How do I avoid working on the carbs?

At certain times of the year (Spring) it seems that everyone is cleaning their carbs. This isn't really everyone, though. There are lots of riders who never have to take their carbs off their bikes, except perhaps to remove the mixture plugs. Carb cleaning activity is noticeable on the forums mainly due to improper storage on the part of owners or previous owners, and because people whose carbs are clean don't need to post about them...

There are two ways to avoid having to clean your carburetors:

• Just ride. If you don't go more than a couple weeks without riding, you shouldn't have any issues. If you let the bike sit longer than a month or so and it starts running funny, clean them as per the FAQ. Otherwise, just ride.

• If you don't ride regularly, you might want to consider adding Sta-bil to your gas year-round. If you don't know when your next ride is going to be, then treat it as though you're putting it into storage, which you essentially are.

If you actually are storing it for a period of time, you should winterize it.

To avoid having to remove your carbs time and time again in order to get the jetting right, we suggest keeping the bike stock.