I feel like I have to adjust it almost everytime I ride... sometimes it idles so low it just dies and I raise it up to 1500.  Then somedays it idles at 2500 for some reason (no choke) and I have to adjust it down.

Check your valves. I bet that at least one of the exhaust valves are tight,
It may also be the downpipes that does'nt seals tightlighty to the engine.

My idle screw's adjusted about once or twice a week. 
It raises on its own most of the time.  Takes longer if I'm drunk or if she won't shut up. 

Need to service it.  Carbs, drain the gunk from the tank, an inline filter, new air filter, lube the cables. 

I have only adjusted mine twice in 2years, idles at 1200-1300rpm perfectly when hot.

When i got my GS5 idle dropped all the time,dropped some threadlock through the middle of carbs onto idle screw..sorted.Best set idle when engine is hot,if it acts up still you have an air leak or mixture screws need adjusting.
Combo Jay.

You loctited your idle screw?     Never heard that one before... but ok. 

My choke doesn't work so I have to adjust it every time I get on the bike. I give it 4-6 twists, start the bike, slowly turn it down as the bike warms up, and then keep adjusting it down slowly at every redlight until it's fully warmed up. Hopefully I'll get that sorted eventually. The choke used to work just fine.

My idle moves around too, but I know for a fact all my valves are too tight. I'll update later this week when I adjust them and let you know how it goes.

20,000 km later, I've never adjusted it.

23,500km and I haven't adjusted it once.

Michael

You're probably just not letting the bike warm up long enough.  The bike isn't warmed up, and so you're compensating by adjusting the idle to give it more gas, then after 10 minutes of riding, when the bike is warmed up, you're idling at 2K.

Do you still have the stock jets?  I struggled with the same problem until I replaced the stock pilot jets with 40's and went 3 turns out on the mixture screw, and added a washer to the needle jet.  Immediately, my warmup time dropped, to about a minute and a half before I could take off choke, it idles low, about 800-1000 for a couple minutes, but at least it will idle that low.  Before, it would stall out at anything below 1200, and I would have to keep the choke on, or like you, I would mess with the idle screw to keep it around 1200.

I just did the whole slip-on, lunchbox, rejet a few weeks ago, and I almost don't even need the choke anymore (at least in this warm weather), just hang on the accelerator a little bit for the first minute or so.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend the bigger pilots and going richer on the mixture screw, along with shimming the needle jet.

I adjusted it once after I backed out the air/fuel mix screw 2-3/4 turns. After that it has stayed steady at around 1400 rpm. That's were I set it. Did it when it was really warmed up. The valves have never been checked. It runs so good and gets 61 MPG I'm afraid to touch it! Maybe my bad

I set it once just after I bought it. Then the dealer set it a little lower at the 600 mile tune up. 1600 miles now and never touched it. Idles at around 1200.

FYI: "Locktite" and "threadlock" are different things. Locktite (while the company name) generally is the stuff that gets hard as steel. Thread lock comes in different grades. It gets gooey to keep things from coming lose, but is not so hard that you can't unscrew things. You can get soft to really stiff grades of it. I usually put thread lock on things. Helps keep things tight. Thread lock is a must for any shop - bike, electronics or whatever. (Locktite does make thread lock so pay attention to what you're buying)

>9k miles over 2 years and never had to adjust it.

Quote from: adidasguy on July 06, 2010, 05:53:23 PMFYI: "Locktite" and "threadlock" are different things.

Actually Locktite is a brand that comes in "grades" from removable (blue) to permanent (red): http://www.loctiteproducts.com/threadlockers.shtml.  Blue could be considered the "threadlock" you were describing.