Finally got to take a ride tonight. First time on the F3, won't stop smiling for a year . I've got a quick vid, might post it later.

My question, and I'm sure this has been covered before, so sorry but I'm not patient enough to search. What's normal idle? Mine is sitting right around 500, the boyfriend thinks it should be higher (his GSXR runs about 1300).

Also wondering about cleaning and synching carbs. How often does it need to be done? Does this have anything to do with low idle? I've got a coworker whose husband used to own a bike shop, I think he'd be willing to do it for me for a couple bucks.

 

Yeah it should be higher. I keep mine set right around 1200. The idle adjustment screw is located on the left side just below the seat closer to the gas tank. As far as the carbs don't go messing with something that's already working correctly. When it comes to carbs it is not a good thing to be as OCD about them as you would be cleaning the rest of the bike. But if you don't know when they were last cleaned it would prob be a good thing to them done so that you have knowledge of the bike's service records.

 

In my Haynes it has all California models at 1400 + or -. While all others at 1200 + or - .

 

Carb sync should be done every 8k miles or 12 months according to the Hayne's manual. But ajzcamaro is right bout carb OCD. It's a nasty nasty condition that'll have you wrenching away your weekends for no reason.

Take your friend up on having them done. That'll give you a baseline performance to go by and establish when it was last done. You'll get used to the way the bike feels and sounds with cleaned and synced carbs. Then you won't have to worry about it again till you feel something is wrong