How do you know when your carbs need balancing?

[UnknownStuntm...]

As above - I get what I would describe as a lumpy tickover after a few seconds. And if it's cold (like, less than 10 degrees) outside it's a bugger to start and keep going. Really have to tickle the throttle verrrry gently to get some heat in there...

Oh, and choke makes very little difference. If anything it appears to be a little over eager to dump fuel in.

Bike's an 02 hornet 6 btw

[Bezzer]

Unbalanced you get irregular tickover and it's a bit lumpy at low revs, as you open it up it becomes less relevant and unnoticeable. Be worth balancing just to eliminate that from your problems but probably not a carb problem if everything was OK before the damp/cold weather arrived. Possibly it's damp affecting the HT leads/connections until the warmth of the running engine dries them out, give them a good wipe down and seal connections with a waterproof grease or silicone and try that.
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[Barry_M2]

Exactly what he said!
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