough gas or that you have a major
air leak on the intake somewhere.
The main jet handles the fuel delivery above idling,
that is why it might idle even if the jet was plugged.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The gas is fresh, I actually found a small piece of rubber stuck in one of the carbs. I got it out last night and put it all back together and put it on the bike today. You can hear it runs better, but it still wont keep an idle unless carb cleaner is squirted into the top.

The carb bowls are full, cause I can drain them. So the carbs are getting gas but the gas isn't getting out of the bowls I guess. The only other thing I can think of is double checking the tube connecting the carb to the cyl. Cause they weren't easy to get on at all. Any other thoughts? Thanks for the input.

Answer
Any intake air leak will give you a bad idle.
If you found rubber in the carb it sounds
like your gas line is bad. It will keep
plugging up carb jets if so. You might
want to get an inline gas filter also.
Did you remove all the carb jets and blow
them out or make sure they are clear with
some small wire (guitar string)?
You can use some silicone spray or even
armor-all to make the rubber tubes easier
to slide on.
Check the spark plugs to make sure they are
not fouled, sometimes that's all the problem.