took the bike out for a quick ride today, i was at a stoplight, and i notice my idle is sounding a little funny...sure enough when the light turns green and i try to accelerate, my bike dies on me...i push it to the side and try firing it up again...no luck, i turned the choke on, bike fired up, rode a while with the choke on, and i got her back home...i ride her up and down my street a few times to see if it would happen again (choke off)and it did...anyone know whats wrong? and how much it would cost to fix?

BTW its like 30 degrees out today, i dunno if that makes a difference

Bad gas, low gas, dirty carbs ... maybe one of those...... whats your idle at?

when i was at the light it was under 1000...when itnormally isat about 1500

when i put the choke on the rpms go backup, but im not supposed to drive like that am i?

just going by your pic looks like you have an older carbed bike, they dont like the cold. plugs are prolly getting saturated and with the choke open the extra air helps keep the bike alive.

yea its a 98 f3...what should i do for her?

twist the knob for the idle abit more?
get it back to 1400rpm at idle after its warm

took the bike out for a quick test ride...choke on to start, let it warm up for a few minutes, took it down the street, same **** again...with the choke on, the bike moves, but the rpms didnt go over 5000...when ipulled into my garage, the bike smelled funny, and there was a tiny bit of smoke coming out the front...i went through the same ****ing bull**** after i bought my first used car, and i dont want to go through it with my first bike...is there something i can pour into my bike to make her better or do i have to sell my kidney to pay for some mechanic to fix it

Dude, don't ride around like that. Most likely a fuel issue as mentioned before, but check your plugs like the other poster mentioned, temp could play a roll in that too and could have them fouled. A little "HEAT" could work wonders on clearing your carb and strainer too.

Smoke isn't good, check your coolant level and oil level, make sure you have no mixing of the two as well.

Also, the smoke could be coming from your header, which would cause a "back pressure" issue that could be causing this all, make sure where the smoke is coming from.

bad carbs
bad fuel
bad sparkplugs
choose one :D

lets pretend that im completelymechanically challenged (and i mean that in the worst way possible)...how much would it cost me to have someone look at/fix any one of those problems?

Depends on how cool you're local dealership guys are. They may take a peak for free. If you don't have a shop like that around, or an experienced rider/mechanic you know to look for you, you may be paying hourly rates (around 65-75 an hour).