I started and rode the thing yesterday, today it cranked up and died after a minute. It never went into the high idle mode and would die when I shut off the richener. There was no fuel smell so I don't think it flooded. It was doing the same thing last year, acting like it was starved for fuel so I changed the fuel strainer in the tank. That did the trick.
Now I have the same crap again! My Clymer's manual directs me to "open the petcock to check for fuel flow in both on and reserve postion". Duh! That's the first thing I checked, and as a newbie I was surprized that nothing came out! I soon learned that the petcock was designed to only operate when vacuum is applied. Did anyone ever have issues with the vacuum line going to the petcock? Could the problem be not enough vacuum to open the valve? I haven't gotten into it yet. Can you remove the diaphragm out of the petcock and turn it into a simple on/off valve?
FYI- the bike had 12k miles on it when I bought it, it has 16k on it now. It sat for four years before I bought it. It has Yoshimura can, stock air cleaner, don't know if it has a jet kit installed cuz I've never had the carbs off. The valve clearances haven't been checked.