am trying to figure out why my bike is all of a sudden running so poorly. I had a friend check the pet chicken, for vacuum leaks, hoses, spark plugs and anything else basic we can think of.  It stalls out and is hard to restart, it is running very rich and getting very poor gas mileage all of a sudden. Thank you for any help you may have

=Veronica

How old is the bike, last maintenance, miles? filter change? any drop history?

Stuck float maybe?

I second paulcet - well ... he would know if I recall ... its got most of us if we've had ot long enough.
Cool.
Buddha.

Yeah, I would know.  But my high fuel level problem was actually due to old, hard o-rings on the float valve seats.

The OP has an '08, so I wouldn't suspect o-rings. 

Prolly not, just shake the bugger vigorously ... enough to rattle the valves out of spec should do just fine.
One more thing I have found - you take carb cleaner and put it in the carb ... a mix of gaoline, seafoam and other assorted cleaners should be fine ... and I have in the past bought bikes with gummed up carbs, filled it with this, put it in the back of my truck and driven home. Say its a 3-4 hour ride, and I park it till the next morning.
Usually, next morning I can drain the carbs, if it comes out very gunky, fill with the same concoction again, and sit for 3-6 hours - drain ... repeat till I see clear to only light dirt in the drained liquid. Then fill with gas and it would start and run.
Of course it wont work with stuck slides. But those dont quite affect idle. It may need to be really cleaned.
Cool.
Buddha.

Thanks everyone for the input, hopefully it will work.

The bike is 08, has 17,000 m, was laid down in a turn doing 20mph, recently had an oil and filter change, spark plugs done, air filter changed, new tires put on.  Is there anything else you need to know?

Thanks again, I want to get this problem fixed, I miss riding.

Veronica

Drainage from carbs was clean and clear. No gunk. Should I still try the seafoam?

Tap the floatbowls with the butt end of a screwdriver, then drain the bowls.

17,000 miles means that it should have had its last valve adjustment 1000 miles ago (miltiples of 4000).  Or, did it?

It did have its last valve adjustment. 

OK my semi mechanic friend is unable to work on bike for the next few days.  I am so unmechanically inclined (but I am a wonderful nurse if anyone needs medical advice)-but would like to try the tap the floatbowl suggestion.  Please forgive the naivete *be kind I am trying not to sound too dumb here* LOL  of these questions but where are the floatbowls and how do I drain them? Also, I am not sure if it was on this forum or another where I read I can adjust the idle mixture? That could be causing it to run rich?

Thanks again for all the input.

Veronica

OK I found a picture on one of the posts of where the airfuel mixture screw is and drain spout and drain screw and idle adjustment screw so I least know where these things are....

Its just a guess but, it seems possible that these symptoms could be also caused by a fully or partially jammed choke/cable?

If the problem arose following a crash, then its worth checking carefully to see if the inner cable is pinched/trapped anywhere along its routing.  Even if you can push the choke lever fully shut don't assume its OK - what matters is the moving bit inside the carb is also moving smoothly, otherwise it may still be restricting airflow and causing very poor running.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.