Two weeks ago Tom brought the bike back for some adjustments and to replace the exhaust wrap with black wrap. We fiddled the carb main jet needles up one notch first to see if we could change the flat spot off idle (moved the e-clip down to raise the needle). That resulted in a major reduction of the flat spot and elimination of the off idle back-fire on deceleration. We went ahead and pulled the headers and Tom pulled the blue wrap off, getting covered in fiberglass dust in the process. He then wrapped the header with 2 inch black wrap that was bulky and hard to get a smooth wrap (I wrapped it with 1 inch wrap to avoid this problem). We got the wrap job finished and let the wrap dry for a week. He then applied black silicone sealer.
Today we re-installed the headers and we also attacked the carbs again and adjusted the needles up one more notch so now the e-clip is one notch from the bottom of the needle. Tom took it for a test ride after we got it off the lift and described it as "runs like a new bike." The flat spot is gone and it pulls like a freight train right off the bottom.
As a note: the guys at Biker's Garage in Roanoke cleaned and adjusted the carbs and delivered it with a very high idle and a massive flat spot off the bottom as well as mud all over the back of the bike. They said in all seriousness "with pod filters and 4 into 1 exhaust you can't get rid of the flat spot." They charged me $900+ for a filthy bike that was poorly tuned. If you don't know how to adjust a Mikuni BS carb, don't ask the guys at Biker's Garage because they don't either.
