Do I have carb problems?

[FuzzyBallz]

Picked up a zx6r J1 last week, and went on the second ride tonight. Bike has done 47k miles, and had 9 previous owners

I noticed when I twist the throttle and let it go, the engine slows down a second or so later, it seems a bit longer than it should be. I find the throttle a bit hard to turn, like there is some resistance, and I find it hard to just rev the bike enough to pull off, always end up trying to only give it a little bit, then because it's a bit stiff i end up twisting more and revving the bike too hard. Are sport bike throttles of this age supposed to be like this?

Also when I put the bike in the conservatory, the whole house was filling with the smell of petrol, now I know all bikes have a slight pong, but this was really strong, like when I removed my fuel tank on my old bike and spilt fuel everywhere! When I brought the bike in and switched everything off, for a few minutes after I could hear the fuel cap drawing air in, is this normal?

I had a poke around the bike and there are no obvious fuel leaks, no puddles, wet patches, nothing!

On the side of the carb on the right hand side of the bike there looks like a leak / staining / gunk? Could this be a sign of my carbs needing attention?

Sorry for the 20 questions but this is my first carbed bike so I am in the process of learning.

Pic of carb below. (put your left ear on your left shoulder to see it the right way up, apologies ha)
https://s12.postimg.org/cf6vqbftp/20151009_212238.jpg

[Suntan Sid]

What's the throttle cable like? Could be starting to wear/fray.
Is the cable routed correctly? Make sure it's not trapped anywhere.
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[FuzzyBallz]

I haven't looked yet to be honest, have no light in the conservatory at the moment. I know it was stupid to ask before checking but just thought I'd throw it in there anyway

[Ariel Badger]

Sounds like the throttle cable is sticking, look how it is routed, run oil down it and when these fail to resolve the problem buy a new cable.
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[Michelle L]

Yeah what Ariel Bader said , I have had this before on bikes , even a few weeks ago when I took my carbs off , putting everything back and the cable became stiff , just took it off and put it back on and it was fine..

I am thinking someone has taken it off at some point and not put it back on properly or it could be its worn but I would think its not on right...

As for the smell , just my opinion , I think some bikes smell more than others lol ....
My husband went out the other day and said your bike smells of fuel ,, for some reason when its been stood a few days it starts to smell of fuel , not sure why that is as I no for a fact there are no leaks.
But once its been running its fine...
I would just take the cable off and put it back on , I bet it works fine after that..
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[J.M.]

Agree with Ariel Badger.

On my Thundercat, the return throttle cable was sticking really badly. Opening the throttle was easy but it wouldn't close. So I got rid of the return cable. Without it the spring on the carbs will pull the throttle shut anyway.

Cables being routed incorrectly also can lead to it being hard to open, and therefore, hard to close too.

I also messed up the carb balance on my Thundercat by my incompetence, quite badly. The bike would rev & pull just fine, but the revs would hang a lot before dropping. Properly balancing them (which didn't take too long) saw it return back to normal.

Finally, revs being slow to drop, if not caused by a sticky throttle cable, could be the sign of an air leak. I would check the throttle cable first, but if that fails, I would check that the carb is secure to the engine rubbers and the airbox to the carb rubbers, and that neither set of rubbers is too firm or damaged.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[FuzzyBallz]

Thanks for all the replies.

I took the throttle cables off completely, and split them at the adjustment thread/nut bit, and squirted 3in1 down them and kept wiggling the cable back and forward until it came out of the bottom.

I then put them back on the bike, routing the cable so it didn't pinch or strain in anyway.

Connected back up to the throttle bit, put the 2 part casing thing around the throttle and it would stick again

So I took the housing back off and cut various bits of plastic off the cable housing where it might be getting squashed, and this was a "little" better only.

Then I tried only putting the top screw in the housing and it was still binding, at this point I was thinking of just taking it to the shop.

Then I just tried the bottom screw without the top one and VOILA! It was perfect, snapped back! So I put the top screw in very loosely and kept tightening and twisting the throttle to find the tightest I could get it without affecting the throttle..... to my confusion, I could tighten it all the way

So it was just the simple method of completely tightening the bottom housing screw first before the top one.

Can't wait to take her out in the morning to give her a test!!

[pompousporcup...]

Check the fuel tap, it it has one, got leaks. Could be a seal weeping slightly causing the smell