Hey there trail people,
here goes for a short term report. Got the bike with a very seized carb slide. Got it all unstuck but did ever so slightly scratch the slide but managed to clean that up (lessons learned the hard way) It still has a dead battery as a sink (I need to put in a new gel battery one of these days).
PO was using a B7ES (intentional / mistake ?) which I kept for a while and then switched out for B8ES (cooler plug range and as per manual)
Carb needle was in center setting. I was getting banging rattling on the decel and banging at certain rpm's. After quite a bit of riding and humming and haaaing I moved the needle to the richest setting and the bike runs almost as normal. Could still use some more fine tuning but I'm not sure which direction to go, main jet one size up?????? Turn the air screw in a pinch???

For now the bike finally runs like it should and I feel a lot more confident trying to destroy it. Front wheel pops up like it should too. Hopefully we can find lots more trails to enjoy, catch you next time!

More dirt, feel like such an ape, found this great mountain road and tough steep trail (the road had collapsed due to heavy rain so I couldn't make it all the way to the top) not far from my house - so now have a good 'get out for a bit' ride

A hot day for logging!

Hahaha, I hope you've enjoyed things this far. I found out my pipe was blocked, but not the one on my bike, the one IN me!!!! Long story short, I had 6 hours of surgery using robotic micro arms to remove two large tumors in my colon, ooooff it was tough! Now I am a true member of the old farts club! Watch out for the smokey pipe,lol !

No sure how to respond to that without sounding too stupid. So i guess you & the bike both have the reed valve squark. Great the medics got you sorted,. Amazing what they can do these days. Hope ya all good now & back on the bike soon.

I hope you make the fullest possible recovery.