As you say, a puzzle. I have a set of manual gaiges which I have used over the years to tune my bikes and the only way to do that was to connect each one separately.
I bought a new R1 in 2002 and kept it for 6 years. It was the last model with carbs and had the raw edge over the later FI ones. I used to balance the carbs on that every few months. You never noticed them going off as you had so much power but after you'd balanced it would pull your arms out of their sockets much like the Rocket. It was another reason for buying the Rocket as I've never had that feeling since.