ok. so a quick catch-up.
D&S screwed up on my tires, having stuck a tube of too-small diameter and thickness in the front and way too big in the back, so I spooned on my own tubes and tires. yay.
MickeyX wanted to take it to work yesterday and I said "Sure!" so she did the 20 mile round trip just fine except the headlight left much to be desired.
TODAY I go out to change the oil, maybe take it for a spin and the bastard won't idle. Not for nothin' or no one. *sigh* I test the battery voltage- after having been abused a little (starter starts and some idling attempts) it's at 12.2. Not great, but understandable. I still stick it on the trickle charger. I still changed the oil- less than 2L were in it (maybe 1.75L) and what WAS there was very dark and very thin. I'm thinking an olive oil type viscosity, because it wanted to 'drip' more than have the long, thin little streams oil tries to make.
New oil in, closed up, pump the kick starter a few times to get the oil going 'round, put more gas in in case the lack of idling was from that. It wasn't.
It sounded pretty good at 3k+ rpms, just won't idle. Choke on or off, doesn't matter. I pull the right plug- it's oil fouled and dark. I use some carb cleaner and a strip of very very fine sandpaper (1600?) to clean the electrode and ground strap where they'd spark. Put it back in. Check the left plug. It's more sooty-fouled. Same cleaning procedure. I put it back in and start the bike. Choke on, it does okay. Idles at 1600. Takes throttle like a champ, sounds great, again, at 3k+ rpms. Choke off- puh puh puh wheeeeze.
Starts right back up again, every time I hit the button, but dies again if I don't give it some throttle.
So... I'm thinking it might still possibly be that the plugs are still pretty dirty OR something about the carbs and the idle jets... BUT it was just fine yesterday! Nothing different happened between now and then!
Any ideas?