Bike dies if unchoked

Hey guys, I just got my first bike about a week ago from a friend of mine. 01' SV650 S. The bike was left sitting for quite some time and after changing all the fluids (including gas) I started it up. Now my problem is that the bike will not run unless it is at least half-choked. As soon as I back the choke off past that, it dies. Or if I even twitch the throttle, it dies. I checked the rear spark plug and it is white, meaning it is running very lean, so I'm assuming it is just a matter of cleaning the carbs in order to get it started. Could it be a problem of carb sync? Just wanted to see if any of you have had the same problem or know what is up. Thanks.

Kevin

[Sid Squid]

Assuming it was running OK when laid up, balance should not be your first concern. Fuel, as I'm sure you know, will evaporate and leave behind a resdiue that can block the small orifices and jets in a carb, get them off and make sure all is clear, I'd be fairly confident that the pilot circuit will be a bit gummed up at least.

[johnnyrod]

de acuerdo, amigo, clean your pilot jets

[Luckypants]

As a rider to this, has anyone used one of theose 'carb cleaner' additives in the petrol and do they work. Or is the only way to really clean the carbs to take em off and clean them?

I've used several types of carb cleaning additives, but unless you take off the carbs, check the level of gunk, replace the carbs, then run the addative - it would be hard to really tell the affect. That said, my friend had an R1 which sat for a year and could not run for long. Added some carb cleaner, ran it through, smooth idle after a couple days.

Carb clean is in order. The trouble with gas when it turns to goo, and you use an additive to clear it out- it will not always get all the gunk out. What is broken loose may foul the float needle causing more problems and a carb clean anyway. Where does the gunk go? Through the rest of the carb (and hopefully not stuck in another jet, then on to the tops of the intake valves.

Do yourself a favor, do the carb clean and to make it more profitable, do a jet kit or just fix the current jetting to make it run nicer and sync the carbs while there.