Choke stuck open after carb installation?
 

I recently did the MCCT job; which means I pulled the carbs to take off the plastic cowl. I got everything back together and started her up. The bike sounds great but now it idles high and I can't pull the choke out nearly as far as I used to be able to. Is the choke stuck partially open? Could I have installed the carbs incorrectly?

Check the choke cable valve at the carb, make sure you got the valve and nut installed fully, the plastic nut is not broke or cross threaded.

Thanks for the quick reply. I tore everything apart again and was able to figure it out. But, just as I fixed one problem, I encountered a larger problem. I was riding my bike and it was running great until about 5 minutes in when it started to bog down during acceleration and then it suddenly shut off and wouldn't turn back on. After waiting 10 minutes, it turned on and ran perfectly fine. I only ran it 100 yards to get it back home so I don't know if the problem would have replicated. Do you know why that would have happened?

vacuum leak?
 

It could be a vacuum leak on your carb boots and as the engine gets hotter it becomes too lean to run. Make sure that the bands are properly tightened and the carbs fully seated.

I would also check the carb synchronization just to be sure thats not out of wack.

Unless there was another reason why, for future reference, anybody else wanting to do manual cam chain tensioners, pulling the carbs is not necessary. This is assuming you pulled the valve covers. The oil cooler needs to be moved out of the way.

Make sure the vaccum line is on the back of the petcock. It does not go on the bottom of the petcock.

If the vacuum line was indeed on the bottom nipple, then your petcock is not working properly. Look at a rebuild.

Sorry for the delayed response; I just got back from a long vacation. I finally got some time to work on the bike today. It started with something disconcerting, I couldn't started the bike. It would crank progressively slower and the dashlights would dim....regardless, I began tear her apart again. The petcock vacuum line was in the right spot. The carbs were seated to the engine but the clamps weren't tightened all the way so I went and tightened them up some more. Just for sh*ts and giggles I pulled the rear valve cover to check the timing. The exhaust sprocket 'dash' looked to be a bit lower than the intake sprocket 'dash' but my cam lobes look perfect (see pic). I didn't check the front cylinder cause I wanted to see timing could be my issue before I spent the time checking. So if it's not a vacuum problem, could it be a timing issue? I do still need to sync the carbs but I'm not sure how to do that if the bike won't start...

When I checked my cam timing after the MCCT installation, I found that the timing marks would not align exactly, but were less than 1 tooth out (1 tooth is a lot of degrees). I put the variance down to chain stretch (my engine has 75000km). It runs great.

Well I buttoned everything back up and it still won't start....I took a video of what it sounds like when trying to start it up. Not really sure what's going on...any help would be appreciated. I'm about ready to take it to a shop. Sunny days are too valuable to waste here in Washington. :(

How tight up did you adjust the MCCTs? How charged up is the battery?

If i say that vid with no previous information or current explanation Id say its just a dead battery.
Diagnosis starts with the simple and stupid and the general rules is skip no step and no part is assumed good even if bran new and was good "last time" or "this morning"

So with that said, what is the key off Bat voltage? What is the key on Bat voltage? What is the bat voltage when starting? If you have a clamp on amp meter, tell us what the amp draw is while starting.

Get a new battery if that one is old.
Make sure the kill switch is turned on.:)