Having issues with my 2003 vtr1000f
 

I just recently started having issues with my bike. I ran a carb cleaner through my bike, and had all of my fluids changed about a month ago, and since then it started taking longer for my rpm's to stabilize when starting up my bike. But the real issue started a couple weeks ago when I was riding to work. Out of no where my rpm's jumped up to 2500, and started fluctuating. It sounded and felt like some kind of air leak. So I brought it to my mechanic, he pulled my bike apart and couldn't find an air leak anywhere. He also cleaned and synced my carbs, and cleaned my air filter today. Since that the bike has been running better, but the rpm's still fluctuate a little at idle, but not as much as before. My mechanic is stumped at this point, so I was wondering if someone here might have any idea of what's going on, and what I can do to fix it.

Cause of problems, "cleaned my air filter"

It was giving me problem before that was cleaned, and I plan on buying a new one just don't have the fund for it atm. And it actually started running better after that and my carbs being cleaned, but it's still giving me problems.

That it is a cleanable air filter, i.e.
: k&n, which, for many members, has caused carb tuning problems, I believe, is what xeris is alluding to.

Oh OK, well I thought that might possibly be a problem, and I plan on buying a new air filter, I just lack the funds for it ATM. I didn't even know I needed a new one until my mechanic started pulling my bike apart to get to the carbs, and when he got to the air filter it was disgustingly black. So he just did that to last me a week or two until I could afford to get a K&m filter.

Is your current dirty (but hoovered) airfiter a disposable OEM type or a K&N?

As mentioned a K&N despite its advatages in being cleanable & reusable, will play havoc with the carburetion and need time and cost up to & inc rejetting and dyno time to give modest gains. Best go OEM.

Save yourself the headache and do not buy a k&n. Get either a stock Honda or an Emgo replacement filter. Both are less $$ than a kn and don't create tuning problems.

I don't have a k&n filter, it's just a stock filter. Do you think that my bike will start running better once i get the air filter replaced?

Are you starting it with choke? You should check you choke cables, they tend to bread at the elbow and really mess with jetting (figuratively) so it wont settle into idle.

Basically it is an enriching circuit that with broken elbows it runs super rich all the time. Sometimes only on one cylinder.

Before I read on this forum that it was a bad idea, I installed a K&N air filter on to my VTR1000F. This has been absolutely fine, the bike runs great, no re-jetting.

Yes I'm starting it with the choke. I'm waiting on an air filter that I ordered to see if it gets any better after that's replaced. If that doesn't work I'll look into the choke cable being a possibility. One of my friends also said that it could possibly be my valves, whether they need to possibly be cleaned, readjusted, or there might be a loose spring in them. I'm just trying to start off with the cheapest possibilities first and see if that makes any difference before I start exploring the nitty gritty of things and have to start dropping a lot of money into it. I've read a lot of articles online that are saying a dirty or old air filter can cause a bike to run the way mine is, so hopefully that's all it will take.

For sure put the new filter on to see if that helps, but from your description I would guess you want to clean the carbs. Before doing this you could check the choke cables just to see if they are perfect (they rarely are)

I actually just had my carbs cleaned and tuned about two weeks ago and it has been running better since then. The bike was running a lot worse and I thought it was an air intake or vacuum leak but my mechanic couldn't find a leak anywhere.