Big Jimmy, try unhooking the throttle cable from the bar's to where it pick's up the two smaller cable's to the carb's. On the carb's, back off the cable adjuster's on the top's of the carb's. Then start 'er up and see what happen's. If you are still reving wide open, then the slide's are not in the bore's correctly. They do only fit one way. If the bike run's allot slower now, your cable's are out of adjustment.
So, you should have the carb's mounted up with the two cable's ( one from each carb) dangleing. There should be some of the inner cable( the one's that do the actual pulling,) sticking out of the sheath or outer cable.Not a whole lot, but some.
Inxs is correct in stating that those barb's are the bowl vent's. No vacuum should be there. I definately understand your frustration, all that money and they are not working like they should. Mike's stuff, for the most part, is good. But they definately lack any instruction on install or trouble shooting. Keep us posted, OK? Good luck.,,,Gordo