All this talk about starting methodologies... When the bike is cold on a typical day in the summer, I have to give it choke, start it, blip a few times to get the idle up to 3K, I then wait a few seconds, drive away, and turn the choke off after a minute.

If I put on the full choke and try to start without a little throttle finesse, it doesn't start right - it'll chug and idle slow - I have to blip a few times to get the idle up. Is this normal?

I have not had the bike in cold weather yet, so I am not sure what joy that is going to bring.

Mine starts fine with just choke,i turn choke down pretty quick so not to over rev the cold engine.(2 stage carbs)Sounds to me if you have to feather throttle your maybe running to lean or only one carb is choking.

Being winter here and the first winter I've had mine I find just putting the choke on full and starts quick, starts low and gets high up to about 4000 before I trim the choke back. Let it idle and turn the choke off completely when it revs freely. Sometimes that means I've been riding for a minute before it revs freely.