I don't want to say this too loudly but I think I got it.

YonuhAdisi, did you get the carb issue resolved? If so what worked?
~Strafford~

Well, can't take that ride to the next town because I got called in to work. But maybe the ride to work will be a long enough test. Will report back when I get home on how it did. If it worked, I will say what I did to the carb.

Just replaced the spark plug and dang, was the old one black, it had all kinds of carbon on it. I also found out that for what the stealership charges for one plug, I can get two from advanced auto.

Oh I plan on it. I think there may be an off spring of the gremlin I just fed to my cats, but I will chase it down too.

Right now, I can fire the bike up without even touching the throttle and it idles without having to sit there and warm it up.

No back fire on deceleration but I do still get a backfire on shutdown though. (sounds about like an angry black cat firecracker in a mailbox.)

I still get a slight stutter on the low end, but otherwise it is doing a heck of a lot better than it was.