Old bike issues...

[jdw03n]

Read many of the FAQs and such before I posted this, I'm just looking for a little more solid guidance. Long post, so bear with me, but I think its vital to have the history.

Bought a used 1993 GS500e.  Showed 7k on the odo, but I'm certain at this point its not the original odo.

The bike had been sitting for an extended period of time.  It would start and idle well.  I asked a mechanic to come along to look at it, since I know little about bikes yet, and he declared it ok for the price I paid, knowing it would need a little work, because I was hoping to be able to learn as I went on this bike.

I had the mechanic replace the tires, a broken choke cable, front fork seals and replaced the stock springs with Progressives.  Changed the oil, and am going to replace the brake lines with stainless and replace the brake fluid soon.

Here's the part I was interested in guidance on:

The bike would idle fine, given that the choke cable was broken.  Once you put it in gear, it would either stall immediately (with the clutch in) or would stall shortly after getting rolling.

I asked a mechanic I thought was reputable to assist in getting her running.  He worked on it and told me that when he got the choke cable and air filter replaced it would run well in a straight line, but would stall out on hills. He told me he inspected the carbs and discovered the seals and o-rings in the carb were shot from sitting so long.  I authorized him to rebuild the carbs, and 38 days later he finished that.  He told me that the carbs needed to be balanced yet, but I was hesitant to let him have the bike for too much longer for a variety of reasons.

I'm having another mechanic look at it tomorrow.  At this point, what is the general recommendation for getting it running again?  Once a carb rebuild is completed, what specifically should I ask the new mechanic to perform? Or should I just give him the whole history and see where it goes.  

I don't have a whole ton of extra money to throw at this bike, but I'm not hesitant to spend a few hundred more to get everything finished up.

Thanks for the advice. I really want to get this bike running!

[The Buddha]

Yea sounds like a lot of mechanics without a clue ...
Send me carbs and $45 ... though I would ahve preferred to get the carbs before people broke into it.
You need a clean and rejet, and needs to be done by someone who actually knows GS carbs ... mechanics tend to be motor and not much else ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[jdw03n]

I was reclaiming the bike this morning with the intention of packing up the carbs and sending them, and I was consulting with a bike shop here in town that has a TREMENDOUS reputation.  Turns out they have a guy who owns two GS500s, and it just happens he's their carb guy.  Also, these guys usually charge a pickup/dropoff fee for local runs, and they agreed to go get the bike from the old mechanic, so that I didn't have to pony up a $110 tow fee.

They got the bike running today, but it doesn't have the air filter and lid, so they had to order one.  They did say they checked out the carbs and it appears the old mechanic just "turned a handful of screws he shouldn't have even turned".   

At any rate, I should have a running GS by this time next week, crossing fingers.