This June I bought my first bike, a 77 gs550. I totally love it. It gets me to and from school (grad school) and is so much easier to deal with Bay Area traffic than a car!
Problem is I'm having some trouble with the carbs. The bike was running great when I bought it. Then had trouble warming up. I had to have the choke all the way up. Kept getting worse. Even with the choke up, it would idle very low. I took it to the mechanic and she adjusted the valves (she had adjsuted the carbs last year for the previous owner). Problem seemed fixed. Then after a couple weeks it happened again. This time she cleaned the carbs (owch on the pocket book!). Again, worked great for a month or so, but now I'm back to the same problem. It feels like #3 is the last to warm up, #1 and 4 are good right away. I've heard suggestions that I need to get the rust out of the tank. Sounds simple enough, and like something I can do at home. What about the carbs though, is that something that a totally non-mechanically inclined newbie can do? I looked at the carb cleaning page. Besides the cleaner and wire brush to make the "special tool", is there anything else I will need?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. On my grad school budget I can't afford to take it to the mechanic all the time. I love the bike and am willing to put the time in. I just don't want to make it worse!
Thanks all!
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