yes the two black tee's are fuel overflow just point the niples down and thats fine mine dont have anything running to them also ive been thinking about your problem and i think you might have some type of voltage drop in a piece of your electrical system. normaly it works the other way when the componet warms up it messes up but im sure it can work the other way too if i were you i woud use a multimeeter and check you voltage at your battery then check it at your starter they should be identical if they are not then you have a voltage drop somewhere in your system could be as simple as a bad ground or a faulty plug anyway start off by checking your voltage and let us know what you have at the bat. and at the starter.

 

I'm starting to think electrical also. One way many engineers and technicians troubleshoot electronics is to spray cooling liquid on a component. If the component changes how it works then there is a fault. I'm guessing the same issue. If there is a bad solder joint it will not work when cold because of shrinkage. And don't we all just hate shrinkage?

 

I got home from work today and just for grins I tried to start the bike. She's been sitting outside today and we had a high of 95 degrees F. It took a little bit of effort but she started after a while. What was weird is that I had to have the throttle wide open in order for her to stay idle and even for the first 30 seconds with the throttle open she would only run at 800rpm or so. After about 30 seconds she revved up like I was racing down a track. I let the throttle go and she finally idled with the choke enabled but without the choke she died.

Any thoughts so far?

 

Obviously not getting enough fuel/way too lean for some reason, since it only wants to run on full choke. If it was electrical, wouldn't more fuel just tend to flood it? Seems just the opposite.

 

I will check the carbs again then. They were pretty clogged the first time I cleaned them. I have Sea Foam in the fuel too but it's apparently not helping too much.

 

From everything that has been mentioned up to this point, I would agree that the carbs need to come apart again. There seems to be a vacuum leak of some kind. If she dies when you un-rich her at idle, I would think that the enrichners are working.

What is the compression readings on each cylinder? Low compression could make cold starting hard.

Also, what plugs are in the bike now? Cold plugs make starting hard.

 

I'm unsure of the compression. I don't have a compression gauge at the moment. I'll have to inspect the diaphrams more closely in the carbs. I have the Honda spec'd plugs, NGK DPR9EA-9's.

 

Update!

Wow! So I bought a compression tester and also checked the spark plugs for spark.

Results:

Cylinder1: Spark - PASS
Compression - 60psi FAIL

Cylinder2: Spark - PASS
Compression - 30psi FAIL

Cylinder3: Spark - PASS
Compression - 130psi FAIL

Cylinder4: Spark - PASS
Compression - 15psi EPIC FAIL


So... The next thing I am going to try is putting a small amount of oil in to the cylinder through the spark plug hole and try the compression tests again. If they continue to fail then most likely the piston rings are done for. If they pass then I move on to checking the valve clearance.

All plugs were wet and brown/black except for #1 which was dry and white.

 

Wow. What's the psi supposed to be?

 

I believe right around 155psi.
Edit: Sorry it should be 178psi +/-28psi so 150 - 206psi.

I tried a trick to tell if it's the cylinders or the valves. Basically you put in about 1 tea spoon of oil in to the cylinder through the spark plug hole. Let it settle for about 30 seconds. After that connect the compression tester and turn the motor 4-5 times. If there is a dramatic increase in pressure then it's time to take apart the motor. If there is little change in pressure then it's likely the valve clearance.

When I did it I had an increase from 130psi to 150psi on Cylinder 3. That is a decent increase but I'm not ruling out valve clearance yet. I did it to Cylinder 4 and it went from 15psi to 30psi. So... I think that valve clearance could definitely be a problem.