question about idleing..
 

i have a 98 hawk with 20K miles on it and sometimes it will idle just fine about 1100rpm and somtimes it goes up to almost 2000 and then sometimes its down around 500 and barely running, it just started this i dont know whats up with it, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

When was the last valves lash check ??
Check for vacuum leaks, carbs boots badly seated, vacuum line picking up air.
California model ??

i dont know when the valve lash was checked i got it when it had 14000 on it this spring and iv put 6000 on it this season, i do think that the valves are a little noisy or it could be the timing chain? i was plannin on doing manual cct's and setting valves this winter, i'v sprayed carb cleaner around all the boots and vacuum lines that was my first guess but it didnt do anything, how do i tell if its a cali model or not?

Cali models have a lot more anti-pollution stuff, probably from your aera, don't worry about CCT and stuff, the valves won't be noisy, when they get tight and start loosing seal, the throttle plates get too far and the pilot hole start dripping fuel making the idle erratic.
They have to be checked anyway, the front one is a PITA.
This is just a guess, there may be other things that can cause this.

thanks for the help and suggestioins gboezio i cant figure anything out right now, ill just right it for the rest of the seaon only have about another monh of good riding then ill try to track it down this winter

Also, Check that the cheap ass choke cable didnt break at the coupling that marries the one cable to two, this is what happened to mine and It displayed the exact same symptoms because the choke wasnt closing all the way.