Hi, I just bought an 04 GSF, but have been reading the board for a while.  Now that I finally have a bike, I finally have my own question!  

Anyway, when I start my bike, then give it gas, it will hold the idle at 3k rpm for about 5 seconds or so before it goes down to 1.5k.  I know the bike sat for a few years, and though it has fresh gas in it, the carbs are probably gunked with old residue.  Still, I'm hoping that I can get by with just running sea foam through it.  

Does anyone have any idea of what might be causing the idle hang up?  Thanks in advance.

Sounds like a "no milk" problem to me. But to be sure....

Are you using the choke? These bikes Need the choke.

After it is warm - like after you've been riding for like 15 minutes or so - and without the choke, what does it idle at?

Michael

Loosen the throttle cable a bit and see if it goes away.  I had a similar problem and it turned out I adjusted my throttle cable too tightly.

Why are there so many high idles this year?? this is ridiculous.

My bike is doing the same thing. You probably tried to adjust your idle while the bike was still cold. Let your bike warm up, so a couple loops around the block to get completely warm, and then pull over, put it in neutral, lean over so you can get your right hand on the idle adjuster and left hand on the throttle, rev it a bit and get it to hang where it's giving you problems, then screw out the idle adjust screw. You'll need to turn it clockwise if you're looking at it straight down through the tank. Keep doing this until it revs and comes right back down to where it should. Eventually you'll get it low enough that it stops doing it, and if you use the choke to start your bike from then on you should be set.

That was exactly it.  The PO had that thing set WAY high.  WTF?!?  And, the PO was a dealership.   

I got my bike back from the shop with it turned way up like that.  Some mechanics too impatient to wait for the bike to warm up I guess.