Well, even after getting them "dialed in", I still found myself messing with the air screws almost daily to keep it running right. The sticky slide issue has also crept back, so I figured one slide was sticking when I would let off a bit and de-synchronize the carbs. Running around with two vacuum gauges mounted to the bars confirmed this.
The first thing I did was remove and inspect the slides. On both of them, the chrome is already starting to bubble and flake off. More so on the right slide which is the one that was sticking. Simple test, swap slides and see if the problem follows it. It doesn't, so I'm probably not fighting a bad slide.
Since the stretched slide spring didn't last, I tried heavier springs. Imagine my surprise when the sticking throttle got WORSE. That could only mean one thing, the cables are sticking. Again, simple test, swap cables left and right and see if the problem follows it. After getting the cables off, the problem was obvious, there was no need to hook them back up for more tests. When I pulled on the cable end and twisted the throttle, it felt like a hack saw and there were several spots where it would catch.
After thoroughly examining the cables I determined that the problem was in the splitter. When moving it by hand you can feel several ridges that prevent it from sliding smoothly. I open it up and see gouge marks in the walls where the cable ends have been scraping. The plastic piston is way too small for the bore and just kind of flopping around in there. The cable ends stick out the sides of the piston and ride right on the wall of the sleeve.
So now the bike is grounded until I can find a replacement cable. Wouldn't you know it, today was the first sunny day since I got this bike on the road over a month ago.
