Do my carbs need balancing?

[Oggers]

Almost there with the z650 resto, and hopefully one last thing for a while. Carbs have been off fixing a leak, now back on minus the air hoses/rubber intakes back to the airbox. As it is in this state, i took the opportunity to test the suction on each carb simply by placing my hand over each intake. At idle, the outer carbs pull far stronger than the inners, so much so, that the bike stalls when my hand is fully over the offside carb, and no Warren, I did not do a mechanical sync check when they were off as I was told they were balanced by the PO.

I assume the carbs therefore need balancing - which is a little disappointing given what i was told.

[warren3200gt]

I've always found it best to ignore what Po's say and confirm actual settings myself. If they are correct I'm pleasantly surprised, if not , put them right and know they are right.

[Oggers]

Hi Warren

Quite right. To be fair to myself, I was going to give the bike a few short runs out, let things bed in, allow the carbs to clear their throats, and then fine tune - including balancing. However, I think I may as well do it now given what I now know. The 400/4 took a bit of while to sort using my home made manometer made from 4 milk bottles and lengths of tubing, but have to say that once all the levels stopped bouncing around, the fine balancing did not take that long. It now certainly pulls better, sounds smoother, and the primary chain noise diminished. z650 hopefully a similar exercise....