Motorcycle Repair: Honda FT500 Carb Issues, honda ft500, wreckers

Question
Hi Christopher,
I have an FT500 Ascot and have been cleaning my carb. As I use the bike for a daily driver I sourced a spare from the wreckers. I cleaned and installed the spare carb which ran fine but was difficult to start. With the choke out I still had to give it throttle to run till warm. Once warm the idle was fine at 1200rpm. I cleaned and reinstalled the old carb which starts and runs fine. My question is what settings make the 2 carbs different. one needing throttle and choke and one coke only?

Answer
Hi Gordon.
 There could be a couple of things.  The choke could be set wrong on one of the carbs, the carbs could also be out of synch or one of the carbs may not be seated correctly.  There is also the possibility that the manifolds are leaking.

 Start by checking those and see what you find.

Good luck.
FALCON