[scarfacehugo]

Hello Tim!
Sorry just to have noticed this post now.

Here's my humble opinion:

A fine tuned engine should never start cold with the choke off. If the choke valves are there its for a reason.

At cold temperatures, the normal amount of petrol inside the carb doesnt vaporize , so we open the choke so that more petrol for the same volume of air is allowed into the engine.

If you simply rotate the grip you are not enriching the mixture to start it.

In all the engines and carbs I've tuned, I use as a starting point the "choke test". If it starts with the choke off, it's too rich, if it needs the choke on for too long, it's too lean.

I'm not sure how or why, but my guess is your carbs were using more petrol than the engine needed before I cleaned them. Maybe pilot screw, maybe something else. These symptoms you find in your bike are the exact same ones i find in mine. My bike would never start with choke off and it is now perfectly tuned.

Hope this helps, if you need anything else from me, please let me know.